Hyatt Regency San Francisco Revisited

As it happened, my room last week at the Hyatt Regency on the Embarcadero, San Francisco was the newly remodeled interior. The restaurant that used to be on top of the hotel has been remodeled and just opened Wednesday, March 26 as the new Regency Club. I was offered an upgrade to Regency Club for $75 at check-in. I turned it down figuring I wouldn’t get $75 worth of use out of the lounge.

Well, I was surprised to check into my 12th floor room to discover this room was completely different from the room last week on the 16th floor. The older style room provides some rationale behind all the TripAdvisor poor reviews regarding the dated décor and need for remodeling.

This room facing Market Street has a great view of the Bay Bridge and I can see across to the East Bay cities. The bathroom is old-style, with a tub. The TV is a 27 inch traditional style compared to the 37 inch TV of the remodeled rooms. And the mini-refrigerator is an electronic mini-bar style.

I probably would not have come back to the Hyatt Regency San Francisco if I had known the room would be completely different. The hotel asked for $75 to upgrade when my rate is $179 and $40 more than what I paid last week.

The Regency Club is at the top of the hotel in what used to be The Equinox revolving restaurant. The circular room of the Regency Club has seating 360 degrees around the perimeter for magnificent views of the city.

The Regency Club lounge is located above the 17th floor. There is a concierge and a couple of computer stations. I was almost ready to buy the upsale, but a quick inspection of the lounge revealed the air quality was quite poor due to the liberal use of Pledge furniture polish being sprayed on all the table tops by a couple of employees. I have a poor sense of smell and the odor was overpowering to me. I didn’t feel it was healthy to breathe in that much Pledge.

In another week I will have Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status, so I will wait for my next stay at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero with complimentary Regency Club experience. Photos and a more detailed description of the new Regency Club lounge will come at a later date.

The remodeled rooms on Floors 15-17 are vastly superior in style to the older rooms. A walk-in glass walled shower, TV embedded in the bathroom mirror, flat-screen HDTV  in bedroom (but no HD channels when I was there), new furnishings, desk and ergonomic chair, and feather pillows, in addition to the free internet access and lounge meal and beverage services make the extra $50 for Regency Club room a good value.