No, I'm not a Metrosexual! But I play one on TV...
Written: May 01 '06 (Updated Sep 13 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent airport location, Newly Renovated Guest Rooms, Awesome Baths, Comfy Beds
Cons: Poor location for everything else, Public areas are ready for their renovation
The Bottom Line: The place to stay at OIA! Honestly the best airport hotel I've ever experienced.
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| nvherron's Full Review: Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport |
The Hotel: Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport…
Wow. If you are flying in or out of Orlando International Airport, the Hyatt Regency is the place to stay. This is the best airport hotel I’ve ever stayed at…and this is saying a lot. The hotel is located right on top of the Main Terminal of Orlando International. You couldn’t ask for a better location. I was able to walk off my plane, head for the Main Terminal and take an elevator up to the 5th floor to check in.
The hotel is hard to see from the outside, due to the expansive airport grounds, and facilities. But the architecture is basically a big blocky exposed concrete, atrium style hotel. Several of the floors are stepped in from lower floors, but just a little. Not the full pyramid effect, because the top does not close…kind of like a pyramid with the top cut off. The hotel has 10 floors, but due to the fact it’s on top of a large airport terminal, the top floor is equivalent to being on the 18th floor, by my guesstimation.
If you are checking into the hotel by car, you have to follow a difficult series of overhead signs through the Airport Expressway. It involves nearly a full loop around the airport. But once you get there, there is a huge valet parking area at the Main Entrance. There was an adequate number of bellstaff and valet parkers there. I went and picked up my rental car before checking out and drove up to the front door, picked up my stuff from my room and checked out. The valet parking attendants looked at me funny when I told them what I was doing, but didn’t give me any flack.
The Welcome: More 90’s than a Seinfeld episode…
Welcome Ratings: Curb Appeal = 4 Stars; Interior Design = 3 Stars; Staff Quality = 4 Stars
If you arrive at this Hyatt by the motor entrance, then after walking in the front door, there is a small Elevator Lobby, you then are whisked up to the 5th floor Lobby via glass elevator. If you enter from the airport, go to the Main Terminal, look for the Atrium above the Rental Cars, next to the Shopping Mall. There is a bank of elevators with a huge Hyatt logo emblazoned on them. Take these up to the 5th floor to the hotel’s lobby.
The lobby is located directly in front of you once you step off the elevators. The lobby is tastefully decorated in a tropical style. Very vibrant carpets inlaid in a cream marble floor. The front desk is immediately in front of you. It is a really long, light wood panelized desk, with small lamps separating the different check-in stations. Behind the desk is a huge wall of glass overlooking a small airport lobby atrium.
All the furnishings in the public spaces are in good condition, but everything is of a style that is starting to date. A very 90’s tropical decoration theme. Time to go. Since they just completed a room renovation, the public areas are probably just about to be re-done, too.
The staff here are very nice, but definitely business geared. Very efficiency driven. And that’s just fine by me. I asked for an upgrade, as the hotel appeared slow, but they said they had nothing available. I guess I should work on getting up to Diamond status in the Hyatt Gold Passport program.
I’m off to the elevators to go up to my room on the 6th floor. You need a room key to get to any of the guest room floors. This is a good feature since the hotel is open to the entire airport. Once you get to your floor, the odds are it will be a long walk to your room. There are approximately 80 rooms per floor. And they wrap around the enormous atrium. So if your room is directly on the other side, it’s nearly 5 minutes walk from the elevators. On the north and south hallways are small atriums, the bottom being the sixth floor. It slants as it goes up because of the pyramid effect of the building.
The Room: I feel like a Metrosexual when I start gushing about bath care products…
Room Ratings: Bed = 4 Stars; Bedding = 4 Stars; Design = 5 Stars
I gotta tell ya…I really like these rooms. Walking into the room’s foyer, if it’s dark outside, the first thing you will notice is the lighting. It’s recessed, and casts a cool dramatic mood. In the foyer is a full size stand up mirror and a closet. Also here is the bathroom door. But these doors are striking as they are a really dark walnut stain (two shades lighter than black) with very stylish brushed nickel door hardware. The bathroom door is a french door with a full panel of frosted glass. This very stylish entry gives you an excellent impression of what your standard room is going to be like at the Hyatt.
