Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD

After spending a month in Ocean City, we moved on to Baltimore for nine nights (here’s a recap of everything we did in Baltimore).

We booked a stay at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor for that entire time as we managed to get an excellent rate thanks to a Best Rate Guarantee claim. Although we were booked in there for the entire nine nights, we ended up staying at a different hotel for one of those nights – I’ll explain why in a moment.

It was a good stay overall considering the price we paid and the hotel’s great location in the Inner Harbor. Here’s a full review of our stay at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Pre-Stay

A day or two before we arrived in Baltimore, I received a call from Chris who is the Front Office Manager of the hotel. He mentioned that due to my Hyatt Globalist status that we’d already been upgraded to a Harbor View King room, that they’d be waiving the pet fee and that a 4pm late checkout had automatically been applied.

The main reason he called though was to advise that they were having to move us for one night during our stay. After I’d made our reservation, the NFL booked the entire hotel as the Dallas Cowboys were playing the Baltimore Ravens and needed to keep them in a bubble. This was fine for us as it meant we’d get to experience a different hotel with them covering the cost. We didn’t have to move any of our stuff out of our room – they just needed to ensure no other guests would be physically in the hotel while the team(s) were there.

They were originally going to put us up at the Sheraton which is next door to the Hyatt Regency, but when checking in we were offered the opportunity to stay at the Hotel Revival instead. We decided to go for the Hotel Revival as that was a hotel we were initially considering staying at, so this meant we’d still get to do that. Here’s my review of our stay at the Hotel Revival.

Check-In

We’d gotten a late checkout from the Hyatt Place Ocean City Oceanfront, so by the time we arrived in Baltimore it was about 7pm. No one else was being checked in when we arrived, so we got checked in quickly.

Leah was working at the front desk and she was lovely both then and throughout our stay. She advised that due to COVID-19, the Regency Club wasn’t open. Ordinarily our status would mean we’d have access to the Club Lounge for free breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres. Due to it being closed, we got a $10 daily credit to put towards breakfast from the hotel’s shop/café – Market – instead.

It wasn’t long until we were heading up to our room on the 12th floor. The hotel’s hallways have seen better days, with many stains on the carpet all the way along.

Harbor View King Room

When entering our Harbor View King room, the bathroom was on the right and the bedroom straight ahead. It was a little disappointing to not get upgraded to a suite seeing as a guaranteed suite upgrade is a Globalist benefit. However, there weren’t any available for booking during our stay (I checked their website); those were presumably blocked off for the NFL players, so it’s not like the hotel had suites they could’ve upgraded us to.

As always with Hyatt properties, the king bed was very comfortable and so we slept very well. The bedside tables both had power outlets available which is something I always appreciate for charging our phones overnight. The corner of the room also featured a chair and ottoman.

Opposite the chair was a desk and additional chair.

To the left of that was a dresser and luggage rack. There was also a large TV mounted to the wall.

Continuing to the left there was a mini fridge and coffee maker. The mini fridge was on the smaller side of mini, but kept all our stuff at the right temperature rather than being too warm or freezing everything like some mini fridges do.

The room’s closet was to the left of that and contained an iron, ironing board and safe.

Perhaps the best feature of the room wasn’t what was inside but what was outside as we had a great view of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. (n.b. That’s our mini Christmas tree you can see in the reflection on the window.)

Bathroom

When entering the bathroom, the sink and toilet were straight ahead. The toilet was a little unusual as it was one you’d normally find in a public restroom rather than a hotel bathroom.

To the right was a walk-in shower which had better water pressure than I was expecting from a relatively small shower head.

Breakfast

As mentioned earlier, the Regency Club was closed due to the pandemic which meant we weren’t able to get breakfast there. Instead we received a $10 daily credit for Market which was on the second floor of the hotel.

They had various snacks, drinks, toiletries and other items for sale, as well as various breakfast items. That included things like cereal and Pop-Tarts, as well as other items you could order from the counter.

In case you can’t read the Market Breakfast Menu below, here’s what was on it:

• Fruit cup with berries – $5
• Yogurt parfait – $6
• Muffin – $3
• Egg & cheese croissant sandwich – $6
• Canadian bacon, fried egg & cheese English muffin sandwich – $6
• Egg, bacon, onion & cheese omelet – $7
• Hash brown patty – $2

The only muffin they seemed to have during our stay was some kind of pumpkin one. We visited in December, so I imagine they have different flavors at different times of the year.

Their English muffin sandwich was very good. The egg was like an actual egg, rather than whatever it is that McDonald’s nukes to within an inch of its life in an Egg McMuffin. Their parfait was also very good, as was their hash browns.

Amenities

We didn’t get a true experience of what the hotel had to offer due to the pandemic. In addition to the Regency Club not being available, the fitness room was closed; it was possible to look inside from the door’s window and it looked like a well-equipped gym with lots of pieces of equipment.

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor has a rooftop bar and swimming pool, but they were closed during our stay – presumably more due to the fact that it was December than due to COVID.

The hotel’s main restaurant – Bistro 300 – was closed as well.

The hotel had some large meeting spaces, conference rooms and other meeting rooms which, other than a relatively small gathering at one point during our stay, weren’t being used.

