Hyatt Place is one of my favorite limited service hotel brands. They tend to have larger-than-average rooms, a comfortable sleeper-sofa, tasty breakfast options and are often good value when using World of Hyatt points.
When looking for a place to stay for five nights in Birmingham, Alabama, I noticed there were two different category 1 Hyatt Place properties which means they only cost 5,000 points per night.
We ended up booking a room at the Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness. Although it was a typical Hyatt Place, it wasn’t as nice a stay as normal. Here’s our review which explains why.
Check-In
The check-in process was straightforward enough and we had our keys to room 322 within a few minutes.
Room 322 was in a fairly convenient location for us. It was at the end of the hall next to the stairs; at the bottom of the stairs was an exit door which made it easy to take our dog Truffles out to do her stuff.
Our room was also next to the ice machine. This might bother some people as it means you sometimes hear people coming and going, but nobody was particularly loud when filling their ice buckets and I appreciated having the machine right there to fill up my water bottle a few times each day.
Bedroom
As we entered the room, the living area was on the left and the bedroom area was further ahead and to the left. To the right was a wet bar and desk, while the bathroom area was further ahead and to the right.
As with all the Hyatt Places we’ve ever stayed at, there was a comfortable sleeper sofa and ottoman in the living area.
Opposite that was a wet bar with a coffee maker on top and mini-fridge below.
Opposite the wet bar was a desk with office chair. There were plenty of outlets available to the left of the desk as well as some below it.
Next to the desk in the middle of the room was the TV. Beneath that was a shelving unit containing an ice bucket and a couple of drinking glasses.
At the end of the room was the king bed (although it looks more like a queen in the photo). I always get a good night’s sleep on a Hyatt Place’s bed and pillow and this one was no exception.
Opposite the king bed to the right – and behind the TV – was a closet containing a luggage rack, ironing board, iron and bedding for the sleeper sofa.
Bathroom
To the left of the closet was the sink and vanity, as well as some drawers. There was a large countertop area which worked well as a drying area once we’d washed up the dinner stuff from our portable kitchen.
The toiletries were the standard Barney Kenet MD toiletries that you’ll find at all Hyatt Place properties.
To the left of the sink was the main bathroom area containing the toilet and a large shower area.
The bathroom was a source of one of our problems. After unpacking everything, we noticed that the toilet had loads of toilet paper in it, either from the previous guests or from housekeeping. I tried flushing the toilet, but it was backed up and almost overflowed.
We called the front desk and a friendly maintenance worker arrived within about ten minutes, so we were impressed with how quickly he came to remedy the issue. We were a little less impressed though with the fact that housekeeping hadn’t noticed this issue when the room was last cleaned.
Breakfast
The breakfast at the Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness was similar to the breakfast you get at all Hyatt Places.
There were hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, fresh fruit and Greek yogurt.
There’s always scrambled eggs, but the other hot options change each day. We were a little disappointed though as they kept the same hot options for two days in a row. This meant they didn’t have the ancient grain and kale blend which we’d been looking forward to as it’s surprisingly tasty and makes for a nice change to regular hotel breakfast options.
The day I took the photos the hot options were scrambled eggs and potatoes with spinach, onions and peppers (which were delicious)…
…as well as sausages, waffles and tomato bruschetta.
There was also hot oatmeal with various toppings and a bunch of different cereal options.
Next to the cereal was the milk, orange juice, apple juice and water. At all the other Hyatt Places we’ve stayed at, the fruit juices are kept cold by both the cold base and an internal ice column in the jug. I don’t think this particular hotel bothers freezing the ice column though as the fruit juices were lukewarm every morning during our stay.
There was a good selection of fruit…
…and a not-so-good bread selection (that’s the case at all Hyatt Places though).
Finally, there was a coffee and tea station serving Seattle’s Best coffee and Tazo tea.
At Hyatt Places, there’s a large lobby area which doubles up as the breakfast area in the mornings.
Wi-Fi
I usually make a fleeting reference to Wi-Fi during my hotel reviews as it tends to work well during most of our stays.
The Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness was an exception.
The internet was soooooo slow that it felt like we were on dial-up. Regular pages on the internet took forever to load, which is a pain given that everything I do work-wise is online.
Downloading a set of photos from my Google Photos account for a blog post usually takes about 10-20 seconds depending on how many photos I’m downloading. At this property, it took so long each time that I ended up doing stuff like washing dishes while waiting for them to download.
