Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Long Beach

The RMS Queen Mary is located in Long Beach, CA. I’d always wanted to do a tour, so I researched hotels in the area. The Hyatt Regency Long Beach was less than 5 minutes away by car so I booked a room for a weekend and used a Diamond confirmed suite upgrade.

Arriving at Long Beach airport, the drive to the hotel was just under 15 minutes. There was a long line for valet parking, and I wasn’t sure why until I got inside the hotel.

The lobby was swarming with guests. Unbeknownst to me, I’d happened to book for the same weekend as the Toyota Grand Prix races, and the Hyatt Regency Long Beach is the only hotel inside the race circuit. The races would be shown throughout the weekend on TVs in the lobby.

The wait for check-in was extremely long. Having arrived around 3pm, once I got to the front of the line I was disappointed to find that my room wasn’t ready, as I was still on a 2 hour time difference and had planned on an early night. At 4pm, I checked again since Diamonds are typically guaranteed a room by that time. Just before 5pm, I was given the key to a suite. The agent apologized for the wait and said that the hotel was completely full.

I took the elevator up to my room, and when I opened the door I was greeted by the hand sculpture holding a real apple. I’ve never actually eaten one of these apples, figuring they are more for show.

Entering the room I saw a 37″ LCD TV on the wall, and a modern desk of glass and metal. The TV had an HDMI outlet too, which was nice for plugging in my Roku.

Lots of great natural light streamed in to reveal ample seating, and a table within a table, or rather a table on wheels that slid over the top of…another table.

The hotel was noisy and busy, and I had hoped for a quiet room high up and away from it all with a view of the ocean. Alas, my room was on the third floor, so even though it faced the harbor I had a better view of the street and the orange cones.

This would have been an exciting room for someone wanting to watch the action of the races!

I think the decor was supposed to be modern or Metropolitan, but it seemed disorganized to me. Beachy photos were hung on one wall, a plastic lamp sat next to an iHome stereo, and the rest of the walls were blank.

There was a ruffly lampshade.

The weather was wonderful, and I tried to open the windows to let in some fresh air since the room was a bit stuffy. Unfortunately none of the windows opened, probably a hotel security feature.

Things I enjoyed about the room were the easy to use remote controlled blackout curtains, and the charging station. Blackout curtains are great!

The bathroom was clean, and done in cool grey tones. The extra large sink was great.

 The amenities were Hyatt’s signature Portico.

A vent was right next to the shower head, which meant that while showering cool air blew in. Some people may like that, but I prefer a hot shower without cool air circulating around.

The bed was a bit soft for my taste, and the furniture reminded me of a college dorm room.

I enjoyed the location, and it was just a quick drive over to visit the Queen Mary the next morning. There was also a hotel shuttle that made complimentary stops within a 2 mile radius so I could have used that if I didn’t have a car.

My overall thoughts are that I didn’t particularly care for this hotel. There was nothing really wrong with it, there were just a bunch of small things that added up. The suite I had was next to the elevators as well, which is never something I like. Next time I am in Long Beach I think I’ll try the Westin down the street.

Hyatt Regency Long Beach

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

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