There were some public seating and work areas – some open and some closed.

The lobby of the hotel contained a business center with a couple of computers and a printer.

Based on photos on the hotel’s website, it seems like the suites had microwaves. Regular rooms didn’t have them though, so there’s a room off to the side of the front desk with a couple of microwaves for guests to use.

Pet Policy

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor is a pet-friendly hotel. They accept dogs up to 50 lbs, with a limit of two dogs per room with a combined weight of no more than 75 lbs.

The pet fee is $100 for 1-6 nights and $200 for 7+ nights. The hotel waived the pet fee for us though due to my Globalist status. Waived pet fees aren’t a Globalist benefit, so we appreciated not being charged a fee as that would’ve cost us $200 seeing as we were staying nine nights.

The hotel has a small pet area out the back of the hotel.

McKeldin Square is a couple of minutes walk out the front of the hotel and has grassy areas for your dog.

COVID-19

The hotel seemed to do well with taking precautions regarding COVID-19. All their staff did a great job with wearing masks which hasn’t always been the case at hotels we’ve stayed at during the pandemic.

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor has a circular lobby. As a result, they’ve placed markers on the floor asking guests to head round to the left when entering the hotel and round the other side when exiting. The hotel was very quiet during our stay though, so we rarely saw other guests.

Service

Service was very good for the most part, with Chris and Leah in particular being great. We didn’t ask for housekeeping during our stay, so there’s nothing to share on that front.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is free for all guests and it seemed to be a good speed.

Check-In & Check-Out Times

The check-in time at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor is 4pm and check-out is at 11am.

Location

As the name of the hotel suggests, the Hyatt Regency is located on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, so it’s in a great location for visiting the National Aquarium and all the other attractions in that part of the city. There are plenty of stores and restaurants within walking distance.

If you’re wanting to catch a ball game, Oriole Park is just around the corner and so is within walking distance.

Parking

The hotel has a parking garage attached to it. Overnight parking normally costs $30 per night, although at the time of writing this review their website is listing a reduced rate of $15 per night.

My Hyatt status meant the parking fees were waived for our stay. You normally only get free parking on award stays with Globalist status, but Hyatt was running a promotion at the time of our stay which provided free parking on paid stays too.

Cost

When booking our stay, the room cost $96.06 per night including tax. That’s a good rate considering the location, although the pandemic means it costs less right now as they’re missing all the corporate bookings.

We managed to get our room for much cheaper than that though. Hyatt has a Best Rate Guarantee policy if you find a cheaper room elsewhere. They match the cheaper rate and then they deduct another 20% or award 5,000 bonus points (you can choose which of those you want).

I found a cheaper rate on another website by checking Trivago, so I booked directly with Hyatt and then submitted a Best Rate Guarantee claim. Seeing as we were staying nine nights, it made more sense to take the additional 20% savings than ask for 5,000 bonus World of Hyatt points.

That dropped the price to $67.01 per night including tax which was a fantastic rate. The Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor is a category 3 property which means it costs 12,000 points per night for a standard room. Redeeming points for our stay would’ve therefore been extremely poor value considering the fantastic rate we were able to obtain with the Best Rate Guarantee.

Points Earned

We earned 7,356 World of Hyatt points from the stay. We paid with my World of Hyatt credit card which earns 4x points per dollar, so that should be another 2,412 points.

Those nine nights also put me at 100 nights with Hyatt for the year. Hyatt offers Milestone Rewards for every 10 nights you stay with them, with the options at 70, 80, 90 and 100 nights being 10,000 bonus points or a Suite Upgrade Award. We don’t tend to have an opportunity to use Suite Upgrade Awards as we usually stay at Hyatt Places, so I went for the 10,000 point option. That means our stay earned us almost 20,000 points which is enough for four free nights at a category 1 Hyatt property as those cost 5,000 points per night.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we had a good stay at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. We didn’t get to enjoy what the hotel normally has to offer due to the time of year we visited and also because of COVID. That was mitigated by the low room rate we were able to obtain.

The hotel is in a good location if you’re wanting to visit all the attractions in the Inner Harbor, although we preferred the Mount Vernon neighborhood about a mile away which is where the Hotel Revival was located – the hotel we stayed at for the night while the NFL players were at the Hyatt Regency.

Truffles Approval Rating

Truffles gives the hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! Some of the staff members gave her attention which she liked, while the hotel being quiet meant she didn’t feel the need to bark.

Although the pet fee was waived for us thanks to my status with Hyatt, the fact that it would’ve been $200 is a little ridiculous as that’s far too high. There was also very little space for pets to do their business outside, although that’s somewhat expected when staying at hotels in a city.

Our Rating

Room = 4.0 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5 (This is based on amenities available during normal times)
Food = 4.3 / 5
Location = 4.6 / 5
Service = 4.4 / 5
Dealing With COVID-19 (A new – hopefully temporary – category for our hotel reviews) = 4.4 / 5
Overall Value = 4.0 / 5 (Although we got a great rate, the lack of most amenities right now due to COVID means the value isn’t as good)

Total = 4.27/5

Address

Hyatt Regency, 300 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202