Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport

The Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport opened in 1982, and was one of the first hotels in the Crystal City area. Today there are many more hotel choices in the area but the Hyatt Regency is still one of the most convenient for those who fly into Reagan National, and it has also recently been refurbished.

After arriving at the airport I went out to the curb and crossed my fingers while waiting for the shuttle to the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. I don’t like shuttles in general because they are often inefficient and take longer than I would like. Luck was with me that day though, and it was barely 5 minutes before the right shuttle approached.

After a quick ride to the hotel, luck was with me again. The lobby was large and well-laid out and after waiting patiently at check in since there were a few people in front of me, the hostess took a look at my reservation and warmly said that I had been given an Ambassador Suite! There are 686 rooms at the hotel, but only 29 suites.

The elevator was fast and after zipping up to my floor I walked down the hall to my room.

The first thing that struck me was that there was so much seating that you actually had to carefully navigate between a couch and some chairs to enter the sitting room. This would be a great room for entertaining or if traveling with several different people, inviting them over to your room.

Two velvety soft chairs with silky pillowcases were positioned against one wall.

The chairs were very comfortable too.

A TV hung on the wall near the couch so that you could watch it from there or from the chairs.

Near the velvety chairs was a well-placed outlet, perfect for electronic device charging. Bench seating along the window gave me better place to lay the devices than on the floor.

The desk was facing the window, which was great for daydreaming. The curtains in this room unfolded from the top, so you could let different levels of light in without having just a thin stream typical with other curtains.

A coffee maker sat on one side of the desk, offering coffee and Tazo teas. There were four more outlet here, convenient for laptop charging. Wifi was slow, but since I wasn’t doing anything that couldn’t wait I just decided to just wait until later in the day when there were hopefully less people on.

Artwork hung around the room, and had special lighting for proper viewing.

The view was great and I could see far into the distance because of the opening between the nearby buildings.

A balcony had two chairs and a small table, great for enjoying the outdoors. The chairs were low and the plexiglass balcony wall was high, so I didn’t really get a good view while sitting in the chairs but if having conversation I probably wouldn’t even notice.

The bathroom had four large towels and several small ones. There was a single sink, and a decent amount of counter space. The amenities were Kenet MD.

The shower water pressure was great! There was only half a glass door, so that meant there was some cold air circulating while in the shower which I’m not a fan of. Those who don’t enjoy overly steamy showers would like this feature though.

The bedroom was shaped so that immediately inside the door from the sitting room there was a small couch.

The bed was comfortable albeit a bit soft, with lots of fluffy pillows.

There was a TV in the bedroom, and there were the same pull down curtains that I liked from the sitting room.

The bedroom had another of those benches along the window which was a great way to add seating without taking away space.

The bathroom was accessible through some cool sliding screens.

The bed had soft lighting behind the headboard, along with individual bedside reading lights. It took me a while to figure out which switch turned off the headboard lights when it was time to go to bed, but it was a good feature to have. Oddly there were no outlets right by the bed, but since there were plenty in the other room it worked ok.

The curtains didn’t quiiite cover up all the light at one end, but it was easily fixed by using a pillow at the bottom.

I would stay at this hotel again. The lobby is great and the service was friendly. Even though there were lots of rooms I didn’t hear any noise at all once in the bedroom. The room was clean and the suite layout was interesting.

Hyatt Category 3. 12,000 points for a free night, or 6,000 points + $75 Cash & Points redemption.

Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport