Unscripted Durham - JDV by Hyatt — Hotel in Durham

We would definitely stay here again as the staff were excellent—being extremely friendly and helpful. The overall vibe of the property is casual, fun, and vintage. The reservation was made by a family member as part of an event that took us to Durham and his interest was piqued at the use of the motel-esque look; we were not disappointed.

Because we travel a lot, we often take note of little things we share in the name of constructive feedback when doing reviews and do so below. The last one is a bit less “little” in import and, even though it appears to be more of a lack of consideration at the corporate Hyatt level and not the property’s decision, it is the main reason we have not signed up to be rewards members and do not choose Hyatt when making our own accommodation reservations.

The igloos around the pool on the third floor in front of our room were great and clearly popular as, in mid-December, we were told the earliest we could book an igloo was for February. The music was at a tasteful level, but the bass was a smidge irritating. Nevertheless, it was appreciated that service ended right at midnight.

We saw the same muddy tissue on the ground outside our room from about 5 pm until checkout the next day at 9.30. This was a path many staffers took, so it was a shame to see it ignored.

Clearer signage in the garage would be helpful. For us, it was not readily apparent that door #437 (with the same door on the next level down starting with a 2) was actually the third floor.

The rooms are very nice and the beds were both beautifully made and GLORIOUSLY comfortable! We also loved the bathroom for its size and lighting. Everything was clean with one exception: the wall behind one bed (covered with a wallpaper that had a very nice pattern in bold colors!) had what looked to be red wine spots with a couple of attempted clean-up areas that were smeared. In all fairness to the cleaning staff, the lighting was on the lower end of brightness and the wallpaper pattern does have some gray flecks, so it could easily camouflage the spots.

The door to the room has a rubber strip at the bottom and, when standing at the bathroom door, there is a gap of about a 1/4” along the bottom of the door. The rubber strip stops about an inch before the door does, so there is a pretty substantial gap there. While we were comfortable as far as temperature, that gap cannot be good for heating/cooling or letting little creatures in.

We had one experience where we had to listen to a staff member discuss chores with a child on FaceTime for about 20 minutes. Things were slow at the time, but maybe that could have been done via text? I DO NOT say this to get anyone in trouble. As noted above, the staff were GREAT! It just might be a good opportunity for management to remind staff about how to handle unexpected personal business around guests. Life happens, right? Plus, there are only so many counters/tables you can dust, shift reports you can pre-fill in, fingerprints you can clean from a door or window, etc., to keep busy on the clock.

Now the “not so little” criticism: Hyatt as a whole is not at all considerate of the variety of diets many people are required or choose to eat. If breakfast is included in a room reservation, it behooves the company to offer an accurate menu that potential guests can review before making a reservation. In our case, breakfast was included, so it should not have been the case that one person in our party had to eat leftovers from lunch the day before for breakfast. Of course, knowing there is a dietary challenge means one must be be proactive and should, where possible, bring food or find a similar solution. However, sometimes it is not feasible to travel with a refrigerator or cooler. We are in the 21st century, so Hyatt, as a multi-billion-dollar property CAN and...

Don't be fooled! This place is just a public pool with a snack bar trying to pass itself off as a boutique hotel. You will note in the reviews here that the good ones are from non-staying guests who ate/drank in the pool area. The ones from folks who actually booked rooms are far less flattering. I took my 4 year old daughter for what was intended to be a fun mini-vacation and was given a room on the 3rd floor with our door 15 yards from the pool. Despite checking in with a young child, I was not told that the DJ would be blasting music until 11pm just feet from our door. Complaints to the desk were met with "that's what we do here" from the attendee. The entire pool area was overrun with people who were not guests at the hotel and my daughter was unable to get in the pool or find a chair to sit during the afternoon which was a big part of why we decided to stay at this location. The room itself was nothing special. The beds and furniture looked nice in the online photos but up close were cheap and flimsy and were already showing signs of wear just weeks after opening. I expressed my concerns to the General Manager the day of our check out and was assured that they had already processed a refund for the cost of our stay (spoiler alert: he lied) and that he would be in touch, taking my email, about a return stay on the house (spoiler alert #2: he lied again). I left annoyed at the circumstances, but felt like they had done a good job of making things right. WRONG!!! After four weeks, it took me 5 phonecalls (including 4 non-returned voicemails) and 3 in-hotel front desk visits to finally speak directly to a manager. Her tone was annoyed and dismissive of the fact that I had been attempting to contact them for the past month and while she did refund the room the following day, never bothered to call or email to ensure it had been processed. And of course, the General Manager I spoke with at check out has made no attempt to contact me. Horrible customer service to say the least. There are many other true boutique hotel options in downtown Durham, including The Durham, 21C and Aloft. I have stayed at each and would recommend equally depending on your budget and needs. Do NOT waste your money here. If you want to see what it's all about, just ride the elevator up to the 3rd floor (no key required!), take a dip in the pool, get a drink and don't worry about needing to spend money be a guest. Let the suckers paying for a room worry about that! If you do pay to stay, expect a loud, sub-par quality room and a shoddy customer service experience at a...

I would give zero stars if I could. I’ve genuinely had cleaner, nicer, and friendlier stays at hostels.

My flight to NC was delayed, so I arrived after midnight. The front door was locked and there was no one at the front desk for about ten min. I called during that time and no one picked up. Finally, the front desk person appeared, unlocked the door for me, and THEN let me know that the doors get locked at 11pm, but that I could access the hotel through the garage entrance on the other side of the hotel (none of this information was made available anywhere a guest could find it).

The check-in process was easy enough, but when I entered my room on the 3rd floor, a cockroach the size of my thumb fell on me! I went back downstairs to ask for a different room and was told “this is the south ma’am, cockroaches are everywhere” and that there were no other rooms I could be given.

On top of the cockroach issue, and they were genuinely EVERYWHERE in that hotel, although they were nowhere to be seen anywhere else in the city I went, I had internet issues. I was in Durham for work and needed secure access, and couldn’t once connect to the internet. I called the front desk, and the gentleman there told me about 7 different possible passwords, none of which were correct. He also promised to get his manager on the phone with me to fix the issue - never happened. The three days I was there, I didn’t have internet, the manager never called, and no one seemed to know what the password could be.

The room was also gross. The carpets had crusted debris on them, burns marks, and there was an old, half-eaten strawberry just below the nightstand between the two beds. Every hard surface was sticky, like someone had spilled soda on it. The door had a noticeable gap between the bottom of the door and the frame, which explains how the roach got in.

During checkout, there were about 10 of us milling around the empty front desk for about 10-15 min around 9AM, when suddenly a woman who was sat in the corner crouched over a laptop popped up and asked if we needed any help. She’d been there the whole time while we stood there asking if anyone had seen anyone who worked there. The uniform seems to be a T-shirt that says “make waves, not war” and come in a variety of colors. I had only seen this T-shirt in red, and she was wearing blue, probably why I never even thought she could be an employee.

Overall, my experience at this hotel was abysmal. I almost never write reviews, but I’m hoping mine can help someone avoid the same experience I did. The city was great,...