On the first Saturday of January we landed in Fort Lauderdale when our British Airways flight arrived 45 minutes late to FLL from London Gatwick. We missed our American Airlines flight connection by 20 minutes by the time we reached that terminal.
We walked up to the American Airlines ticket counter after missing our flight connection to get home to California on the first Saturday in the New Year and the last Saturday of the American schools Christmas break before Monday morning. After explaining our missed flight situation, I was not completely floored, but a little taken aback, to learn we had to wait 48 hours in Florida before American Airlines would reschedule us for a flight back to San Francisco on Monday. And we had to get to Miami Airport for the Monday flight.
A check of a few hotel chains around FLL Airport revealed several options for award nights in several different hotel chain programs. Room rates were high in this South Florida coastal city on a Saturday night in January.
Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Airport looked like a good deal for a decent sized room to hang out in for two days. Hyatt Place is still one of my favorite room layouts when I am traveling with my wife. Finding three Hyatt brand hotels at 8,000 points per reward night around FLL airport offered a few options.
- Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale 17th Street Convention Center $195 or 8,000 points.
- Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Airport  $176 or 8,000 points.
- Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Airport  $161 or 8,000 points.
- NOTE: All three of these hotels will move to category 3 at 12,000 points on March 18, 2019.
I picked Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Airport primarily due to it being south of the airport since we needed to continue south to Miami Airport in two days. The conversations I heard on FLL hotel airport shuttles indicated ‘cruise port’ as part of the name in the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House directly across the street from each other in Dania Beach was a proper fit for the guest clientele.
Airport Shuttle Tip: Pay attention to the FLL airport shuttles since Hyatt Place 17th Street Convention Center is north of the airport and Hyatt Place Cruise Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port is south of FLL. The 17th Street shuttle was generically marked only as Hyatt Place, while the Hyatt Place Cruise Port hotel shuttle was labeled with the full hotel name and had a mini-trailer attached to shuttle.
5th Floor Room
Ironically, we were on the only floor of the six floor hotel without an ice machine. I walked over to the K-Mart in the Oakwood Plaza shopping mall to find beer for our two days after paying $6.75 for a bottle of Stella Artois at the hotel bar the night of our arrival. There is a currently a real lack of access to cheap cold beer within walking distance in this Dania Beach area populated with numerous chain hotels. That will improve in Fall 2019 when a Lucky’s Supermarket opens in a new mall currently under construction just north of the Hyatt properties.
Apparently I was exhausted when snapping photos since I failed to photograph the standard large couch in the room. Looked similar to all the other Hyatt Place couches I have seen over the years.
Wifi worked great for the two days we stayed at the hotel.
One of the features of the hotel is a 6th floor laundry room. We were able to run a load of laundry at the hotel to get us through the extra two days of our trip after two weeks in Europe.
Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale & Cruise Port lobby
The Hyatt Place hotel lobby had a nice spacious feel.
Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Airport breakfast
It has been a few years since I stayed at a Hyatt Place. The breakfast here was particularly nice and better quality than I recall from previous stays at other locations in this brand.
Hyatt Place FLL/Cruise Port Pool
The hotel has a small fitness center and a good size pool.
Transportation to Miami Airport
We needed to get to the Sheridan Tri-Rail Station for transportation to Miami Airport. We booked our first ever Uber and paid $7.38 to travel 2 miles to the Sheridan Street Tri-Rail Station in Hollywood, Florida. From there it only cost $3.75 to travel 23 miles to Miami Airport by train.
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