After leaving Des Moines, our next stop in Iowa was Iowa City. We booked a stay at the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown as it was in a good location and was decent value when booking with World of Hyatt points.
It ended up being a wonderful stay. We received a corner room on the top floor with nice views, but the best part of our stay was the staff. They were all incredibly friendly and welcoming and made our stay even better than it would have been otherwise. Truffles loved it too because not only did they treat her like royalty, but it was one of the pet-friendliest hotels we’ve ever stayed at.
Here’s a full review of our stay at the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown.
Check-In
We arrived at about 3pm and got checked in by Mason who was very friendly. He let us know about the amenities, breakfast hours, etc. and gave us a welcome bag to take up with us.
The welcome bag was great because it contained two large bottles of LIFEWTR, a couple of bags of caramel cheese popcorn mix and all kinds of leaflets providing information about things to do in Iowa City.
The best part of the welcome bag was the handwritten note inside. It wasn’t just a perfunctory note, but one that was extremely personalized which showed that they put thought and effort into it. It’s funny that the two hotel stays where we’ve received the most personal welcome amenities have been at Hyatt Places – this one in Iowa City and the one in Ocean City, MD. The reason it’s funny is because Hyatt Place is a limited service brand that wouldn’t normally provide welcome amenities like this, but they’ve been nicer – in terms of the thought that’s gone into it – than the welcome amenities we’ve received at brands like Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt.
It was also funny seeing their reference to our website – I guess Hyatt must’ve added some kind of note on my account that we write reviews of hotels!
Bedroom
We were assigned room 1221 which is on the top floor of the hotel and is a corner room.
When entering the room there was a closet containing an iron, ironing board, extra pillow and a luggage rack.
The living area featured a sleeper sofa with an ottoman. The side table carried a blanket which I was really happy to see. Hyatt Place blankets are perfect – soft, cozy and thick enough to snuggle under but without being so thick that you get hot. Most Hyatt Places took away the blankets for the first year or two of COVID, so it’s great to see them making a return.
The living area had conveniently-placed power outlets too, something that’s not always the case at Hyatt Places.
On the opposite side of the living area was an office chair and desk with a coffee maker on top. To the right of that was a dresser with the room’s TV on top. In the cupboard to the left of the dresser was a mini fridge.
Hyatt Places don’t generally provide microwaves in rooms, but they always have one available in the breakfast area for guests to use and the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown was no exception.
I love Hyatt Place beds – they’re extremely comfortable and the bedding is always clean, crisp and cool.
A great feature of the corner room was how much natural light we received thanks to the windows spanning two sides of the room.
The room had good blackout blinds though, so our room stayed dark at night. Speaking of night, we stayed there over July 4 and so our location on the 12th floor with windows facing two directions meant we were well-placed to see lots of fireworks both nearby and in the distance. However, we didn’t manage to take any great photos of them unfortunately.
Although we liked our room, one thing we didn’t enjoy was the air conditioning for a couple of reasons. There was an air vent that blasted directly at the couch, so it was often far too cold to sit there.
The air conditioning also didn’t work great; sometimes the temperature in the room was showing as 73°, but even turning the thermostat down to 69° didn’t have it kick in. Other times it continually pumped out cold air even though the temperature in the room felt cooler than what it was set at.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a good-sized walk-in shower.
Rather than having large wall-mounted bottles of toiletries in the shower, there were small bottles of conditioner and lotion. The shampoo came in a couple of small sachets which I’d never seen before. While that presumably reduces how much excess packaging is wasted which is a good thing, trying to open the sachets when my hands were wet wasn’t the easiest thing!
Breakfast
Breakfast was served from 6:30am-9am on weekdays and 7am-10am at the weekend and it’s complimentary for all guests. Rather than being on the first floor like most Hyatt Places, breakfast at the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown is served on the second floor.
The breakfast area had a good array of seating. There were tables for two people, tables for four and a long table in the center that could accommodate larger groups wanting to eat together seeing as there were 12 seats.
There were always 3-4 hot breakfast items which rotated each day, along with several other breakfast items.
Amenities
In addition to having breakfast on the second floor, that’s also where the hotel’s fitness room and indoor swimming pool are located.
Another feature I liked on the second floor was the water bottle filling station. I wish more hotels provided this; while I don’t mind drinking tap water from hotel rooms, sometimes there’s stuff in it that makes it cloudy, so it’s nice having this filtered option.
Down on the first floor there’s a business center area with a couple of computers for guests to use. I don’t remember seeing a printer, but there might be one hidden away beneath the table on the other side.
