Just before my parents came to visit from the UK, Shae and I spent five nights at the Hyatt Regency Boston (the one downtown, not the one at Boston Harbor near the airport).
Cash rates for a base room were ~$650 per night which is far more than we’d ever pay for a hotel. Thankfully they had award availability, so we were able to book our stay using points. In fact, we got very lucky as we ended up booking the very last room that was bookable with points (whew!).
While the Hyatt Regency Boston isn’t an inspiring place to stay, they charge a ridiculous $30 per night “destination fee” for which you get miniscule value and they grossly overcharge for a bottle of wine, we had a great stay overall. That’s because we were able to use a suite upgrade award to get upgraded to an Executive Suite and the hotel has a fantastic location in the middle of the city which makes everywhere downtown walkable.
Here’s a review of our stay at the Hyatt Regency Boston.
Check-In
When arriving at the hotel, we pulled up outside and I started unloading our stuff on to a luggage cart while Shae went inside to check in. The hotel’s lobby is on the third floor, so you have to walk down the ramp, then take an elevator up to the third floor.
Once Shae had checked us in, she came back out to park the car while I took our cart up to our suite. In the photo above you can see the parking lot on the left of the entrance.
The hotel has a slight quirk for getting to your room because you have to take two separate elevators – one from the lower level up to level 3 where the lobby is, then you have to walk across the lobby to another set of elevators that take you up to the guest rooms.
Executive Suite
We normally book stays under my account, but Shae still had a suite upgrade award available on her account which she’d earned last year, so we wanted to make sure that didn’t go to waste. That meant we were able to book a standard room using points and used that suite upgrade to get an Executive Suite which was room 1901.
When entering the suite there was a short entryway that led through to the living room. There was a shelf on the left where you can leave your car keys, room keys, etc.
Living Room
The living room was a good size with a sleeper sofa, chaise lounge and armchair. There was both a coffee table and side table, as well as a unit in the corner.
In that corner unit there was a mini fridge and coffee maker. The mini fridge had two bottles of water in it which are complimentary for World of Hyatt members who have any kind of elite status, or $4 for everyone else.
I noticed that the mini fridge didn’t seem to be working when we arrived. However, when opening its door I spotted an on/off switch which was switched off, so turning it on did the trick. It seemed weird that it was turned off though, or that it even has an on/off switch in the first place as I can’t think of a scenario where you’d ever want a room temperature mini fridge.
The view from our suite was pretty good seeing as we were up on the 19th floor.
Bedroom
Being in an Executive Suite was lovely as it meant I could work in the living room at night while Shae slept in the bedroom.
Our suite was at the end of the hallway which meant it was in a corner. In addition to helping ensure our room was nice and quiet, it meant the bedroom was a slightly unconventional shape, albeit still fairly spacious. The king bed was very comfortable and the blackout curtains worked very well to also help ensure a good night’s sleep.
Near the entrance of the bedroom there was a bench, while at the far side there were two armchairs. Something that was missing from the suite was a desk which was strange. Hyatt Regency properties tend to be businessperson oriented, so not having a proper workspace was unusual.
The room’s closet had an iron, ironing board, safe and bedding for the sofa bed in the living room.
Bathroom
The suite’s sink was between the bedroom and actual bathroom. I’m never a fan of this setup as it means having to use the sink in the dark at night or using the light of my phone so as not to wake up Shae.
The bathroom was also slightly unconventionally shaped due to being in the corner of the building. There was no bathtub, instead having a good-sized walk-in shower.
Toiletries were Pharmacopia which are OK, but the shampoo never seems to lather up well.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in Avenue One Restaurant & Lounge from 7am-11am Monday-Friday and 7am-11:30am Saturday and Sunday.
Shae still had Globalist status in the World of Hyatt program which she’d earned the previous year which meant we were eligible for free breakfast each morning of our stay. Different Hyatt properties offer complimentary breakfast in different ways. Some provide an entrée, juice and tea or coffee, others offer that or a buffet breakfast, while others only offer a buffet breakfast.
The Hyatt Regency Boston offers that latter option for Globalist members – access to their buffet breakfast, but not their entrées. Here’s the breakfast menu; considering the breakfast buffet was $32 and entrées were cheaper, it’s a shame we couldn’t choose an entrée instead as I’d have loved to try their crab cake hash with eggs and short rib hash with eggs.
