After spending five nights at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa using points, we moved about 1/2 mile to stay at the Aloft Tulsa Downtown for four nights.
We did this as they had a low paid rate which, when combined with an Amex Offer, meant it was worth paying for those nights rather than using points to stay at the Hyatt Regency for a few more nights.
The Aloft isn’t as nice as the Hyatt Regency as it’s a completely different type of hotel, but we still had a good stay there. The building itself was constructed in 1969 and served as Tulsa’s City Hall. After City Hall was relocated, the building was renovated and converted to an Aloft in 2013.
Here’s a review of our four nights at the Aloft Tulsa Downtown, Oklahoma.
Check-In
After a late lunch at Andolini’s Pizzeria and a quick wander around Centennial Park, we headed to the Aloft at about 4:15pm to check in.
Rather than having regular hotel luggage carts, they have the type of carts you find at airports. We therefore needed to use a couple of these to bring in all our stuff.
The guy working at the front desk was friendly and got us checked in quickly. One of his colleagues came over to say hi to our dog Truffles and gave her a goody bag (more about that later).
I have Platinum status with Marriott Rewards and one of its benefits is a choice between free breakfast or bonus points. Their system was showing me as only having Gold status, which is what I had when originally making the reservation. I’d earned Platinum status following our stay at the Residence Inn Oklahoma City South, so he was able to verify that on his system.
We decided to go for free breakfast each day, seeing as we’d only have earned 250 bonus points. Shae and I were given coupons for $10 each towards breakfast each morning from their Re:Fuel food area.
Once we had those coupons, we headed up to our room on the 6th floor.
In case you’re not familiar with the Aloft hotel brand, its chief demographic is millennials. Although Shae and I are marginally older than millennials, we enjoy some of the Aloft style and the pops of color you’ll find in your room and around the hotel.
Bedroom
When entering the bedroom (we were in room 604), the bedroom area was straight ahead and to the right. A room divider separated the bedroom from the closet and bathroom areas to the right.
There was an open closet / storage area, with a curtain that could be pulled across the main closet section. This unit also held the coffee maker, a couple of bottles of water and a safe.
On the other side of the room divider was the main bedroom area. The bed was to the right, with a TV in the middle. The TV was housed in a cabinet that could be rotated almost 180° to face the opposite direction.
That’s because there was some window seating, although it wasn’t great given that there wasn’t anything to comfortably lean against and it squeaked loudly when sitting on it.
Either side of the window seating were a couple of desks, but only one office chair. We called down to the front desk to see if it was possible to get an additional chair so that Shae and I could each work at a desk. Shortly afterwards, they brought up another chair which we greatly appreciated.
The tall windows provided a lot of natural light and looked out towards the downtown BOK center. The hotel is therefore within walking distance if you’re catching a concert or other event there.
Our room had a comfortable king bed. One nice feature was that each side of the bed had two power outlets.
Behind the bed to the left was a small alcove containing an iron and ironing board.
Bathroom
Back opposite the closet was a large sink. Beneath that was a fairly small mini-fridge.
Next to the sink was a Bliss soap bar and lotion, along with a couple of packets of makeup remover. I’m surprised they don’t make the bars of soap a little smaller as they’re a decent size and last a very long time.
To the left of the sink was the main bathroom with a sliding door. Inside was the toilet and a walk-in shower. The door of the walk-in shower wasn’t great as water always managed to leak out beneath it onto the floor outside.
The shower had good water pressure and there were dispensers with Bliss shampoo & conditioner and body wash inside. Both lathered up nicely which is better than toiletries you get at some other hotels.
One feature we didn’t care for was that there was a tall, narrow pane of frosted glass between the bedroom and bathroom. That meant that if someone turned on the light in the bathroom at night, it lit up the bedroom as well. The frosted glass doesn’t seem to offer any benefit, so it’d be better to remove that to ensure the bedroom stays dark.
Overall though, we liked our room. In particular, we appreciated having the tall windows with a lot of sunlight, as well as having two desks we could work from.
Re:Fuel
Aloft hotels all have a section called Re:Fuel that sells food, beverages and toiletries 24 hours a day,
Breakfast
Even though the Re:Fuel area is open 24 hours a day, the hot breakfast options are only served from 6am to 10am.
To order one of their hot breakfast bowls, you have to circle which one you want and provide your name, room number and any special instructions on the bottom.
Here are the options in case you can’t make them out on the sheet:
- The Classic – Corn beef hash, scallions & poached egg – $6
- The Paleo – Sweet potato hash, scallions & poached egg – $6
- The Protein – Quinoa, brown rice, mushrooms, kale, grape tomatoes, turkey sausage & poached egg – $7
- The Sweet – Pancake bites, maple, fresh berries, lemon ricotta & granola – $6
- The Original – Seasoned French fries, cheddar cheese sauce, bacon, scallions & poached egg – $5
I ordered a hot option each morning, but got two of the same bowls twice. Looking back, I wish I’d tried The Paleo, so I’ll have to order that the next time we stay at an Aloft.