I entered into the bathroom first, because the cool door beckoned me to visit. I was once again wow’ed. This is a very different floor plan and overall style for a bathroom. Very excellent decor…looks like a model home bath. In the center of the bathroom is a beautiful granite vanity and sink. All the fixtures are a beautiful and contemporary chrome style. On the counter are Hyatt’s recently redone Portico Spa bath care products. This hotel was featuring the White Ginger scent…which is my favorite…short of Aveda products. I know many of you will make fun of me, because no man should have such strong opinions about bath care products. I too often wonder, What’s happened to me??? I make fun of metro men. But I have no choice…it’s from living in the desert…you have to pay attention to your skin or you’ll end up lookin’ like jerky. I never cared about that stuff when I lived in Florida. Anyway…
The sink stuck out slightly from the vanity, creating a radiused front. The casework underneath was also radiused to match it. The casework was finished in the same dark walnut stain used on the doors. There were very nice pulls done in chrome. The floor was done in a very light cream granite tile, as was the bathtub surround. The walls were a pleasant tropical green color, which matched the style of the bathroom very well. This was hands down the nicest bathroom I’ve ever had in a standard room in my life. Very impressive.
OK, let’s go check out the bedroom. The decor is a contemporary rendition of a Tropical Colonial Plantation style. You know, kind of like what you saw at the turn of the century in British Colonies like Kenya, Rhodesia, Jamaica, Bahamas, etc. This new take of that classic style is very fitting for Florida in the 21st Century. Extremely attractive.
The carpet is textured in a thatched square pattern in a very pale green color. Furnishings are a dark cherry done in this tasteful style. Everything is brand new, clean and in excellent condition, as expected in a room just renovated. The furnishings consist of the bed(s), a desk and chair turned perpendicular to the wall, a comfy brown leather club chair with ottoman and side table, bedside table(s) and a tall credenza with 25” television. Rooms have tall 9’ ceilings with cherry crown molding and ceiling fans. This is a nice touch for an airport hotel. The rooms are very spacious, about 25% larger than an average room. All rooms have large balconies that either look into the Main Terminal’s East Atrium, or outside of the hotel overlooking the airport’s grounds. I prefer the exterior rooms, because I like to gaze at airplanes.
The beds at this Hyatt have just been upgraded to the Hyatt Grand Bed ensemble. This is a very nice bedding system, and one of the more attractive looking of all the chains. Not quite as soft as I’d prefer, but still very comfortable. The bed has a turned down tropical yellow patterned blanket, with a light and fluffy down comforter underneath…wrapped in a crisp white duvet cover. There are half a dozen downique filled pillows there, and a nice muted green bolster pillow, that is quite large and great for propping yourself up in bed. The linens are approximately 250 count, and were exceptionally clean.
The wall mounted thermostat worked well to get my room down to 65 degrees. I wanted to put it down to 62, but it wouldn’t go that low. Northern Nevada winters are quite cold, and we keep our night time temp at home around 62 degrees to save energy. And now I’m used to it.
The Grub: The first airport hotel where you don’t feel like a culinary prisoner!!!
Food Ratings: Restaurant = 4 Stars; Lounge = 4 Stars
There are two restaurants at the Hyatt Orlando Airport. The casual dining joint is called McCoy’s Bar & Grill. It is on the Lobby Level of the hotel and features standard hotel fare at normal inflated hotel prices. The decor is slightly dated and ready to be redone like all the public areas at this property. But the food here is reasonably good. The McCoy name comes from this airport’s previous use. It used to be McCoy Air Force Base. In fact, my Dad was stationed here in the 60’s. But that’s before my time!
