Or a cheaper rate. When we needed a hotel at the Miami Airport for an early flight the next day, the Hyatt House was a good $20 cheaper than most other places. Combine that with the fact that their rooms are full suites, meaning that on the last day of our trip we wouldn't have to sleep on top of each other, and it was a simple decision to take Hyatt up on their offer to "Please consider our new house, your new house."
Of course, when you throw out a slogan like that, it invites comparisons. I quite like my house, so before I consider making a switch to a new house, I need to see what I would be gaining by making a move. Therefore, here are the differences between my house, and a Hyatt House.
The Kitchen:
The Hyatt House has a nice kitchen area, complete with stainless steel appliances. Everything is shiny and looks fairly new, especially the stove which nobody knows how to use in our house either. The fridge seems rater devoid of information however. Hyatt should consider putting some sticky notes on the front of it that say "Get Milk" or "Are you ever going to mow the lawn?" The fridge can be the site of great amounts of sarcasm at our house.
The Couch:
This one isn't even close. I have WAY better couches at home. Granted, my couches don't pull out into a bed, but I'd be willing to bet you that there's been far more naps taken on my couch at home than there has been on the Hyatt House couches.
The TV:
For a hotel room, two flat screens is pretty good. It's about four TVs short for the minimum that we need to function as a family, but we can share when it's only for one night. Let's face it, we may have six TVs at home, but four of them are probably tuned to the same channel at any given time.
The Beds:
Obviously we don't all sleep in the same room at home, but the beds were big and comfortable enough that it wasn't a real hardship for one night. The real difference between Hyatt House beds and ours at home is that we don't match our bedspreads with our wall art. Or maybe we do. To be honest, I can't even tell you what's on the walls in our bedroom, never mind what color our bedspread is.
The Bathroom:
While one bathroom would never be enough for our family of five, I did like the fact that the sink and counter area were separate from the bath and toilet. I also liked the fact that I didn't have to look through 36 bottles of nail polish and twelve different types of band-aids to find the toothpaste.
The Wi-Fi:
The connection was good, solid, had pretty decent speed, and most importantly, it was free. They need to spend a little more time working on the creativity of their Wi-Fi network names though. While "Hyatt House Guest" is reasonable, it lacks compared to our home network name of "Mom, click here for internet".
The Breakfast:
Here's a big bonus area for Hyatt House. Complimentary breakfast, including ham, eggs, potatoes, fruit, juice, muffins, and seven kinds of cereal. We might be able to muster up seven kinds of cereal at home, but it would be all those crumbs in the bottom of the bag that nobody ever wants to take so they just put them back on the shelf and pretend that they didn't see it. Definite points for Hyatt House here.
The Shuttle:
At home I have to drive myself everywhere. I don't have a driver at my beck and call, willing to take me wherever I need to go at a moments notice. My kids on the other hand, probably didn't even notice a difference. To them I'm sure it was just a slightly different van.
For a one night stay before or after a flight, the Hyatt House would be perfect. You get that extra bit of space, a good nights sleep, and they'll send you on your way with a great breakfast (if you arrive early enough, there's an evening appetizer serving that's free as well). I don't know that I'd be willing to give up my house to live here, but I do know that the next time I grab a box of cereal with just crumbs in it, I'm going to give it some serious thought.
Written by Steve Pratt
