I stayed at the Hyatt Regency for a convention a few weeks ago. This was a youth convention--and there were a TON of youth in town and many of them were staying at this Hyatt. I was an adult traveling with four other adults and 12 teenagers.
Positives:
If you're attending a convention at the Columbus convention center then this is a great location! It's still a little walk to the convention center but is handy for when the weather is poor. Also, there are many great restaurants and bars within a very short walk of the hotel. There is even a food court attached to the hotel for when you need a quick bite to eat. (Although, do not try to find a drugstore that's open after 8:00 p.m.! And the drugstore that is "near" by is about 10 or 12 blocks away.) Also, within a short walk is the very fun North Market with all kinds of interesting food vendors and grocers. It's worth a visit.
Negatives:
I REALLY try to write positive reviews. (You can check my other reviews.) I'm not picky. I don't care that this hotel was a little dated, or that the pool was tiny, or that the bathrooms were small - all of those things can be made up in other ways. However I was so disappointed with this hotel on several levels.
First of all, the elevators. There are only four elevators to service this hotel. I'm sure this is not an issue if there isn't a convention in town. But with the convention happening, there were LONG waits for the elevators, it was difficult to get on one and when you did it was extremely crowded. We took the stairs when going down as much as possible.
The real issue we had was with the rooms. I understand that this was a youth convention and many people think they can get away with lower standards for teenagers. But we were paying good money for the rooms and I expect for the youth to be treated the same as other customers. Upon checking in, which was not late or even in the heart of the check-in rush, we had some problems.
Our leader booked four rooms with two double beds in each. When we arrived to our rooms we found one room had apparently already been checked into. The boys found a suitcase and a Macbook in "their" room. Had somebody dishonest walked into that room, someone's belongings and expensive computer could have been stolen.
My group of four women walked into a corner room with one queen bed and a single roll-away bed standing on end that there was no room to lay down. I went down to the front desk and said that we would need a room with two double beds, that we had booked a room with two double beds. I was informed that beds are considered a "preference" and that there were no rooms available like that. I don't know about others, but I consider having a bed to sleep in the main requirement of a hotel. It wasn't like we asked for a king and got a queen - that I can understand as a preference. I expect that when four people have reserved a room that they will all have a bed to sleep in. They told us that they had ordered extra air mattresses for this convention. I'm not staying in my cousin's basement for the week! I'm paying to stay in a hotel and I want the comfortable beds they advertise. They moved us to a non-corner room - still with only one queen bed, and gave us two roll away beds. We had to rearrange all the furniture (remove the desk, push the bed over, etc...) to fit in the roll-aways. (Housekeeping didn't even do it for us.) But, the girls in my room were real troupers and kept a very positive attitude and hauled that furniture around like champs. The hotel did not offer to compensate us. It was only after I said firmly that I would like to be compensated for the hassle that they offered me a discount of 25% per night. I was extremely disappointed at this.
The room of boys (who had been checked into an already occupied room) were also moved to a room with only one bed and were given a queen air mattress. They were also very unhappy.
The other room of men had five people in it. They allowed us to reserve a room for five people but when we called down for an air mattress we were told that they would not give an extra bed to a room that already had two beds in it. They would bring extra bedding if needed. Why did they allow us to check in five people then?
Only one of our rooms had enough beds for all the people.
After coming back from supper, we found a hallway full of teenagers and adults sitting in the hall with their luggage - because none of their room keys worked. Thankfully that did not happen to us.
We also struggled to receive housekeeping all week. To their credit, after making quick phone calls we always received our housekeeping in a speedy fashion.
I understand a convention is probably a crazy time for hotels, and that helped me keep a cool head when dealing with the staff. (And the staff was very nice!) But, they ARE attached to a convention center. Shouldn't they know how to prepare a little better for these kinds of crowds? I would have hated to have been staying there if I was not affiliated with this convention. It would have been a nightmare!
I would give them another chance because I'm sure it's a fine hotel...when there isn't a convention around.
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