Hyatt Regency New Brunswick — Hotel in New Brunswick

As 2022 wraps up, I found myself a few nights short of Globalist for the Hyatt loyalty program. Living in the tri-county area, I decided to look for an inexpensive stay to grab that sweet top tier status again for 2023. I was expecting to stay at a cheap little Hyatt Place or Hyatt House. Through my search I found this little gem, with an amenity that has been all but wiped out post pandemic, a hot tub!!!!

So a short drive from NY, I found myself checking into the Hyatt Regency New Brunswick. Adnan, an extremely friendly, later found out he was a director of operations at the location, individual checked me into the hotel. At the time, through an error of my own, I mistakenly thought I had been given an executive suite, but in actuality, it was an executive king. Sidenote: Please Hyatt make a better distinction between your rooms and suites, because when you name them the same thing, it can get a little confusing. That being said, it was still my fault that I mistakenly assumed that. Since I had 3 + 1 baby, it was not sufficient. Upon returning to the front desk, Adnan took his time searching carefully through the system and found me my new home for the next 4 days. And when I say home, I mean home.

The suite provided to me on Christmas weekend was a small apartment. It featured a kitchen area with sinks, full size refrigerator, and a microwave/oven combination for heating up food. A full six person dining table, a living room for 5, a standard bedroom and 1.5 bathrooms(1 full with a tub, and a guest toilet). At the end of this review I will make a comment about how the location could do with some updating, but its worth mentioning newer hotels I've been to don't have suites like this anymore, but I digress. And even though I was ready to sleep on the couch for the next few nights so my MIL and wife could have the bedroom, Adnan absolutely insisted on getting me a rollaway, which I greatly appreciated. The room was huge and the pictures will show that.

Your loyalty status is 100% recognized. The breakfast at the location inside the Glass Woods Tavern is tasty and sizeable. If you are a Globalist do not miss the opportunity to sit down to a classy breakfast. If you are not, consider spending the money to enjoy a nice breakfast, the staff inside are also very caring.

So far this hotel was an absolute gem in the rough, the key word being rough. This hotel truly does show its age in many little elements for better or worse. The paint layers are relatively evident, the carpet fraying edges and wearing could be seen, and the kitchen area definitely showed a last generation design to it, cabins, tabletop, etc. The furniture while updated in some places also showed their age in tired leather. With that in mind, however, it is worth mentioning the old saying, "they don't make them like they used to". The hotel may be older but it is solid, from the solid stone front desk, to the solid wood coffee table, and solid bedside desks, you simply do not find them in newer hotels anymore. Everything these days are faux leather, plasterboard, and corkwood. But what really makes this place shine is its staff, every employee I ran into seemed happy and smiling. I believe that it is because having someone like Adnan at the helm really makes it work. I asked for him to thank him for his kindness and he came quickly with concern in his eyes that my stay wasn't well. I definitely pulled him away from something important, too, as demonstrated by the files and clipboard in his hands. Hyatt needs to continue to keep its eyes on people like him. Lastly, it is definitely worth mentioning that by the front desk there was exciting news that the hotel would be undergoing renovations soon. I hope they do update but keep the luxury that makes this the gem I see it to be. A little polishing and this place will become the diamond it is. My only disappointment will be that it will become more expensive to stay in the future but it will be...

I had made a reservation 3 weeks in advance for two of the Deluxe Suite rooms, the only rooms that can accomodate 5 people each (their 2 bed rooms accomodate 4). The morning I am due to check in, I check the Hyatt app and to my shock, both rooms have been changed overnight to standard 2 bed rooms. I call World of Hyatt at 7:30 AM to confirm I still have the Deluxe Suites I booked and they confirmed that is also what they are showing. The hotel did not answer their phone or texts (through the app). I called around 9:30 AM and spoke to Terry and was told that "I will get what I paid for" and that all suites including deluxe suites were booked. I got a complimentary downgrade. I thanked her and called World of Hyatt. World of Hyatt contacted the hotel and then told me that the hotel would investigate and get back to me in an hour. After not hearing for them for a few hours, I called them around 12:30. After being on hold for about 20 minutes, Adnan picked up. Adnan had said the rate I paid was a mistake and was able to fix one room back to a Deluxe and was given an executive suite instead of the Deluxe. Adnan tried his best. What was bothersome was that no one contacted me about the downgrade beforehand and also that I was initially told I should just accept it (when I called at 9:30 AM). When I got there, things were not much better. At check-in on Friday night, the manager didnt give me any information about the hotel, asked if I needed parking or about the water bottles as a World of Hyatt member. I had to drag these out if him. The stay wasnt much better. The room was missing a fridge. Any requests through text (using the app) were mostly ignored until after I called down a few hours later. I'd get updates all of the sudden, I'd get a text response shortly after calling. The exception was that Javier responded a few times, he was very helpful. When they did bring towels, it was always less than what I had asked for. The rooms themselves looked worn but were spacious. The smells from neighboring rooms carry through the vents. The hottub was warm but not hot. The wall temp said 88 degrees. The pool was cold. What was astonishing to me was that on Saturday night, there were 25 people in the pool/hottub area at 10:30 PM and there were no towels. The manager (with the security earpiece) walked by several times but never refilled them and didn't let anyone know to refill them. If you see a wet floor there at night, its because the pool towels are always empty. It seems that there are a few bad apples here that are ruining this place. For what they charge, I wouldn't recommend staying here until...

Our first stay that was booked via their website was smooth and right on point with what we expect from a Hyatt. From experience that’s largely because we never had to deal with anyone except during check in. (Which in turn also means nothing broke 😂)

Our second stay with them was disappointing to say the least - all because we booked via a third party site:

It all started when we were given a completely different room type than the one we booked. We were told nothing at check in and was made to initiate the discussion after we got to our room (the landline phone wasn’t charged but I figured out how to use it hands free - did they plan it??). If you wonder why, that’s because it’s close to shift change so the morning team wants to hand the bucket over to the evening team to deal with it. And if you wonder why we were given a completely different room, that’s because we booked through a third party site. If the hotel is able to sell the same room to another person willing to pay a higher price on their own website what do you think they will do? (they increased the price overnight and the same room type were still available even the morning of my check in so it wasn’t sold out when we booked) So we were basically downgraded because they oversold. I travel a lot, this is not the first time it happened and there are countless discussions about this topic. It is not a Hyatt issue, it’s just how business is done. However, how a guest is treated after varies a lot and it all depends on hotel policy and the people.

I wasn’t even confrontational about the issue but I guess the team was expecting a fight because the lady with a large hairdo that bought me the extra bed (we got “downgraded” to a room with just one bed😂) said “you want this or not” in an irritated tone when I opened the door. She quickly said she’s joking when she saw my expressions but she and I both know what it is.

If you wonder why they never bothered to offer points/meal vouchers/ free parking, that’s because we booked through a third party site and they know we will complain to them and the third party site would be footing the bill for this. But they forgot that the guest still had to spend time doing that.

When a customer is disappointed at check in, everything else that isn’t perfect will be exaggerated throughout the stay. Icy cold pool? Hot tub is lukewarm? Loud wedding parties blocking the hotel entrance that guests are seen ducking under the staircase to navigate around them? “Zero star review!!”

All told, the hotel is newly renovated so you will need to be really picky to fault the hard product. I guess it’s two stars as a “thank you for...