A Hyatt hotel in a good location in Seattle, Washington that feels modern and is well-maintained. Food in the main restaurant is a treat but avoid the grab-and-go option.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Fun in the Pacific Northwest
• Hyatt Regency Seattle: Good Location, Great Price (this post)
• Seattle with Kids: Undeniable Fun in the Summer
• Restful Sleep in the City: JW Marriott Parq Vancouver
• Vancouver with Kids: Fun in the Great Outdoors
• Family Dining in Vancouver: The Best of What We Ate
• PSA: Register Your Global Entry Cards
• A Case Study on Airport Hotels: Seattle Airport Marriott
• A Sad Place to Be: The Club at SEA

Booking the Hyatt Regency Seattle

I booked four nights at this hotel, three of which were covered by my employer as I was there for business purposes. While some of the nights were fully reimbursed, the review in this post remains my own. The rate for this hotel was $259/night. Thankfully, there was no resort fee here, though it would have been covered by my Globalist status.

This hotel is a Category 4 hotel, meaning it can be booked between 12,000 and 18,000 Hyatt points per night or you can use a Category 1-4 free night certificate. I generally try to get two cents per Hyatt point for free nights, and this is generally in line with the room rate being charged (when adding in tax).

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.

Arrival and First Impressions

The hotel is only a few blocks away from the nearest light rail station with direct access to SEA airport. While I normally would have taken the light rail, I was traveling with two car seats and I wasn’t looking forward to managing the kids on top of that. So instead we took a Lyft to get to the hotel, which was only twenty minutes.

Once inside, we found a beautiful lobby that felt modern and spacious. While I was here by myself back in July 2021, I was happy to see that the hotel has been well-maintained during that time. The front desk didn’t recognize me as a repeat customer, but did recognize my Globalist status and placed us in a higher floor (no suite upgrades because the hotel was sold out). I did proactively receive a 4pm late checkout despite the hotel being sold out.

The Room

We took the elevators up to Floor 41, where we found our room for this stay (4125). The hallways were simple and the kids made a game out of trying to avoid stepping on lines or darker spots.

Once inside, we found a nicely-decorated room with two queen beds. While it would have been nice to have more space to stretch out with the family, we didn’t feel constrained in this room. In fact, the kids loved exploring the furniture and trying to play hide-and-seek here (unsuccessfully since there aren’t many places to hide).

The TV in the room was quite large. One thing I enjoy about most Hyatt hotels is the easy connection to Chromecast. With kids getting used to watching their favorite shows on demand, being able to easily project my phone on the TV is a benefit.

The bathroom similarly felt modern and clean. The only real downside was the lack of a full shower door, making it hard to stay warm when taking a shower. Toiletries were by Pharmacopia, the standard for Hyatt Regency hotels.

In what feels like a rare sighting these days, the hotel automatically provided toothpaste and mouthwash. Back in the day, almost every Hyatt would provide toothpaste proactively and I miss those days.

The room had a beautiful view of the city and water.

The front desk provided a number of fliers at check in, outlining the available dining options both inside the hotel and around town.

Breakfast at Andare

As part of my Hyatt Globalist benefits, I get full breakfast for two adults and two children each morning. The hotel gave a card that confirmed the benefit, and breakfast could be done either at the grab-and-go restaurant or from the sit-down restaurant. When there are no time constraints, always go for the sit-down restaurant.

Andare can be found on the first floor, around the corner from the front desk. While the hotel does have a full buffet or a continental breakfast, Globalist benefits will cover the full buffet for all (whereas Marriott hotels tend to only cover the continental for Platinum and higher status and make you pay an upcharge for the full).

Each morning, we were seated promptly and given a simple menu that outlined an entree selection that could be taken along with the buffet.

The restaurant felt spacious enough, with plenty of natural lighting. Food selections can be found along both sides of the restaurant. Unlike some buffets, everything here seemed fresh. Our kids were particularly interested in the breakfast pizza. The orange juice did seem freshly squeezed.

For the entree accompanying the buffet, we had waffles and omelets. Overall, this was a great start to the day.

Regency Lounge

To be quite honest, it’s sad how underutilized the lounge is. The lounge isn’t even open for breakfast. There are no planned services here—no evening appetizers, no dessert hour, just a small selection of pre-packages snacks and some drinks.

When I was here in July 2021, I figured the reason was the aftermath of COVID-19 lockdowns. But nearly two full years after, I’m left wondering what their long-term plans are here. For long stretches, we were the only ones here at the lounge, which is a shame because it’s a beautiful space. It’s quite large, with plenty of seating both indoors and outside.

Interestingly, the lounge has a rating of Excellent. I imagine it would be hard to earn anything less than that given the pre-packaged nature of what’s on offer here.

Odds and Ends

We did try out the grab-and-go restaurant one evening when the kids needed a snack. The award for the saltiest soup I’ve ever had goes to the chicken and dumpling soup here. That being said, the service here is good, with staff eagerly replacing a container of fruit we purchased moments earlier that Char spilled while we were waiting for our soup. That being said, the soup itself was fairly simple, with few dumplings and chicken. I would avoid it the next time around (and perhaps also avoid the grab-and-go restaurant altogether).

Recommendation: Yes

The hotel is in a good location, is relatively inexpensive on points, and is well-maintained. The breakfast here is quite good (even better if you have Globalist status) and people here are generally friendly. How much more can you ask for? The real downsides to the hotel are the lack of a shower door and way over-salted soup. I’m willing to forgive those since everything else here went so well. I’m definitely willing to stay here again the next time I’m in town.

Have you stayed at the Hyatt Regency Seattle before? What were your thoughts?