Hyatt Regency Austin — Hotel in Austin

Review of my stay on April 16th - 21st. We all travel in for a music festival that we put on. This marked the 30th year.

Any questions about this review, please reach out. ————

Eli Utley I see Eli has been promoted to Guest Services Manager since we first met him as a Desk Clerk. My only question is, why isn’t he the GM yet? Sorry, Mr. Donahoe. lol

This young man goes above and beyond for his guests, he 100% did for our group. Everybody had a great time and enjoyed their rooms.

As for me, as you know I have some challenges walking due to a stroke 4 years ago. Knowing that y’all would be having the lobby closed down and renovations going on - I was nervous about getting around.

Eli worked very hard to accommodate me. The access through the pool area with the newly installed lift was a much shorter distance than the new, temporary lobby.

He left 2 shower chairs and 3 floor mats in the bathroom for my safety.

The room was great with a very comfortable bed. The space in there made it very easy to move around the room.

His constant calls to see if everything was ok and was I ok, left me believing that someone truly cared.

Eli went so far to advise security, front desk and others that I was coming and may have to have someone to open that pool gate from the inside. He also offered to get and place 4 traffic cones for my event golf cart.

Something’s I told him no, don’t do that, because I felt it was way too much. Even the things he did I thought were a bit overboard, but I used every single one of them. After leaving the park after being there from 8am to 11pm, I needed every precaution he had how me.

Having that feeling of safety is worth everything and I truly appreciate them.

Darius was amazing. I requested band-aids from the front desk - he showed up.

Not only did he stay to open a band-aid for me, when he saw that I was having trouble getting out of the chair, he assisted me. Great guy.

Courtney. Was right outside of my room Thursday morning when I came out and having bled a lot on the bathroom floor. Although Courtney was with a completely different division, she quickly took care of the mess. After telling her how embarrassed I was to ask, she assured me it’s perfectly fine.

By the time I got back to the room, housekeeping had the murder scene all cleaned up. I definitely left a large tip for that poor housekeeper.

Please understand, it was 100% my fault and I am sorry whoever had to clean it - got stuck on my floor.

Up on 17. Well, of course I need to discuss Nati. 36 years at the Hyatt. Amazing and charming lady. Not to mention she makes a hell of an omelette. I make sure I see her once or twice a visit.

As you know, I was having a bad day Thursday morning. But when I got up to 17 and saw Nati - a smile quickly appeared. Nati is the best. Love that woman.

All of the servers I encountered during my stay were outstanding and very nice. The hostess at the door, sorry I forgot her name, she was also great to me and my friends. (I think she is kinda new.)

One thing I will say that’s bad, no Corona with Lime. There’s nothing like an ice cold Corona after a long day - or a short one too.

The Peach Cobbler was amazing. Me and my friends had it, I did twice I loved it so much. Whoever makes it down in the kitchen, Well Done.

The front desk. Again, I wish I had something bad to say so I could get some free Hyatt Points, from the Front Desk Manager, Pablo, to every single person working - great, friendly & knowledgeable people. Not a bad word to say. They always offered me bottle water as I walked through.

The Lift out by the Pool. That’s a wonderful addition to the hotel. From someone who has challenges getting around these days, I say Well Done Hyatt Regency for always being concerned and seeing the problems people with challenges have. Greatly appreciated.

Overall, I give my most recent stay, a 10 out of 10. I have been staying at the Hyatt Regency for 30 years. My home away from home in Austin.

Until my next...

I want to be fair in this review. It was a Great location. There were Friendly staff. However, Eli with the hotel management was the biggest issue. Here is what happened - I booked this trip about 2 months before our visit and there was no warning whatsoever that the hotel was under major construction. When I got here I had to walk with my 2 kids and baggage to a makeshift lobby 2 elevators and about a 5 min walk with our bags. I was told the hotel was undergoing some renovations when I checked in and I told them I had no idea about this and never would have booked it had I been warned. At this point, it was too late to switch to another hotel. They told me at check in, if the noise was an issue, they would refund my money. This was a bold faced lie. Then, they had major construction going on starting at 7am ! All day too. 7 freaking am. Like beeping backing up trucks and jackhammers and everything. Please see attached videos. I wanted to get some rest and my kids and I woke up to, no joke - a FULL ON Construciton site right outside our door. Then, the pool was the other reason we booked the hotel. They also had power tools out in between the sunchairs at the pool. Like dudes drilling and hammering with me and my kids and all the other guests out at the pool on a Friday at 2pm. Why don’t they do this work when the pool is closed on off hours or something?? It was totally bizarre. I have some fun videos of that experience as well. I asked for my money back and they only gave one of the two nights and kept $220 of money they don’t deserve. Avoid this place like the plague. Just straight up don’t care about hard working clients and taking their money. Total joke. Also, Eli heard all of this information and could care less that I had videos and was going to post reviews. Okay, well now I’m showing the truth. Next stop for me - Better Business Bureau and then yelp and anyone else who will listen. Also, I very rarely make this kind of effort to voice concern, but this place really pissed me off taking my money after telling me at check in I would be compensated in full if the noise was an issue. Totally unethical, criminal behavior with no accountability. I want my $220.21 back !!!! Make it right if anyone from your establishment even reads your...

This hotel stay was one that was full of pros and cons.

I'll start with the more limited pros:

-Our balcony and river view were awesome -Staff was friendly (front desk, housekeeping, and bellman), with things they could actually help -Easy access to the trail that runs along the river right behind the hotel -Easy access to Congress St. bridge

Now the cons:

-When we booked the trip the hotels.com listing said there was a Starbucks on site (which weighed heavily in our final hotel decision). Come to find out, it closed several months ago. Big bummer! -The layout of the hotel with the atrium style meant that the higher floors can hear the happenings of the lower floors and lobby at all hours... not great for when there was a giant conference happening at the hotel and folks partying until the wee hours. -The tap water in the room had a very odd taste to it. Unfortunately you can even taste the oddness when ordering coffee from the on-site market/coffee shop. I didn't notice this issue with other places/restaurants where I was served water in Austin. -Pool was closed for construction... couldn't even access the pool deck to lay around or check it out. Not ideal for our stay with temps in the low to highs 80s, especially considering we walked by another hotel that had been in close contention and it had a lovely pool with folks lounging on the patio and swimming all throughout our trip. -Our wifi was super spotty and didn't work almost the entire time we stayed. Occasionally it would connect, and then eventually boot you back off moments later. It definitely would not connect long enough for us to use the Netflix or anything on the tv. And for some reason it seemed to work a little better on the balcony than inside the actual room. Not helpful. -It was a pricy hotel stay!

For all the cons, I'd say our stay was definitely not worth the price we paid. We essentially paid a premium for a river view, since we didn't get the Starbucks, a pool, or even working wifi during our trip. While we still enjoyed our trip for the most part, despite the cons related to the hotel stay, I likely would not stay at this hotel again in future...