Back in May, Shae and I flew back to Virginia as her dad was getting remarried. There were all kinds of reports about rental car shortages, so we decided to try and make do without a car.
Hampton Roads isn’t a particularly public transport-friendly location though, so with the wedding being in Chesapeake, we wanted to stay as close to the venue as possible. The ideal hotel would’ve been the Hampton Inn Norfolk Chesapeake (which we’d stayed at before) as it was only a couple of minutes walk away, but the room rates – whether booking with cash or points – were more than we wanted to pay for the four nights we’d be there.
We ended up finding a good alternative – the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier. This was close enough that it wouldn’t be too expensive getting an Uber or Lyft to the venue both the day before and the day of the wedding, but was also within somewhat walking distance in case there simply weren’t any Uber or Lyft rides available.
It ended up being a fairly standard Hyatt Place stay and was good value when booked with points. If you’re someone that needs your room to be very dark at night though, you might want to pick somewhere else to stay when looking at hotels in the Chesapeake area.
Here’s a complete review of our stay at the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier.
Check-In
I’m not entirely sure why, but the check-in process seemed to take a little longer than normal, although the front desk agent was very perky and friendly.
Seeing as we’d flown back for a few days, it was nice to only have a few things to take up to our room with us rather than the two luggage carts that we normally have to take up with us (in case you’re not familiar with our site, we’re on a 5 year, 50 state road trip and travel with pretty much everything we own).
Bedroom
When entering our room the bathroom was immediately on the left, the living area straight ahead and the bedroom area around to the left.
The living area felt a little smaller than other Hyatt Places, although it certainly wasn’t tiny. There was still a corner sleeper sofa and ottoman, along with a desk and office chair. A TV was on top of a shelving unit which separated the living area from the bedroom.
Immediately to our right when entering (and to the right of the desk) was a mini fridge, coffee maker and a few small dresser drawers.
The closet was to the right of the bathroom door and contained bedding for the sleeper sofa, an iron, ironing board and luggage rack.
The bedroom area had a king bed which, as always with Hyatt properties, we found very comfortable.
The view from the window was nice enough too.
What wasn’t as nice was the quality – or lack of quality – of the curtains. I think they were supposed to be blackout curtains, but they were awful. This is what it was like at 2am:
That’s a lot of light considering it was the middle of the night, but the situation was even worse as soon as the sun came up. Here’s how dark bright it was at about 6:30am:
Like I said at the start of the review, if you need a room that’s dark in order to sleep, the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Virginia isn’t going to be for you.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a walk-in shower which had absolutely fantastic water pressure – having a shower each day was lovely and refreshing.
The design of the shower wasn’t great though. The left side of the door was fixed in place and the right side was a sliding door, so you got wet when turning on the shower. The door also slid back open when closed, so we had to hang a towel over the top to keep it fixed in place while showering.
Breakfast
Breakfast was served from 6-9am, although it might’ve gone on for a little longer at weekends. The Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier still hasn’t returned to the standard buffet breakfast that was available pre-COVID, but their selection was still pretty good compared to what a lot of other hotels have offered over the past 15 months or so.
There was a coffee station as well, but I forgot to take a photo of it.
Amenities
The hotel has an indoor swimming pool. Unfortunately I didn’t make a note to myself for this review, but from what I can remember it was still open for guests to use, but you had to arrange it with the front desk due to COVID.
I don’t think the fitness room had any restrictions regarding access though. It had several pieces of equipment and weights for guests to use.
There was a guest laundry room with two washing machines and two dryers. The dryers cost $2.50 per load, but I wasn’t able to see how much the washing machines cost as they were both in use when I checked.
Just behind the front desk was a business center featuring a couple of computers and a printer.
In addition to the seating areas in the lobby, there was an outdoor seating area at the back of the hotel.
Pet Policy
The Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier is a pet-friendly hotel which charges a pet fee of $75 per stay. You’re allowed up to two dogs weighing no more than 75 lbs combined, with a weight limit of 50 lbs per dog.
Although we travel full-time with our dog Truffles, we left her in Phoenix with a pet sitter and so she wasn’t with us at this particular hotel. I therefore didn’t pay attention to how many grassy areas there were around the hotel itself, but there were sidewalks where you could take your pup for longer walks if you wanted.
Service
Service from the front desk seemed friendly enough. We were out of the hotel for much of our visit and so I think we only really interacted with them when checking in and out.
Wi-Fi
Internet is free for all guests and seemed to be a good speed.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
The check-in time at the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier is 3pm and check-out is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is within walking distance of a Target, 7-Eleven, Best Buy, OfficeMax and a bunch of restaurants. It’s also only about a mile from Greenbrier Mall and is just off I-64.
Parking
Parking is free at the hotel and there seemed to be plenty of spaces available for guests.
Cost
We booked our four night stay using points because the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier is a category 1 property in the World of Hyatt program and so they only charge 5,000 points per night. Even better, Hyatt was running a promotion at the time which offered 2,000 bonus points for every two nights you stayed, or 2,500 points if you had a Hyatt credit card. We have a Hyatt credit card and so our four night stay earned us a total of 5,000 points back which meant our average nightly cost only ended up being 3,750 points.
The cash cost for our dates would’ve been $147.27 per night including tax. That means we got 3.93cpp (cents per point) of value by using our points which is about double the value that you can expect to normally get when redeeming Hyatt points which is why we went that route.
Final Thoughts
Our stay at the Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier was decent enough. The hotel was quiet, the staff at the front desk were nice and they had a fairly good breakfast offering for it not being back to a full buffet breakfast yet due to COVID.
The biggest downside for us were the awful curtains in our room as they let in far too much light. This woke us up earlier than we’d have liked, so if you need your room to be dark to get a good night’s sleep, this hotel probably won’t be for you unless they improve that feature.
For 5,000 points per night though, it felt like a good redemption overall.
Truffles Approval Rating
Seeing as she wasn’t traveling with us this time, our dog Truffles doesn’t have any views to share about our stay. This was her preparing to head to the pet sitter.
Our Rating
Room = 3.8 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5
Food = 4.2 / 5
Location = 4.3 / 5
Service = 4.2 / 5
Overall Value = 4.1 / 5
Total = 4.13/5
Address
Hyatt Place, 709 Eden Way N, Chesapeake, VA 23320
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