A property with convenient location but is in need of a refresh. The club lounge was above average in the US, especially given current post-COVID standards.

This stay occurred in December 2022. Please note this page may contain a link where I earn a commission.

Booking

When deciding on where to take the family for a winter vacation, we ultimately decided upon Washington, DC with plans to visit many of the museums around town. Thus when choosing a hotel, the Grand Hyatt stood out as it seemed conveniently located both next to a metro stop and in walking distance of many sites.

The Grand Hyatt Washington is a Category 4 Hotel, meaning standard award nights cost 12,000 to 18,000 points per night. It also means you could use Category 1-4 free night certificate when standard award nights are available. For this trip, I found a good cash rate ($132/night) and it made more sense for us to pay cash instead of points for this stay.

Though I booked a base room, I also used one of my suite upgrade awards in my account to move us into a Grand Suite. You can earn suite upgrade awards by staying at least 50 nights with Hyatt in the past year.

An excellent option for earning Hyatt points is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Currently, my refer-a-friend link offers 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred into Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio for spending $4,000 in the first three months.

Arrival and First Impressions

We took the metro to get to the hotel from the airport. The hotel is located at the Metro Center stop and easily accessible from both DCA and IAD airports. Depending on the time and day you arrive, you can enter the hotel without needing to exit the subway station, which is a significant benefit when the weather outside is chilly. We arrived on a Sunday and were forced to exit the subway station but it’s a short walk (roughly a block) to the front door.

We arrived inside the hotel to find a large lobby with lovely decorations for the Christmas season. The kids were attracted to the large tree like moths to a flame. While they checked out the tree, I went to the front desk where an agent efficiently checked us in.

The Room

We were assigned room 346, a Grand Suite on the third floor. The unfortunate thing about this room is the time it gets here from the elevators, as it’s the furthest room possible from the elevator shaft. While tolerable in the morning, the trip felt extra-long after a long day of sightseeing. Upon entering the room, we were greeted by a TV resting upon a console that we hardly used. It could just be me but I feel given the size of the console and the size of the room, the TV felt small.

Directly next to the TV were a variety of seating options: a couch, a large seat, and a bench. The seating was positioned next to an awkward-looking lamp. I have to admit I don’t quite understand the theme they were going for in here.

Immediately next to the seating arrangement was a large dining table with chairs for two placed next to a mirror. The table certainly seemed large enough to fit two more chairs, but I suppose you could also bring the bench over and use it as extra seating, so maybe the variety of seats in this room is warranted?

Directly across from the dining table is a small nook where a Keurig machine and the mini-fridge is located. Hotel staff did a good job of always making sure we had plenty of water daily. Some hotels seem a bit stingy with the water refills but this one gave us at least four bottles daily.

Next up is the bedroom. I have to commend them for at least making the entry-level suite here be a true suite with a separate bedroom from the living area. Between the bedroom and the living area, the bedroom had the nicer features, with plenty of lighting and a clean feel to it and no odd decor. There was a second TV here along with a desk and a makeup chair. I can’t say it’s too often I stay in a hotel room where I can do my makeup. It’s too bad I don’t have any.

Directly adjacent to the makeup chair is the main bathroom. The suite does have two bathrooms but the one in the front only has a toilet and a sink. This bathroom certainly felt grand with a large soaking tub, a shower, and lots of mirrors. The kids wanted to use the tub, but unfortunately it seemed to be broken and wouldn’t hold water.

Toiletries are from Balmain, which are decent. Nothing to write home about, but again the hotel seemed generous with replenishing the bottles daily, faster than we could use them.

The view outside the window was… cute? We were close to the action on the streets, which made for decent people-watching. Thankfully there wasn’t much noise aside from the occasional emergency vehicle. The trees outside were nicely decorated for the season, which is nice but illuminated the room as we slept, requiring us to fully close the curtains.

The Grand Club

When we checked into the hotel, we were given a sheet of paper outlining the features of the Grand Club and invited to use it thanks to my Globalist status. There are four offerings during the day, but the one we cared about the most was the breakfast.

The club is up on the 12th floor and the kids loved to visit often. The club felt a bit on the small side for a hotel of its size and it lacked external views of the city (instead the only views are of the indoor atrium). But while the lounge lacks in views and size, it does have a nice décor, a stark contrast from the hallways and guest rooms.