The first and third mornings I ordered The Protein. This was tastier than expected and filled me up until lunch. What was unexpected was that only the egg was hot; everything else – the quinoa, rice, sausage, etc. – were all served cold. I don’t mind cold quinoa too much, but I think it would’ve tasted better warm. The turkey sausage was a little dry both days though.
The second and fourth mornings I ordered The Classic. I enjoyed this as well, particularly because of how crispy the corn beef hash was.
Amenities
In addition to Re:Fuel for food, Aloft properties have Re:Charge for exercising. The Re:Charge fitness room at the Aloft Tulsa Downtown had more than half a dozen pieces of equipment and weights.
It also had several yoga mats and smaller weights available.
There was an outdoor swimming pool. It didn’t appear to be heated, but thanks to the nice weather (we visited at the end of September when it was ~80° each day), the water wasn’t too cold. It was certainly warmer than the unheated indoor pool at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa.
In a separate section next to the pool was a fairly large outdoor seating area.
I mentioned earlier that Aloft hotels are targeted at millennials. As a result, there are loads of other seating areas where people can hang out.
One of the main areas is the W XYZ lounge which has a bar, lots of seating and a pool table.
If you need to get online during your stay or print something, there’s a business center with a couple of computers and a printer.
There are guest laundry facilities on the 4th and 7th floors. The washing machine costs $1.50 per load, while the dryer costs $1.
If you need to hold a meeting in Tulsa, the Aloft Downtown has facilities you can book. There’s a main lobby area, a couple of smaller meeting rooms and a larger ballroom. Those rooms were all locked, so I wasn’t able to take photos inside to see how big they were.
Parking
Overnight parking at the hotel costs $10 per day. There was a reasonable amount of parking spots surrounding the hotel, although the parking lot got busy on the Saturday night we were there. I think there are additional parking levels, but we were always able to find a parking spot on the outdoor level.
Pet-Friendliness
One of the ways the hotel shines is with its pet friendliness. The Aloft Tulsa Downtown is a pet-friendly hotel (as are all Aloft properties) and has no pet fee.
They even gave Truffles a goody bag containing several gifts. She couldn’t wait to see what was inside:
Inside was a collapsible bowl, a tennis ball and some dog treats – so fun!
The hotel has a few grassy areas outside, along and on top of some sloping sides. Seeing as the hotel is located downtown, there are several other grassy areas within a block or two.
We can also recommend visiting Joe Station Dog Park which is only a few minutes drive away. It’s a nice, large dog park with separate sections for small and large dogs. Hi Cathy Sue, Harper and Hazel!!
Service
Service at the Aloft was very good. There were a couple of especially-friendly staff members at the front desk, although I sadly didn’t make a note of their names.
They also brought an additional chair up to our room very quickly after we requested one so that we could use both desk areas.
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi at the hotel is free for all guests. We didn’t have any speed or connection issues while we were there.
Location
The Aloft Tulsa Downtown is in a great location downtown. It’s next door to a nice, new library and is within walking distance of pretty much everything downtown.
Cost
I mentioned at the start of the review that we booked a stay at this hotel due to a combination of a cheap rate and an Amex Offer.
Our four nights cost $83.88 per night including tax, making the total cost $335.52. When making our reservation, there was an Amex Offer that was offering $60 back when spending $300 at SPG brands. That made our net cost $275.52, although it ended up being $315.52 once the $10 per night parking was included.
I booked our stay via Top Cashback to earn an additional 3%. That’s calculated on the pre-tax cost, so we’re due to get $8.87 back. Our stay has tracked, so once we receive that cashback it effectively means our four night stay cost $306.65, or $76.66 per night which is really good. On top of that, we got $20 each day to spend on breakfast.
(n.b. That link to Top Cashback is my referral link. If you use my link to sign up, both you and I will earn a bonus. The bonus varies, but it’s usually $10-$15.)
Based on the 50% bonus points I get from having Platinum status, the current Marriott Rewards promotion offering 2,000 bonus points per stay and the 6 points per dollar by paying with an SPG credit card, I’m expecting to earn 8,000+ Marriott Rewards points from this stay.
Their system has been slow in crediting points for stays since the Marriott/SPG programs were combined back in August 2018, so I’m still waiting for those points to show up in my account.
It’s a category 2 property in the Marriott Rewards loyalty scheme, so it would’ve cost 12,500 points per night if we’d paid using points. It was therefore better value to pay for our stay given the low rate, the Amex Offer and the points we’ll earn.
Final Thoughts
If you need somewhere to stay in downtown Tulsa, the Aloft is a solid option. The hotel has friendly staff, comfortable rooms and some good amenities.
There are a few minor things they could improve (like the frosted glass between the bedroom and bathroom), but we enjoyed our four nights there.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! If she had an additional paw, she’d probably give them that one too.
The staff was extremely friendly with Truffles and gave her a lot of attention, there was no pet fee and they even had a goody bag for her.
Our Rating
Room = 4.3 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5
Food = 4.2 / 5
Location = 4.7 / 5
Service = 4.5 / 5
Overall Value = 4.7 / 5
Total = 4.43 / 5
Address
Aloft, 200 Civic Center, Tulsa, OK 74103
Leave a Reply