Also on the first floor was a long bar area.
To the left of the bar was a pantry area where you can buy drinks, snacks, toiletries, etc.
Pet Policy
The Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown is a pet-friendly hotel. They allow up to two dogs per room weighing up to 75 lbs combined, or a maximum of 50 lbs per dog. The pet fee is $75 regardless of your length of stay. That’s good as far as Hyatt Places go because a lot of other Hyatt Places charge $75 for 1-6 nights and $175 for 7+ nights. Having said that, they neglected to charge us a pet fee, perhaps because Truffles is so cute 😉
Speaking of which, the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown isn’t just pet-friendly, but it’s super pet-friendly! Dogs are allowed pretty much everywhere, including at the bar as you can see above!
They’re even allowed in the breakfast seating area (although not in the separate room where the food is actually served). We decided to take advantage of this pet-friendliness which Truffles appreciated as it meant she got to partake of eggs and breakfast meat each morning.
There are several grassy areas around the hotel, so there are plenty of places for your pup to do their business nearby which is nice seeing as some downtown hotels in other cities have no grass within several blocks.
Service
Service at the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown was superb. Unfortunately I didn’t make a note of their staff members’ names, but they were all excellent. So friendly, so hospitable and so welcoming – it was some of the best service we’ve ever received at any hotel.
They even bought Truffles some dog treats from a local boutique pet store which was going above and beyond. The staff all seemed to love Truffles and she couldn’t have adored them more; any time we walked past the front desk, she insisted on going behind to say hello!
Wi-Fi
The hotel’s Wi-Fi was very good. I don’t remember us having to reconnect every 24 hours which is a bugbear of mine at some hotels. The speed was good and I don’t think we ever had a dropped connection.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in at the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown is at 3pm and check-out is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is in a great location downtown. It’s only a few blocks from the Iowa River, there are lots of restaurants within walking distance and it’s in what seemed to be a safe neighborhood.
There’s a Hy-Vee grocery store a short drive away, with Big Grove Brewery & Taproom being close by too. The University of Iowa is a couple of miles away on the other side of the river, so that’s nearby as well.
Parking
The hotel charges $9 per day for parking. I have Globalist status in the World of Hyatt loyalty program and one of its benefits is free parking on award stays, so our week of parking there didn’t cost us anything.
Due to its location downtown, there’s no parking outdoors. Instead, you have to drive down the road to the right of the hotel to the end (see the photo below).
At the end is the entrance to the underground garage on the left. You use your key card to enter, so you have to check in before parking your car. When entering the garage you have to turn left and head down a few levels because the route up to the right is for residents of the apartments. Keep driving down until you see a purple door as that’s where the entrance back into the hotel is.
Cost
We booked our week-long stay using World of Hyatt points. At the time of our stay the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown was a category 2 property which means it costs 6,500, 8,000 or 9,500 points per night depending on if you book during off-peak, standard or peak dates respectively.
The first five nights were off-peak, the sixth night was standard and our final night was peak. That means our stay cost a total of 50,000 points or an average of 7,143 points per night.
The average cost per night if we’d paid cash would’ve been $135.78. That means we got 1.9cpp (cents per point) of value by redeeming points which is pretty good, albeit not spectacular value for Hyatt. In reality, we did a little better than that; because we booked an award stay, my status meant our parking was free and so we saved $63 too.
Final Thoughts
Shae and I had a wonderful stay at the Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown. It’s in a good location, has a decent breakfast selection and we enjoyed the corner room we received on the top floor even if its air conditioning was a little goofy.
Where the hotel really shines is its service and pet-friendliness. The staff are fantastic and being able to bring your dog pretty much anywhere in the hotel was unusual but appreciated.
Truffles Approval Rating
The Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown earns the much-coveted ‘four paws out of four with a Golden Tail wag’ which is the highest rating she can give any hotel.
The hotel’s general pet-friendliness was awesome and she particularly enjoyed getting so much loving from the front desk, not to mention the treats they bought her. We were all sad to leave the hotel at the end of our stay, but perhaps none more so than Truffles!
Our Rating
Room = 4.4 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5
Food = 4.6 / 5
Location = 4.5 / 5
Service = 5 / 5
Overall Value = 4.5 / 5
Total = 4.53 / 5
Address
Hyatt Place, 255 E Court St, Iowa City, IA 52240
[…] It was a great hotel and was particularly special because of how amazing the staff were. I wrote a full review of our stay here, so be sure to check that […]