Hyatt Place Seattle - The Next Door Room's Thoughts

Long before we booked anything for our Pacific Northwest adventures, we used our points to reserve a room at the Hyatt Place in Downtown Seattle for New Years Eve. Battling the crowds to get to the fireworks didn't really appeal to us, so we wanted to be as close to Seattle Center as possible, and considering the walk to the Space Needle was less than five minutes, the Hyatt Place seemed like a perfect choice. It certainly made it easier to leave the Hyatt Olive 8 knowing that, since all Hyatt Places are essentially the same, we'd be finding ourselves in one of those large, comfortable rooms that our family really loves.

Therein lies the problem though. I've told you quite a few times before about how much our family enjoys the Hyatt Place chain, yet since every room is nearly identical, reviewing each one seems a little redundant. What we needed was an outsiders viewpoint on the hotel and through a stroke of good luck, one was provided to us.

I'm sure you can imagine that, with it being New Years Eve, there were quite a few parties going on in the hotel that evening. That was fine with us as I don't think any sane person would book a room in the middle of the New Years festivities hoping for a quiet nights sleep, but the party in the room next to us was particularly exuberant. Their conversations were loud, colorful, and very easy to follow, providing me with exactly what I needed...a new set of (probably glazed over) eyes to experience the Hyatt Place through. 

I present to you then, the things that the people in the room next to us seemed to enjoy most about the Hyatt Place in Downtown Seattle:

The space: There seemed to be at least 10 or 12 people in the room at any given time, so I'm assuming they appreciated the large size of the rooms. By my calculations, each room would sit 10 people comfortably before anyone would have to be relegated to the floor, making it a fairly good choice for a mid-size gathering.

The location: The question "Is it time to go yet?" was a very popular one, but obviously the eventual destination for this party was the Space Needle and they knew they didn't have far to walk. I'm not so sure about their ability to walk, but if they could pull it off, they didn't have far to go.

The fridge: Another frequently asked question was "Dude! What happened to all the beer in the fridge?" I thought about going next door and explaining to them how consumables work, but eventually thought the better of it.

The Walgreens: Right across the street from the Hyatt Place is a Walgreens, which probably set a single night sales record based on how many time I heard the phrase "I'm running over to Walgreens to get some more beer" from the next room.

View from front door of Hyatt Place Seattle

The free internet: Possibly the most amusing part of the night for my kids was listening to everybody next door trying to figure out the password for the free internet. The code is given to you when you check in, but nobody next door seemed to know what it was so a major guessing game was undertaken. Some of the more original guesses were "Hyatt", "Hyatt Place", "I'm hungry", and the ever popular "Internet password". It's probably just as well people in this state aren't able to update their Facebook statuses anyway.

The front desk: I'd describe my interactions with the front desk as pleasant and helpful, but the people in the next room must have absolutely loved them based on the number of times they called down. They called to enquire about the time, the internet password (although they still didn't get it), what room they were in, and best of all was the call to the front desk to ask "Dude! What happened to all the beer in the fridge?" The people who answer the phone at Hyatt Place Seattle deserve a raise.

The free breakfast: Let's be honest. I doubt very much that any of the party people next door made it to the free breakfast. I, on the other hand, quite enjoyed the selection of both hot and cold items. It was quite fun to enjoy my waffles and eggs sitting among tables of people nursing coffees and holding their heads in their hands. I kind of like this New Years Day thing. 

While our stay was everything I expected it to be, it was good to see that other people were enjoying their time at the Hyatt Place Seattle as well. Although I didn't get to say good-bye to our new friends next door in the morning (despite constantly yelling "What happened to all the Diet Coke in the fridge?" over and over again), I'm sure that they left the hotel with a smile on their face. Of course I couldn't help but notice that the biggest smiles in the lobby belonged to the people working the front desk. I think they might have just "accidentally" given a wake up call to our neighbor's room.

Written by Steve Pratt