The more upscale place is called Hemispheres. It is located on the top floor with a view over the airport. The decor here is much snazzier and feels less dated. The food here was quite good, and they had an excellent Sunday brunch…but it was a bit on the pricey side. There is 24 hour room service, but I have yet to try it.
Additionally, there is a food court a short elevator ride away in the Main Terminal. It is actually quite easy to get to, and less than 5 minutes walk from the lobby. Here you will find all your typical fast food chain restaurants, a Starbucks, a Macaroni Grill and a Chili’s. There are dozens of casual dining places within 5 miles of the airport, too. But these are really not convenient because it is so hard to get to a car, and OIA is so large.
The Recreation: Feels weird to go swimming in a pool without my kids…
Recreation Ratings: Pool = 4 Stars; Fitness Center = 4 Stars
On the 6th floor, the Hyatt features a very nice outdoor pool deck. It is very spacious and attractive. The pool is heated nicely, quite large and very inviting. It is surrounded by lots of chaise lounge chairs and tables on three sides. On the fourth side is a short wall, with three powerful water jets shooting into the deep end of the pool. I guess it’s supposed to be a horizontal fountain. I thought is was rather neat until some unsupervised juveniles started to play with it, trying to re-direct the powerful jets in different directions toward their peers. I managed to get hit a few times incidentally. But I didn’t say anything, kids will be kids, afterall.
Also on the deck is a raised platform with a portico, or arbor, depending where you are from geographically. Here there are some tables and they have an excellent view of the tarmac, taxiways and runways for plane gazing. Oddly, there is no hot tub here. There certainly was plenty of room for one, though. Maybe they think Florida is already hot enough? I was there in winter, and the 60 degree evening would have been great for a nice hot tub soaking.
Located directly adjacent to the pool deck is the hotel’s Fitness Center. It is a good size, and well equipped with treadmills, bikes, elliptical trainers, free weights, weight machines, aerobic accessories, etc. A good selection of all the standard stuff. Everything was very clean and good working order. The view overlooked the tarmac, or you could look at the three TV’s hanging off the wall. There was a single stall bathroom/locker room. A water fountain and towel center are stationed at the entrance.
The Verdict: Why can’t they all be like this?
Grades: Market Percentile = 100% (Orlando Airport); Class Percentile (Upper Upscale) = 90%
Well, if you couldn’t tell, I really like the Hyatt on top of Orlando Airport. This is hands down the best airport hotel I’ve ever stayed at. And there sure isn’t a better location for an airport hotel than being on top of it. It’s a cool concept and more airports should consider doing this.
In the Orlando Airport vicinity, I’ve stayed at the Crowne Plaza (when it was a Radisson), Marriott, Renaissance, Sheraton Suites, Ameri-Suites, Holiday Inn Select and now the Hyatt. The Hyatt beats them all, but the Sheraton Suites is very acceptable, too.
The room renovations were done in a top notch fashion. Now they just need to finish with the public areas. All things considered, this property has brought my feelings about Hyatt up a notch.
Signed,
The Hotel Dork (a.k.a. Robert Herron)
Fernley, Nevada
Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport Reference Section:
Address: 9300 Airport Blvd, Orlando, FL
Phone: (407) 825-1234 Fax: (407) 856-1672
Website: http://orlandoairport.hyatt.com/
Rooms: 446
Year Built: 1988 Last Renovated: 2005
Other Orlando Airport Hotel Reviews by nvherron:
Renaissance Orlando Hotel Airport - Wickered to Your Heart's Desire...
Sheraton Suites Orlando Airport - Oooh a Sweet Sleeper Bed...I'm a Sucker for a Gimmick
Holiday Inn Select Orlando Airport - Call Security! There's a Loud Mutant Toddler trying to Break in our room!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nvherron
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Member: Robert Herron
Location: Fernley, Nevada, USA
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 40 members
About Me:
The Hotel Dork is back home for awhile. Tired of jet setting for the moment.
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