Still, the buffet breakfast provided plenty of food, with several hot options, freshly cut fruit, breads, bagels, pastries, cereal, etc. The pastries were very good, as was the freshly cut fruit – the melon and pineapple in particular were perfectly ripe each morning.
Other Dining Options
Unlike some Hyatt Regency properties, the Hyatt Regency Boston doesn’t have a club lounge. There are a few dining and drinking options though.
Avenue One Express
One is Avenue One Express which serves tea, coffee, bakery items, cereal, breakfast sandwiches, etc. if you want something to-go in the morning.
Avenue One Restaurant & Lounge
In addition to serving breakfast, Avenue One Restaurant & Lounge is also where you can order lunch and dinner. Lunch hours are 11:30am-2pm every day, while dinner is 5pm-10:30pm Sunday-Thursday and 5pm-11pm Friday-Saturday.
We stopped by there on our final night to take advantage of a couple of our free clam chowders (more about that in the Destination Fee section next) which were very tasty.
We decided to share an appetizer of fried calamari too in order to use up that day’s $10 dining credit from the destination fee. The serving size was much larger than we were expecting and was more than enough for the two of us.
Lobby Bar
The Lobby Bar is open 4pm-11pm Sunday-Thursday and 4pm-12am Friday-Saturday.
Destination Fee
A downside to staying at the Hyatt Regency Boston is that they charge a destination fee of $30 + tax every night of your stay. That fee covers the following:
- Premium Wi-Fi
- Local, Access and Long Distance Domestic Calls
- $10 daily food credit (excludes alcohol, tax, service charge and gratuity) for DINNER period only at Avenue Restaurant
- Special Boston Keepsake magnet upon departure
- Old Town Trolley Ticket – Boston Tour – $2 discount/tix from listed price
- Pelotons available for usage in our Fitness Center
- Rollaway bed & Microwave (upon request)
- Daily newspapers in the lobby
- Access to 24-hour Health Club
- Complimentary printing, copying and faxing at the Front Desk
- Complimentary receiving, handling and delivery of incoming packages and mail
- Enjoy a cup of Boston Clam Chowder, served at Avenue One or “to-go” for dinner period only.
- 10% discount off laundry/dry cleaning
- Exhale Battery Wharf – $10 off a Fitness Class or $25 off a Spa Therapy Session
- Sanitary disposable face masks & sanitizing wipes
That’s therefore a mostly-BS fee seeing as things like Wi-Fi, microwaves upon request, rollaway beds, newspapers in the lobby, access to the fitness room, complimentary printing and faxing, complimentary handling of mail, sanitizing wipes, etc. are things that even a mediocre hotel will tend to include automatically as part of your room rate.
I said it’s a mostly-BS fee because there are a couple of things on there which you might get some semblance of value from, albeit not $30 worth. One is the $10 dining credit to be used at dinner only which we used once. The thing is, that means you end up spending more beyond the $10 as the cheapest menu item is $12, plus it means you’re passing up on other nearby restaurants.
The Boston Clam Chowder is the other one that we used and was tasty. To redeem that, you get a wooden chip for each night of your stay. You only get one per night per room though, so if there’s two of you then you’ll have to share the tiny cup of chowder unless you’re staying 2+ nights.
You’ll see a list of destination fee inclusions in the photo above. That’s what we were given at check-in which doesn’t include the majority of the other things that are supposed to be included as part of the fee which is listed on their website here. That’s therefore BS too as I imagine by the time people check in they’ll have forgotten about that long list of everything that’s supposedly included in the fee, if they even saw it in the first place considering it’s hidden away on their website.
Having said all that, we thankfully didn’t get hit with a destination fee of $150 + tax for our stay. That’s because Hyatt waives resort fees and destination fees on stays booked with points or free night certificates which is how we booked our stay. It’s also waived for those with Globalist status on paid stays.
Still, them charging a fee like this which you can’t otherwise avoid leaves a bad taste in the mouth which no amount of clam chowder will remove.
Amenities
Fitness Room
The fitness room – which you get access to thanks to the $30 + tax destination fee 😉 – is on the hotel’s 6th floor. It’s a spacious area and has a good selection of cardio equipment and weights.
