Hyatt Place St. Paul/Downtown — Hotel in Saint Paul

This particular Hyatt hotel was beyond disappointing. June 17 2025

Location

There is no clear signage for the Hyatt hotel. It shares the building with Custom House an apartment/condo. There is a small sandwich board with the Hyatt logo and cones in front (on Kellogg) showing the words Valet which you might miss while dealing with downtown traffic.

Parking

The website directions and parking instructions are incredibly uninformative. They state that you can valet ($32)or park on your own. There are no detailed instructions that there is no off street drive up to the valet, but instead an inlet pull off in front of the double doors with the name of the Custom House condo/apt structure and not the Hyatt. There are no valets to greet you. You must check in first and then give your key to the valet kiosk outside the hotel lobby but in the apt/condo lobby.

Front Desk

I missed the valet parking inlet and U turned and drove around the entire building even entering the parking garage which is only for the Custom House condo/apt building. After 10 min of navigating one way streets I found a place to park to call the hotel. The front desk representative was less than receptive. She echoed the same line as the website directions and only confirmed the location of where the valet location when queried specifically if it was on Kellogg.

I entered the double doors and in the atrium had to use a buzzer on the left side as you enter to gain entry to the Custom House apt/condo lobby. I take a left (passing the valet kiosk) and enter the Hyatt lobby which it was immediately apparent what such a good photographer they used to portray the space on their website. It was not at all the same feel.

I approached the front desk and it was apparent it was the same person I spoke to on the phone. She did not greet me, I stood in front of her while she went to the computer. After 45 awkward seconds I took out my ID card. After another minute without speaking she handed me my room keys without ever looking at my ID or addressing me at all. She then went through the details of breakfast hours and the limited amenities of the hotel. This was the most disappointing part of my experience.

Other notes

Top floor rooms facing Kellogg do not have an appealing view. The view is blocked by a brick facade that allows a view of adjacent buildings half way up.

There are only ice machines on floor 2 and 4.

Overall very disappointing Hyatt experience. I will make a point to avoid any Hyatt brand in the future. I have had better customer service experiences at Motel 6.

To Hyatt: If you actually read this, there was a Google review at this hotel from two months ago that gave a poor review specifically on poor front desk customer service. Please don’t respond to this comment with the following platitude:

we're truly sorry that the service you received didn't reflect the level of hospitality we hold ourselves to. A warm welcome and attentive care are the heart of what we aim to provide, and it's clear we missed the mark. Your feedback is incredibly helpful, and we'll be sharing it with our team to ensure we're offering the thoughtful, guest-first experience our visitors deserve. We hope we'll have the opportunity to welcome you again-and to provide the elevated stay you...

Hello Hyatt Place,

My name is Emanuel Clarke and I want to thank you all for treating me like I was a guest in your own home. You really have some amazing people who work here. The people who worked in your hotel went above and beyond to make sure my stay was comfortable and I have not forgotten about it. I would like to mention the following staff members for going above and beyond to making sure I felt at home and being very supportive of me emotionally. They knew I was going through a trying time in my property management job and they were very supportive.

Peter, you did a great job working at the front desk and talking with me. Thank you for helping me get changed to do the laundry and thank you for talking about old buildings with me. You're a brilliant man who is very smart and I appreciate you very much.

Ka, thank you for always being kind and friendly when I came in the building. You made it much nicer coming in and out of the building just by being your kind self at the front door with the parking. I'm really glad that you're studying criminal justice and I know you will be successful. I hold a degree in that field myself from Bemidji State University.

Hannah, thank you for making the front desk a much brighter place and listening to me when I had something on my mind. You're very smart and have a good head on your shoulders. You really have excellent people skills. I'm sorry that people work in customer service back in DC too many of them don't have your work ethos.

Sara, you were awesomely supportive of me and I have no doubt that you have a PhD in psychology. I think you would be good in psychology no matter what you do with it. You make me feel very comfortable and welcome and I'm glad I could open up and share with you what I did. I enjoyed talking with you and talking with you did make me feel better about what I was dealing with.

This hotel did a very nice job and I didn't just feel like I was paying money I felt like they wanted me to have a nice time here and to be comfortable. They treated me like I was a guest in their own home. I definitely would recommend this hotel. If you're into historic Art Deco architecture this is the place for you. There are a lot of very good people who care about what they do who work here and I would strongly encourage people to stay. It isn't all about money it's about the quality of the experience.

Thank you all for such a wonderful stay and I don't mind staying here again. If I have to come up for another alarm event this is going to be where I plan on staying.

Sincerely, Emanuel D Clarke, B.S. (Cum Laude) Criminal Justice Bemidji State...

We never intended to find ourselves stranded in St. Paul (we were supposed to fly from Cancun to Vancouver), however due to a series of snow storms, blizzards, and ice storms, we ended up stranded in St. Paul for 8 days. We originally chose this hotel because of its proximity to the train station (we planned on taking the Empire Builder Amtrak from St Paul to Seattle). Sadly, our train was cancelled, but I am so glad we found this hotel. We ended up staying for six days, including over Christmas, far from family and friends. But we thoroughly enjoyed the hotel. The hotel is in a historic building from the 1920s, originally built as a post office and to house various federal agencies. The wide hallways, old office doors, and historical touches throughout the hotel give you a sense of having traveled back in time. The lobby is expansive and beautiful with ample, comfortable seating throughout. The 20-foot+ ceilings with windows give the lobby a sense of freshness and air even on the cold, dark winter days. We spent hours each day curled up on various couches reading books and sipping coffee or hot chocolate. The room was huge with incredibly high ceilings and windows, a generous bathroom, and loads of channels to scroll through on the TV. The location is in the heart of downtown St. Paul so various food delivery companies have dozens of restaurants just minutes away. The staff were all friendly and helpful. We loved the small pool and swam every day, as well as the gym which has various cardio equipment featuring screens that take you on trails throughout the world (I lost myself in small town Germany, the Alps, and New Zealand each day on the treadmill and bike). The guest laundry was very helpful since we had few things with us. The breakfast each morning is pretty standard (the French toast, waffles, and potatoes will leave you wanting - they aren't the best) but it has a big enough selection most will find something yummy to start their day. The small snack area could use a little updating, too, but all in all, we loved our stay here. The wifi was stable, fast, and consistent throughout the hotel, the random seating areas (like the huge one on the 5th floor) make for comfy places to read or chat if you need to get out of your room, and we will absolutely stay here again if we ever find ourselves back...