While I tend not to have a use of a shared computer, I do appreciate one is available with an attached printer. For this trip, I needed to print something out for our sightseeing and this did come in handy.

For breakfast, there were the standard options you might expect at a club lounge: pastries, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, cheeses and cold cuts. These items were standard every day. There were up to four hot items on offer, with slight variation every other day. Thankfully the eggs did not have a powdery taste as some lounges have. And I must say I am not a fan of the egg white frittata, which tasted a bit rubbery and bland.

The fridge was packed with water, soda, milk, juices, and yogurt. Just about all counter space was filled with breakfast items, suggesting they either have a lot on offer or they need a bigger lounge with more counter space. Perhaps both are true?

While the kids enjoyed entering the lounge, we found it difficult to wake them up most mornings. So that enabled me to get my steps in and make multiple trips to the lounge to dine in room. The large dining table was nice to have for this purpose and we did make good use of it. While some lounges ask guests not to take food outside the lounge, this one seemed to encourage it, offering to wrap up food to make it easier to transport. Perhaps that’s further acknowledgement on the small size of the lounge.

We did stop in for afternoon service once. Aside from the non-alcoholic beverages and yogurt available during breakfast service, they do leave out some small treats and fruit. There isn’t much available during this time, but it’s nice they have something available if the kids need a quick snack.

During the evening, they have a decently large spread available: pasta, burgers, salad, cheeses and cold cuts, and vegetables for dipping. They also make available an honor bar, but note this one isn’t quite as “honor”-able since the beer and wine was locked up at all times. To access it, you need to ask staff you want a drink and they take note of your room number. In the typical honor bar, there is free access to the drinks and you just fill out a card saying what you drank. Perhaps there were too many dishonest people coming here?

Could this be used as a dinner replacement? Perhaps, but it depends on how much you enjoy the spread. Some days the burgers were made of lamb, which the kids did not appreciate. And either way, the food here lacked flavor and was a bit dry. So while you could possibly use it as a meal replacement, we didn’t–and actually skipped this service most nights.

Lastly, dessert says it’s available from 8:30PM-9:30PM, but it’s important to get here earlier. A line seems to form just before 8:30PM and once the treats are placed out, there is a mad rush to grab desserts. Nothing seemed to be refreshed, so once they ran out, you’re out of luck. While I wanted to take a picture of the display, it wasn’t possible and I could just take a picture of the plate I was able to get. The desserts come from a local bakery–wish I knew which one. These desserts were far better than the offering during the evening service.

Cure Bar & Bistro

Opting for a bit of a relaxing evening, we decided to try out the hotel restaurant Cure Bar & Bistro. Staff here seemed pretty friendly and welcomed us in. The sushi here seemed reasonably priced but was a bit lacking in the cut and quality of the fish. The scallops were unmemorable and a bit expensive for the quantity provided. The kids meals were generously portioned and they both loved the accompanying fruit cup. The dessert ended up being free, thanks to a promotion they were having at the time, and unsurprisingly was quickly devoured by the kids.

Odds and Ends

Going back to the need for a refresh of the interior, perhaps it’s best described by a few pictures. There was excessive staining of the furniture in the rooms, with both heavier spotting and lighter stains. I don’t want to opine on what could have caused these stains, but we avoided using it when possible.

In the hallways, many floor tiles were badly damaged. Rather than replacing, the hotel seems to have just decided it’s cheaper to polish the floors and leave the broken tiles in place. We found broken tiles in many places; this one was located just outside the Grand Club.

There is a cute robot that goes around to vacuum the hallways. The kids seemed both intrigued and scared of the cleaning droid and maintained their distance from it. While it could be a sign of hotels cutting costs by automating jobs that used to be done by people, I’m just thankful someone or something is doing the job.

Recommendation: It Depends

Yes, there are good things about the hotel and there are problems as well. The Grand Hyatt is located in a great spot and it is convenient having a club lounge with kids (both for snacks and to get plenty of water as needed). I feel if the property put in a refresh of the interior, my opinion would change to a definite yes. As it stands, I think it truly just depends on what you’re looking for in a hotel. I might not stay here the next time I’m in town, but that’s also because I will likely visit sites in other locations around town.

Have you been to the Grand Hyatt Washington? What was your opinion of it?