We’re spending a total of 10.5 weeks in Texas on our 5 year, 50 state road trip, with more than half of that time being spent in Hyatt Place properties.
There are a couple of reasons for that. The first is that we’d already booked some stays using points as there are loads of Hyatt Places in Texas that only cost 5,000 points per night, the lowest category in the World of Hyatt program.
Secondly, having booked those stays, Hyatt came out with an extremely rewarding promotion. We already had 20-30 nights booked, so it made sense trying to hit the maximum of 40 nights at their brands during the promotion period. Hyatt Places tend to be the most reasonably priced, although Hyatt Houses can be good value too.
That meant when it came to finding a hotel to stay at in Houston, I decided to go with the Hyatt Place Houston-North. There were a few other hotel chains that were slightly cheaper, but the points we earned more than made up for the slightly higher cost.
We ended up staying in Houston for seven nights, so here’s a review of our week-long stay at the Hyatt Place Houston-North.
Check-In
We’d had a long day driving from Abilene as we stopped off along the way for a few hours, so we didn’t arrive in Houston until about 9:30pm. Thankfully that meant there wasn’t a line of people waiting to check in, so we got our keys to room 401 a couple of minutes after arriving.
Bedroom
Our room will look familiar to anyone who’s stayed at a Hyatt Place as their room styles are very consistent (although the layout sometimes differs).
When entering the room, the corner sleeper sofa was on the right-hand side. Slightly unusually, the sofa wasn’t lined up along the wall by the entrance, but that space served as a good storage spot for some of our bags.
The ottoman was the best one I remember having at a Hyatt Place as it was lower than the sofa cushions. All too often the ottoman seems to be taller – I don’t find it comfortable having my legs resting higher, so I much preferred this.
On the opposite side of the room was the dry bar with a mini-fridge, desk and office chair. The coffee maker and tea and coffee supplies were on top of the dry bar.
Between the living room area and the bedroom was the TV.
The selection of TV channels was much more limited than at other hotels we’ve stayed at.
As always, the king bed was wonderful and we slept extremely well.
We slept well despite the limited usefulness of the blackout curtains which looked like they’d been used as target practice at a gun range.
Both sides of the bed had outlets available, including a charging port for both plugs and USB cables.
The room’s closet contained an iron, ironing board, luggage rack and spare pillow for the sofa bed.
Bathroom
Next to the closet was the sink and vanity, along with a dresser and additional countertop space.
There were the standard Barney Kenet MD toiletries, although the Hyatt Place Houston-North also provided lotion, something you don’t tend to get at all Hyatt Place properties (not that we ever make use of it).
The bathroom contained a walk-in shower that had a fairly squeaky door. I was more than willing to overlook that though thanks to the amazing shower inside – definitely one of the best ones we’ve had so far on our road trip. The shower head was excellent and provided a lot of coverage, while the water pressure was also fantastic. It’s probably not great from a water conservation standpoint, but it was so refreshing!
Breakfast
In the past, breakfast was always included as part of your room rate when staying at a Hyatt Place, regardless of how you booked. Hyatt recently changed that so you now – in theory – only get free breakfast when booking directly as a World of Hyatt member. That means if you book via Expedia, Hotels.com, etc., you don’t get free breakfast.
That seems to be a loose policy though, at least while people get used to the new policy. We’d booked directly and so it wasn’t an issue for us, but other guests were allowed to sign up for the World of Hyatt program at the hotel and get free breakfast, even though they’d not booked directly.
The hotel also explained that Hyatt had brought in a new style of breakfast and that the options might differ depending on what part of the country you’re staying in. The hot options changed most days at the Hyatt Place Houston-North, with garlic herb potato medley and chipotle beef barbacoa hash being offered on a couple of days. Both were very tasty, although the potatoes weren’t as crispy as I’d have liked.
Scrambled eggs were served every day, with bacon being offered on a few days too. I wasn’t a fan of the eggs the first day, but they were much better for the remainder of our stay – definitely some of the best scrambled eggs we’ve had at Hyatt Places.
Here are the other breakfast options that were available each day:
There was always lots of seating available in both the breakfast area and throughout the lobby.
