Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Review: Is It Good for SeaWorld?

The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay might be close in proximity to SeaWorld, but our stay left much to be desired and we didn’t get good sleep.

Booking the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay

The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay is a Category 4 hotel in the World of Hyatt program. That means free nights will cost anywhere between 12,000 and 18,000 Hyatt points per night. It also means you can use up your Category 1-4 free night certificates here if you have any. It’s always nice to find hotels where that’s possible as it’s getting harder and harder these days to find full-service hotels under Category 5.

For this stay, the daily rate was $251/night with a $50 parking charge or I could have paid 18,000 points/night. I ended up choosing the cash rate partly because of my valuation of Hyatt points and partly because I had a Chase offer on my card that gave extra cash back for staying at a Hyatt. Since I have Hyatt Globalist status, the parking fee would have been waived if I stayed on points.

I also used a suite upgrade award in advance of this stay, one of the many features I like about the World of Hyatt program.

Resort fee

The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay has a nightly $46 resort fee that includes:

Premium high-speed Wi-Fi
Bottled water upon request
A one-hour kayak or paddleboard rental
Beach chairs, toys, and umbrellas available for use at beach
Kids welcome beverage
Long-distance calls
Assorted board games and recreational games
Discounted tickets available for San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld at front desk
Use of waterslides
Daily wellness activity
Nightly in-room movie
Sunscreen available at pool
Shuttle service to SeaWorld and Old Town

The resort fee is waived if you’re here on a free night award or on any rate if you’re a Globalist (or Guest of Honor). From our perspective, the only things worthy of inclusion in a resort fee are the kayak/paddleboard rental and the shuttle service. The rest is just stuff many properties have anyways. Would you willingly pay $46 for that?

Earning World of Hyatt points

Full disclosure: in this section are refer-a-friend links where I may earn some points for referring. There is no requirement to use the below referral links to apply but note your offer may differ when going directly to the card issuer.

Chase has a couple of cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points that can transfer to Hyatt at a 1:1 rate:

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card (refer-a-friend link) that offers 75,000 points for spending $5,000 in the first three months.
There is currently a limited-time offer (refer-a-friend link) on the Chase Ink Business Preferred that gives an excellent 100,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first three months.

The Hyatt personal credit card (not an affiliate link) offers a 30,000 point bonus when spending $3,000 in three months. On top of that, you get 2X earnings during the first six months until you reach $15,000 in spend. At most, this is a 45,000 card for spending $15,000–and most certainly not the 60,000 bonus it claims disingenuously claims. But, on the bright side, if that $15,000 spend happens within the same calendar year, you’ll also get six elite night credits and a Category 1-4 free night certificate.

The small business version of the Hyatt credit card (refer-a-friend link) offers a limited-time 80,000 point bonus when spending $10,000 in three months. The main appeal here is the easier path towards earning elite status (5 elite night credit for every $10,000 in spend per calendar year), but it also gives up to $100 back on Hyatt purchases.

First impressions of the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay

We arrived at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in the evening (the pictures below are from the next day). Thankfully, there was no line when we arrived, making it relatively easy to check in. The front desk agent mentioned that we’ll be staying in The Suites complex, which is right in the middle of the parking lot. The other building (The Tower) is where the non-suite rooms are located and is more like a typical hotel.

Perhaps the front desk agent was newer, but he didn’t make a reference to my Hyatt Globalist status and I needed to ask about late checkout and where to get breakfast.

The daily resort fee says the kids were supposed to get a welcome beverage. We didn’t get any. Is it because we showed up in the evening? Did the front desk just forget it or didn’t bother to provide it? I’ll admit I didn’t realize the kids were supposed to get one when I showed up. They were there with me in the lobby, so perhaps you have to know and ask for it.

The lobby did feel open and had lots of seating, which is great if the kids need a place to hang out during check in or if lines get long.

And hidden just behind the lobby area is a small room with a free 1-Up Arcade machine.

Since we’re also talking about The Suites and The Tower buildings, it probably helps to show a map of the property. If you had to ask me my honest opinion on the two buildings, The Tower is a hotel and The Suites is a motel. Am I unfair in calling The Suites a motel? I’ll let you judge based on our stay.