Swimming Pool
The hotel does – in theory – have an indoor swimming pool. However, it was closed during our stay; I’m not sure if it’s having construction done on it or if there are other issues. Perhaps they should increase the destination fee to help pay for it to be fixed. 😉
Business Center
There’s a business center with a couple of computers; I can’t remember if there was a printer here, or if you have to get the front desk to print off documents you need.
There’s also some high desks you can work at.
Pantry
The Hyatt Regency Boston has a pantry area next to the front desk where you can buy snacks, soft drinks, beer, wine, etc.
A word of warning – be sure to check the price of items before getting anything. That should go without saying, but I made this mistake. I went down there to get a bottle of wine and they had a few types of Canvas wine available. Canvas is a white-labeled selection of wines produced for Hyatt; they taste nice enough, but it’s hardly fine wine or anything like that.
Anyway, I’d assumed a bottle would be ~$20 seeing as the quality of it is what you’d normally pay $10 for at the grocery store and that they’d have a markup. Again, this was totally my fault for not checking, but I was shocked when I checked our folio at the end of our stay to see that they’d charged $57.78 (including tax) for the bottle. They didn’t get us with the destination fee, but they got us with this instead!
Shae did a little search online that night and sure enough, charging almost $60 for the bottle was a ludicrous markup:
Pet Policy
The Hyatt Regency Boston is a pet-friendly hotel. They accept up to two dogs per room with a combined weight limit of 75lbs. They charge a pet fee of $100 for stays of 1-6 nights; the fee is presumably higher for stays of a week or more, but their website doesn’t state what that is.
There isn’t any grass immediately outside the hotel. However, it’s only a couple of blocks from the beautiful Boston Common and we enjoyed taking Truffles for a walk there a couple of times each day.
Service
We didn’t have to interact with staff much during our stay, but everyone was nice enough. Our server when we had the clam chowder and calamari was very nice.
Wi-Fi
The hotel’s Wi-Fi was very good; there weren’t any speed issues. I can’t remember though if it was one of those annoying networks where you have to reconnect every rolling 24 hour period.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in at the Hyatt Regency Boston is from 4pm, while check-out is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is in an excellent location downtown. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s only a couple of blocks from Boston Common and is within a 30 minute walk of pretty much everything downtown. Boston is an extremely walkable city, with the Freedom Trail being worth checking out.
Parking
The hotel has both self-parking and valet parking available in the parking garage next door. Here’s the pricing from when we stayed in September 2023:
As you can see, parking isn’t cheap. Then again, parking in city centers like Boston never is.
Thankfully we got to park for free. That’s because another benefit for those with Globalist status is that you get free parking on award stays.
Cost
At the time of our stay the Hyatt Regency Boston was a category 5 property in the World of Hyatt program. That means free night awards cost 17,000, 20,000 or 23,000 points per night depending on if it’s at off-peak, standard or peak pricing. The first two nights were at standard pricing, while our final three nights were all at peak pricing, so we redeemed a total of 109,000 World of Hyatt points (transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards). That’s more points than we’d normally redeem for a stay, but this was worth it to us so that we could be downtown and walk everywhere.
The cash price for a standard king room for our dates was a very high $646.84 per night including tax. Part of the reason it would’ve been so expensive cash-wise is because we were visiting in the fall.
We used a suite upgrade award to get upgraded to an Executive Suite for which they were charging $895.82 per night with tax. Redeeming an average of 21,800 points per night was therefore great value.
Final Thoughts
Overall we had a very nice stay at the Hyatt Regency Boston. We loved its location and enjoyed being able to get a confirmable suite upgrade to an Executive Suite ahead of our stay. While it still irks me that they charged so much for that bottle of wine (again, my fault) and that they charge a stupid destination fee (which we didn’t have to pay ourselves), it’s a decent hotel that I’d be more than happy to stay at again the next time we visit Boston.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! While the $100 pet fee was fairly high, it effectively worked out at being $20 per night for our five night stay. Truffles loved the location too as it meant she got to go on lots of walks and particularly enjoyed wandering around Boston Common.
Our Rating
Room = 4.5 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5
Food = 4.4 / 5
Location = 4.9 / 5
Service = 4.1 / 5
Overall Value = 4.2 / 5
Total = 4.38 / 5
Address
Hyatt Regency, 1 Ave de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111
Right? We were shocked!
Do they have a sauna?
I didn’t see one as the pool area was closed. When checking on Google, it looks like they do have one which is presumably in the pool area.