I know this wouldn’t be a huge issue for most people, but it significantly affected my productivity each day.
I’ve included a screenshot below from the speed test I did. I was actually surprised that the download speed was as “high” as it says.
Amenities
The hotel had a nice outdoor swimming pool with plenty of seating around it, although there was no whirlpool. We didn’t make use of it though as it wasn’t warm enough during our stay (we visited in March).
There’s a 24/7 fitness room, but apparently I didn’t get a photo of it so apologies for that.
One of the other amenities at the hotel is a business center which consisted of two computers and a printer.
There’s also a small bar area in the lobby where you can order drinks and snacks.
Service
Overall, service was a mixed bag. On the positive side, maintenance showed up quickly regarding the toilet issue I mentioned earlier. On the negative side, housekeeping didn’t show up on our second day. We’d declined housekeeping on our first day, so we needed more toilet paper by this stage.
I stopped by the front desk to ask if they could send some up. The front desk agent was incredibly apologetic which was nice. However, she never sent anyone up with toilet paper (or she did ask someone to bring up the TP but they didn’t do it).
Location
The Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness is in an OK location. It’s a 15-20 minute drive outside of downtown Birmingham, so relatively close if you don’t have to be central.
It’s also very close to Oak Mountain State Park which is a great place to go hiking (we’ll have more about our hikes to King’s Chair and Peavine Falls the next couple of days).
On the downside, traffic was pretty bad although that seemed to be the case all over Birmingham so it probably wouldn’t have mattered where we stayed.
Cost
I mentioned at the start of the review that the Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness, Alabama is a category 1 property. We booked our stay using points, so at 5,000 points per night for five nights, it cost us 25,000 points.
World of Hyatt had a promotion during our stay where they were offering 500 points per night at Hyatt Place and Hyatt House properties and 1,000 points per night at all other Hyatt brands. The great thing about the promotion was that points were awarded even on reward stays, so our five nights earned 2,500 points back, giving a net cost of 22,500 points.
The lowest standard cash rate would’ve been $98.21 per night, although there was also a AAA rate for $91.20. Based on our net points cost compared to the AAA rate, we got 2.03cpp (cents per point) in value from our points which isn’t too bad for World of Hyatt.
Pet-Friendliness
The Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness is a pet-friendly hotel. It costs $75 per night for 1-6 nights or $175 for 7-30 nights. We noticed after checking out that they hadn’t charged us the pet fee, even though they knew we had Truffles with us when checking in.
There are some grassy areas around the hotel, with a better patch of grass opposite the hotel (outside BancorpSouth Bank).
One other thing to note if you’re staying at this hotel with your dog is that other than at check-in, dogs aren’t supposed to be walked through the lobby. Instead, they’re supposed to be taken out the exit doors on either side of the building.
This wasn’t a problem for us seeing as our room was next to the stairs on the third floor, which in turn were next to the exit door on one side of the building.
Final Thoughts
We certainly didn’t have a bad stay at the Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness, although it was the least impressive Hyatt Place we’ve stayed at. It just felt a bit lackluster in various areas, from the lack of housekeeping to the blocked up toilet which hadn’t been noticed by housekeeping to the front desk not sending up toilet paper to lukewarm fruit juice at breakfast to not changing the hot options at breakfast every morning.
These wouldn’t be big issues in isolation, but put together it gave the impression that they didn’t care as much as other Hyatt Places. That’s mitigated somewhat by the fact that it only costs 5,000 points per night to stay there and cash rates aren’t overly expensive either.
Although it’s certainly not a bad hotel, I don’t think I’d stay there again on a visit to Birmingham, Alabama. It’s less due to the minor issues and more about the absolutely terrible Wi-Fi. Seeing as our living’s made online, it’s simply too frustrating and time-consuming to have internet speeds that feel like we’re back in the 90s.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the Hyatt Place Birmingham Inverness four paws out of four – pawfect! Although she was banished to the side doors to go in and out of the hotel, the fact that they didn’t charge the pet fee means more treats for her (or so she thinks 😉 )
Our Rating
Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 3.7 / 5 (marked much lower due to the Wi-Fi issues)
Food = 4.2 / 5
Location = 4.2 / 5
Service = 4.0 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5
Total = 4.18 / 5
Address
Hyatt Place, 4686 Highway 280 East, Birmingham, Alabama 35242
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