The reason we chose to spend this summer in Colorado rather than our original plan of visiting Oregon is because we had more economical accommodation options in Colorado (see this post for more about our decision).
One of those options was the Hyatt House Colorado Springs as it’s a category 1 property in the World of Hyatt program and so wouldn’t cost many points. That was great, but our stay there wasn’t as good as we were expecting. It has potential, but there were a few pretty fundamental flaws that mean we wouldn’t choose to stay there again unless those issues were fixed.
Here’s a complete review of our stay at the Hyatt House Colorado Springs, CO.
Check-In
We arrived at the hotel just after 6pm. We’d booked the stay in Shae’s name, so she went to get us checked in while I unloaded the car. Apparently Glenn was very friendly at check-in and got us checked in quickly.
We knew ahead of time that there was very little chance of getting an upgrade to a one bedroom suite as they appeared to be sold out online and that was indeed the case. We had to book two separate stays – one of eight nights and one of three nights – as there wasn’t the same room type bookable for all 11 nights. The first stay was meant to be in an accessible room with a king bed, while the second stay was meant to be a ‘Double/Double Executive Suite’. Thankfully they were able to give us a regular king studio room which we were able to stay in for all 11 nights rather than having to change rooms later on in our stay.
King Studio Suite
Our king studio suite was room 306. There was an unpleasant smell on the third floor as we walked down the hallway – like someone’s stinky feet. The smell seemed to persist for much of our stay, so I’m not sure what the cause of that was; thankfully it didn’t permeate into our room.
When entering our suite the living area was on the right, the kitchen on the left, the bedroom straight ahead and the bathroom past the kitchen on the left.
The living room had a comfortable sleeper sofa with a couple of ottomans. There was a desk next to the sofa, but for some reason there was no office chair. We could’ve asked for one, but we didn’t end up using the desk for working and so didn’t bother.
There was a room divider/storage unit between the living area and bedroom which housed the room’s TV. This was hands down the very worst TV we’ve had in our almost four years of living in hotels. It was a really old TV with poor picture quality. The TV channel selection was abysmal – I don’t think it received much more than a dozen channels, about half of which were news channels. There weren’t even basic channels like NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC, etc. The only two channels that occasionally had something worth watching were IFC and AMC but they often showed the same movies each day and so those weren’t much use either.
Ordinarily we’d plug in our Fire TV Stick and so the poor channel selection wouldn’t be an issue. However, the TV was so old that it didn’t have any kind of HDMI input, so that wasn’t an option. While I’m all for not filling landfills with electronics that still work, having a hotel provide guests with TVs that would’ve seemed outdated 15 years ago isn’t great, especially when the TV channels that go along with it are almost non-existent.
Kitchen
Our suite had a full (albeit small) kitchen with a full-sized fridge-freezer, dishwasher, microwave and stovetop.
The cupboards contained plates, dishes, silverware, cookware, cooking utensils, etc.
Bedroom
Our king bed was very comfortable and the blackout curtains worked well (much better than at the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier!)
Opposite the bed was a walk-in closet with plenty of storage space.
The room divider/storage unit had a couple of dresser drawers on the bedroom side.
Bathroom
When entering the bathroom the sink and vanity were straight ahead.
The bathroom had a bathtub with shower. This was another of the major flaws with our stay because there was often no hot water. When asking about this at the front desk, we were advised that there was a problem with the boiler and they were waiting on a part for it to be fixed. However, this proved to be an issue for our entire stay, with at least half the times we tried to take a shower having no hot water.
The hotel ended up awarding us with 10,000 points due to the lack of hot water which we appreciated, but it makes me wonder how ongoing that issue was because it was a problem the length of our stay. A hotel not being able to fix a boiler for at least 11 days is concerning and makes me wonder how much of a priority it was for them to fix it.
Breakfast
When we stayed in June 2021, the Hyatt House Colorado Springs was still offering a COVID-affected breakfast, but they had a pretty good selection of breakfast items for a grab-and-go breakfast.
In terms of hot options, they offered Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches as well as burritos containing egg, cheese, potato and some kind of meat. There were then all kinds of other items.
Amenities
The Hyatt House Colorado Springs has a nice courtyard area with an outdoor swimming pool and whirlpool with lots of seating around the edge.
The lobby is on the second floor, so you have to go down to the first floor to get to the swimming pool. Also on the first floor was the L-shaped fitness room which had a few pieces of equipment and weights.
Back up on the second floor there’s a guest laundry room with three washers and three dryers. The washing machines cost $2.50 per load and the dryers were $2 per load; this could be paid for using debit and credit cards rather than needing to use coins which is more convenient.
Also on the second floor was the hotel’s business center which had a couple of computers and a printer.
On one side of the front desk was a bar area that seemed to be open every evening.
On the other side of the front desk was a pantry area in case you need any snacks, drinks or toiletries.