Amenities
Seeing as the Hyatt Place Houston-North is close to Bush Intercontinental Airport, most people presumably stay only one night. Their amenities therefore weren’t quite as extensive as you might find at some other hotels.
There was an outdoor swimming pool which was open, despite it being early November when we visited.
There was a small fitness room inside with a few pieces of equipment and some weights. The door to the fitness room got stuck open while we were there, so it ended up being far too hot and humid in there to exercise comfortably.
There was no guest laundry on site which was a bit of a shame. Having said that, they advised that we could use the guest laundry at the nearby Hyatt Regency if we wanted.
They did have a business center though with a couple of computers and a printer.
The hotel had a comfortable nook in the lobby where a small group of people could meet.
Pet-Friendliness
The Hyatt Place Houston-North is a pet-friendly hotel with a pet fee of $75 per stay. The hotel has a large parking lot that’s surrounded by grass, so there’s plenty of space for your dog to do their business.
For somewhere to let our dog off-leash, we took Truffles to Westwillow Dog Park a couple of times. It’s a large dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs. Just be aware that it can get a little boggy if there’s been a lot of rain.
Service
Service at the hotel was very good, with friendly and welcoming staff. We want to give a particular shout out to Katrina who was in charge of breakfast for some excellent service she provided during our stay.
The old Hyatt Place breakfast schedule included an ancient grains and kale blend on Thursday mornings. They’ve now changed the menu which we hadn’t realized at the time. Shae had mentioned she was disappointed as she loved the ancient grains and kale blend, so Katrina checked their fridge and saw that they still had some. When we came down to breakfast the next day, she made a bowl just for Shae. This was excellent service which Shae greatly appreciated.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi at the hotel was free. It was also unmemorable which must mean it had a good connection and was fast, otherwise I’d be complaining 😉
Location
If you need somewhere to stay near Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Hyatt Place Houston-North is a good option as it’s only 10-15 minutes away and has a shuttle.
In theory, the hotel is only 20-30 minutes from downtown Houston. In reality, we found the traffic to be bad in Houston and so it took longer to get everywhere.
Parking
Parking at the hotel is free and there are a lot of spaces all around the hotel.
Cost
The Hyatt Place Houston-North cost $83.07 per night (including tax) for our stay. This was booked using their AAA rate as it worked out a couple of bucks cheaper per night than their standard rate.
The hotel is a category 1 property and so only costs 5,000 points per night for award stays. Despite being good value using points, it was even better value as a paid stay which is why we paid for our week there.
Points Earned
We earned 2,860 base points for our stay as you earn 5 points per dollar on the pre-tax rate. I recently earned Globalist status which gives a 30% bonus on base points, so that earned an extra 858 points.
At the time of our stay, Hyatt was running a very lucrative promotion when staying a total of 40 nights in the promotion period. That promotion had several tiers along the way, so I earned 17,500 bonus points as this stay meant I crossed the 30 night threshold.
I paid for the stay with my World of Hyatt credit card. That card earns four points per dollar when paying for Hyatt stays and so resulted in an extra 2,677 points.
That means I earned a total of 23,895 which is a phenomenal return for a $669.24 stay. That amount includes the pet fee we paid for having our dog Truffles with us.
In addition to the points, I earned 1,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles thanks to this promotion, an added bonus.
Final Thoughts
We had a very good stay at the Hyatt Place Houston-North. Our room felt spacious, their breakfast options were tasty and the staff was friendly.
It wasn’t a perfect stay seeing as they don’t have guest laundry facilities and the fitness room was hot and humid. Overall though, it was a good value stay and I’d be happy to stay there again.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! Our room was nice and quiet which meant she didn’t feel the need to protect us. There was lots of grass to walk around and the pet fee was very reasonable for our longer stay.
Our Rating
Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 3.9 / 5
Food = 4.6 / 5
Location = 4.1 / 5
Service = 4.6 / 5
Overall Value = 4.6 / 5
Total = 4.4 / 5
Address
Hyatt Place, 300 Ronan Park Pl, Houston, TX 77060
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