Our room at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay

Our room is over in The Suites complex, which honestly reminded me a bit of a motel setup. There is no security desk over here. To gain access, you just need to scan your keycard or follow someone else into the building. Or, if you’re feeling rather adventurous, you could easily just hop the waist-high barrier to access the first floor. In other words, the security system isn’t stopping anyone.

Our room was on the third floor (#2311).

Front bedroom

Let’s start out by saying I’m confused about the layout in the room. The front bedroom is where the real bed is (the rear bedroom is where the pull-out couch is). Shouldn’t it be the other way around where the actual bed is in the rear of the room? This comes into play when you try to sleep in the front and find out there is practically no sound insulation from the outside. You’ll hear everyone walking by in the evening, making for poor sleep. Seems like a complete miss.

Another problem? Housekeeping didn’t clear the super early alarm from the last guest. Sigh.

As for the bed itself, it’s a bed? I’d prefer it a bit firmer as it seemed a bit overused and lacking support in places. I woke up with bed sores and a stiff neck.

Across from the bed is a TV on a stand.

And then next to the TV is a chair, small table, and lamp. We didn’t use this chair for anything other than storage.

Rear bedroom

On the way to the rear bedroom, we passed by a small hallway where you’ll find the coffee maker, bottles of water, and a mini fridge.

Perhaps the most interesting wall decoration is here too: a bottle opener. Is that an indication of who they’d expect to stay in the room?

Also in the hallway is a small dresser.

In the back room is a large TV on a desk. I normally like being able to work and see the TV at the same time, but this is a bit in-your-face.

Across from the TV is the couch with pull-out bed.

The bed itself is perhaps as comfortable as the one in the living room. I’ll let you decide whether that’s a good or bad thing.

And in the small corner, there’s a small table with chairs. It’s a nice breakfast nook with views of the outside.

There’s a small outdoor patio with some chairs in case you want to lounge about.

The view from here is of the marina, which looks pretty nice in the moonlight.

Bathroom

The bathroom is in the hallway between the two bedrooms. It’s fine, but needs better ventilation. Take one shower and this thing fogs up completely.

The towels are by the bathroom door along with a hair dryer.

The tub/shower combo is fine enough. Water pressure could be a little better but the temperature is good.

Toiletries are the Hyatt Regency brand-standard Pharmacopia.

Breakfast at Red Marlin

Thanks to my Hyatt Globalist status, we got breakfast for two adults and two children for free at the Red Marlin. Globalist breakfast includes either the buffet or anything off the menu, plus a cold drink and a hot drink. For both mornings, we had two extra guests with us for breakfast. We expected to pay for the two guests, but one of the mornings, they fully took off the charges for them too. Unexpected but definitely welcome!

Breakfast at the Red Marlin is during the following hours:

7AM – 11:30AM Monday through Friday
7AM – 12PM Saturday and Sunday

This is a restaurant that includes a 6% surcharge on top of menu prices that they don’t consider a tip. It’s a disappointment that they don’t just increase the price of the items to avoid this dishonest practice. Thankfully, Globalists don’t need to pay for it.

The buffet

We kept things simple the first day and just ordered the buffet. It’s in the center of the restaurant and the offering is pretty basic. The quality of the food certainly could be better. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Ordering off the menu

The second morning, Jenn decided she wanted to order something off the menu. The wait staff warned her that almost everything you could order on the menu comes from the buffet. She ordered the breakfast burrito, and it’s not much different than you grabbing a tortilla and going up to the buffet. We’d say you’re probably better off with the buffet.

The Market Mission Bay

Open daily 6:30AM to 4PM, the Market Mission Bay is home to a small convenience store and a bakery/sandwich counter.

It’s nice to have easy access to drinks, but it would have been nicer if the place were open later in the evening in case you get the late-night munchies.

We didn’t try the breakfast here, but it does make us wonder if the food here is better.

Pelican’s on the Bay

We didn’t get a chance to try out the other restaurant at the hotel: Pelican’s on the Bay. It’s right by the pools and open for lunch and dinner:

12PM – 9PM Monday through Thursday
11AM – 10PM Friday through Sunday

If you order food while lounging at the pool, it comes from this restaurant. We’ll have to try it out another time.