Pet Policy
The Hyatt House Colorado Springs is a pet-friendly hotel. Their pet fee is $75 for stays of 1-6 nights and $175 for stays of 7+ nights. We stayed there with our dog Truffles and even though we were there for 11 nights, we only got charged $75 which was nice.
The weight limit for dogs is 50 lbs, with a maximum of two dogs per room weighing a combined maximum of 75 lbs.
There are a few areas for your pet to do their business around the hotel, although along both sides of the hotel there’s no footpath and so you have to keep an eye out for cars.
Service
Service was pretty good at the hotel as the front desk staff members were all friendly. We declined housekeeping throughout our stay, so there’s nothing to share on that front.
Wi-Fi
The hotel’s Wi-Fi was another serious flaw with our stay. I was initially able to connect my laptop to their Wi-Fi, but for whatever reason their network wouldn’t let me use my VPN while connected. I’m uncomfortable not using a VPN on hotel networks, so I was stuck tethering to my phone’s hotspot for the length of our stay. That meant I maxed out my full-speed data allowance and so that got throttled for the last few days of our stay.
Shae was unable to connect her laptop to their internet for pretty much all our stay (nothing to do with a VPN) and, when she did manage to connect one time, the speed was abysmal – something like 0.16 mbps for downloads. Seeing as she teaches online using Zoom a couple of days a week, that’s not ideal. She therefore had to spend a couple of days at Panera in order to use their internet.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
The check-in time at the Hyatt House Colorado Springs is 3pm and check-out is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is sort of hidden away next to an apartment complex, so keep an eye out for a sign pointing to the hotel. It’s just off I-25 and is only 10-15 minutes from Garden of the Gods. Downtown Colorado Springs is about 15 minutes away and the cute town of Manitou Springs is about 20 minutes away.
The hotel has several grocery stores and restaurants within a short driving distance.
Parking
It’s free to park at the hotel and there are plenty of spaces all around the property.
Cost
As mentioned at the start of the review, we booked the Hyatt House Colorado Springs using points. That’s because it’s a category 1 property in the World of Hyatt program and so only costs 5,000 points per night.
Our net cost was even lower than that though. Hyatt was running a promotion at the time which offered 2,000 points for every two nights you stayed, or 2,500 points if you had the Hyatt credit card. Both Shae and I have the World of Hyatt card, so our 11 nights got 12,500 points back. On top of that we got 10,000 back for the lack of hot water in our bathroom throughout our stay. That means our net cost was only 2,954.55 points per night.
That Hyatt promotion also offered a category 1-4 free night certificate when staying a total of 10 nights, so we earned that free night certificate as well.
If we’d paid for our stay, it would’ve cost $153.25 per night including tax for the first eight nights and $223.50 per night including tax for the following three nights. That’s why using points was such great value.
Final Thoughts
The Hyatt House Colorado Springs had a lot of potential for a great value stay. With it only costing 5,000 points per night for a room with a kitchen, we were looking forward to staying there. The breakfast was fairly good for a COVID-affected offering and their staff members were friendly.
However, its substantial flaws make me question whether we’d want to stay there again. Not knowing if you’re going to have any hot water for 11 nights is unacceptable, as were the issues with their internet. The poor quality TV and lack of channels was a disappointing surprise too. Those are some fundamental issues that are hard to overlook, so I think we’d only stay there again if we were sure that those problems had all been resolved.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! The hotel seemed to be quiet enough for her and we appreciated only being charged a $75 pet fee rather than $175. It wasn’t the best property to walk your dog around outside though.
Our Rating
Room = 3.6 / 5 (marked down mainly due to the lack of hot water, but also the TV)
Hotel Amenities = 3.9 / 5 (this score would’ve been higher if it weren’t for the Wi-Fi which is an important feature for us as we both work online)
Food = 4.3 / 5
Location = 4.3 / 5
Service = 4.3 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5 (great value on points, not as much for paid stays)
Total = 4.13
Address
Hyatt House, 5805 Delmonico Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80919
Curiosity is getting to me. Why do they have a table fan in the snack shop? Also, was the parking lot in the middle of getting repaved?
The table fan was on the bar counter pointing at the front desk rather than being in the pantry area.
As for the parking lot, I don’t think it was in the middle of being repaved – there wasn’t any work going on during our stay anyway.
Ha. We almost crossed paths. We were there the night of the All-Star game. Glenn was a character, but a fun one. Glad you didn’t get the “One-Bedroom King Suite” which we had. It may have been the source of that smell on the 3rd floor you mentioned. When we opened the fridge, it had the overpowering smell of death but looked clean. Also, that room had a very unpleasant vibration throughout the room, that turned off when the air conditioning for the room did. Glenn said it happened to be over the ‘laundry room’ and would be quiet at night. Yeah, no. That coupled with the smell forced us to ask for a move. We got downgraded the King Studio on the lowest level. The room was fine, but nothing spectacular. Your photos are almost glamour shots of rooms and a property that needs quite a bit more TLC. The outdoor space was a tar parking lot in a business/apartment complex setting.
Not really something to visit again.
Sorry that you had a similarly poor experience.