The pool area

The pool seemed to get a decent amount of shade during the day because it stands in the shadow of The Tower. That could be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. It means the mornings may be rather cool in the pool until the sun is overhead. But less chance of sunburn.

We did use the pool one day and, yes, it was rather chilly.

Off in the corner is the hot tub.

And then there are the waterslides. The slides are open during the following hours:

12PM – 6PM Monday through Thursday
11AM – 7PM Friday through Sunday

One pool has two slides leading into it. No child under 42″ is allowed to use these slides.

And another pool has one slide. Shorter children could use this slide.

Next to the pool is free sunscreen and water.

And the towel machine is here too. I don’t get how these machines know to charge you the right amount. It’s just a door that opens and you can take as many as you want, plus you don’t need to scan to return. I think it’s just a scare tactic to make you return the towels.

Behind the pool complex is a small section with outdoor games to pass the time. We spent a little bit of time here once done with the pool to dry off a bit.

Fitness center

The fitness center is near the Market Mission Bay and is open daily 5AM to 10PM. As with the rooms in The Suites complex, there is a view of the marina while in here.

By the windows, there is a small variety of exercise machines. The fitness center does get plenty of natural lighting, which is a good thing.

There are some free weights and weighted exercise balls in the parts of the gym away from the windows. It did feel a bit cramped in here, though. Almost like they tried too hard to fit as much as they could into this small space. Thankfully, we didn’t notice too many people in here during our stay as it would feel crowded quickly.

Is the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay meant for SeaWorld?

We came to the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay with the intent to make things convenient when visiting nearby SeaWorld. It’s a short 1.5-mile drive away from the theme park. The hotel does run a shuttle, but the times aren’t terribly convenient for going:

10:00AM – 11:30AM Hotel to SeaWorld
2:00PM – 3:00PM Hotel to SeaWorld
4:30PM – 6:30PM SeaWorld to Hotel

During the summer, SeaWorld is open until 9PM on weekdays and 10PM on weekends, but the shuttle hours don’t flex. Even in the winter, the park can be open until 8PM, which means there are pretty decent odds that you’ll have to cut your visit short. On the flip side, if you needed to come back early (say you have a young child needing sleep), you’re stuck at SeaWorld until 4:30PM.

Maybe you’ll think you can walk it, but that 1.5 miles is a rather indirect path that will take you through parking lots. With all the walking you’ll do at SeaWorld, can you really convince the kids that adding all this extra walking is worth it?

In the end, we ultimately decided to drive our car for maximum flexibility. It was needed in our case since we were done with the park before 4:30PM, allowing us to save money by eating dinner elsewhere. Since we had to pay for parking at SeaWorld anyways, the convenience of the hotel’s location wasn’t fully felt. Sure, it’s not that long of a drive to get back here from the theme park, but if we have to drive a bit to go to dinner after SeaWorld, the proximity to SeaWorld is negated.

Odds and ends

If you want to redeem your one-hour kayak or paddleboard rental, you’ll find the spot to do it right between the Market Mission Bay and the fitness center. Since this is within the marina itself, you won’t be able to get too many views. You’ll need to watch out if other boats are using the water, especially if you don’t know how to steer well on the paddleboard.

The hotel does have free charging for electric vehicles. It’s found underneath The Suites complex. They have both regular outlets and level 2 outlets (provided you have your own adapters). That’s always nice to get free fuel for your car.

Lastly, in The Suites complex, you also get use to free microwaves on each floor. This is just next to the ice machine (not sure whose bottled water was left on top of it).

Recommendation: No

We weren’t encouraged by our stay at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay. The property feels outdated and just simply didn’t get good rest at all in The Suites complex. Hearing every other guest walk by at night and getting bed sores wasn’t on my bingo card coming in. We were hoping the proximity to SeaWorld would add convenience, but that was also a miss. The property does have some pools and entertainment for the kids, but I’m not sure it’s worth it.

We’d argue it’s better to stay elsewhere even if your intent is to visit SeaWorld.

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