WI Milwaukee Hyatt Regency

[Welldone Rumproast]

The bid information for this stay is found HERE

The Hyatt Regency is a modern business/convention hotel in the center city area of Milwaukee. The Midwest Airlines Center (convention center) is across the street and two arenas (the US Cellular Arena and the Bradley Center, where the Bucks play) are diagonally across the street as well.

Airport Access

Van shuttle service is USD 10.00 (USD 2.00 savings if you buy a round trip). There is also a transit system bus line (Route #80) that stops within 3-4 blocks of the hotel for USD 1.35 per direction (I took the van because of number of bags).

Physical Building

The 18-story building looks to be about 20-25 years old, but the interior spaces (public areas and rooms) look as they have been recently refurbished and everything is in good conditioin. The hotel features a rectangular atrium around which all of the rooms are situated.

Check-In and Check-Out

Check-In was efficient by a friendly clerk. A double-bedded, non-smoking room was pre-assigned. I presented my Gold Passport card, and the clerk entered my GP number into my record without any fuss or problem ( I will update this post when my points (hopefully) are posted).

Check-Out was just as efficient. I verified on my receipt that my GP number was indicated at the bottom (it was).

Room

The room was standard-sized, based on my experiences in major-chain city hotels. Basic features included the following:

• work desk with swiverl chair
  
• two phones (desk and bedside), both with data ports
  
• Good blackout effect for drapes
  
• Good lighting for reading and at the desk
  
• Medium-sized TV with full complement of 20-25 cable channels
  
• triple-sheeted beds
  
• iron and board provided
  
• plenty of towels and good-quality soaps and shampoos
  

The good, the bad and the ugly:

:) Very Good Water pressure with Moen shower massage head

:D Excellent matress comfort

:P No noise from hallway

:) No highspeed or web-style internet access

:) No In-Room Coffee maker

Restaurant

The lobby-level restaurant (I think it was called the Pilsner) offers both a buffet breaksast (USD 9.95 including both coffee and juice, good if not exceptional). A la carte selections are also available. The restaurant serves Starbucks coffee B) both regular and decaf. Service was friendly (they bring a full pot of coffee to the table, which I really appreciate in the morning) :o

This restaurant serves lunch and dinner, and dinner is also served in the revolving restaurant (i think it was called Polaris) at the top of the building. I didn't eat at either, but I looked at both menus and they are (smartly) divided between sandwiches and smaller entrees (USD 8.00-10.00) and more elaborate dishes (USD 16.00 to 25.00).

Hotel Area

One side of the hotel is situated on "Old World Third Street", where there are a number of German-oriented shops and restaurants.

There is also a vertical mall "The Grand Avenue" with full-service restaurants and a food court, is about one block away.

[thesqueegeekid]

Perfect timing with this post ... I am staying here next Monday and thinking of adding a second night for the Sunday as well. That is a first ... no coffee maker!!!

Do you have any suggestion for where to request a room???

I have learned to ask this now from my recent stay in Cleveland ... the person at the desk told me to always call ahead to request a room ... I could have had a lakefront high floor!!!

I always make a joke when checking in and ask for an 'ocean view' ... and these are low-rise hotels next to highways ... I get a sincere laugh and they are happy to upgrade me in pity perhaps.

[Welldone Rumproast]

Hi thesqueegeekid,

The area around the hotel isn't super-scenic :) Having said that, the rooms on the Third Street side look east and, if your room is on a high enough floor, you might be able to see the Milwaukee River (I think it's too far away to see Lake Michigan but I'm not 100% sure). Another factor for the rooms on the Third Street side is that they're farthest from the elevators and farthest from the ice machine/vending machine room).

BTW good news - my Gold Passport points just posted (points for my meal) and a night/stay credit was posted as well :) :o

[Senoreit]

Stayed here on the nights of July 3rd and 4th, 2004. Arrived at about 3:30 p.m. (stated check-in time is 3:00 p.m., though I know that these times are rarely strictly enforced) to find only maybe one or two groups in line ahead of us at the front desk, despite the fact that the hotel was sold out that night. Clerk was very nice and asked for our smoking preference despite the fact that I had phoned ahead and requested a non-smoking king room. I repeated my requests to her, as she either didn't check the preferences in our reservation or wanted to double check that our preferences hadn't changed. She told us that there were no more non-smoking king rooms available and gave us three room options: #1 smoking king #2 non-smoking with two doubles #3 non-smoking "Parlor Room" with what sounded like a Murphy Bed which she said was a little smaller than a queen (she also said this room would be a little smaller than the others). We opted for the non-smoking doubles room and were assigned 1702 on what I believe was a Gold Passport floor based on the signs. Before giving us our keys she mentioned that our reservation was prepaid and suggested that we check back in the morning if we were interested in switching to a king room, which we did end up successfully doing.

I can't add a whole lot to the description of the rooms in the previous post, although our rooms *did* have a coffeemaker in the bathroom and a few different packages of coffee (didn't pay a whole lot of attention to this, as I don't drink coffee). They also had the desk and swivel chair as previously mentioned, and I think this hotel now offers wireless high speed internet access for $9.95/day. Overall, the rooms were fine; nice and clean, showing no signs of wear. If I had to nitpick, I wish they had a taller piece of furniture on/in which to place the television. Although this isn't totally uncommon in my experience, the TV was just set on top of a dresser and about at eye level when lying in bed. When the blankets can partially block your view of the TV, I think it's too low. The bathrooms are not large but certainly adequate. We got a free newspaper delivered to our first room the first night, but didn't get one the second night at our new room.

The hotel does have a skywalk on the 2nd floor in which you can go to the Grand Avenue Mall, but between the hotel and the mall is a federal building which you must go through on your way. Of course, this means having to have your bags inspected and going through a metal detector. What's even more odd is that on the way into the federal building from the hotel, they have an airport-style x-ray machine and walk-through metal detector. On the way into the federal building coming back from the mall, there is just a table with a security guard, who must hand-inspect all your bags and use a metal-detecting wand. Bottom line, unless it's raining or extremely cold, it's probably easier to just go outside and walk to the mall, especially if you're going to bring back bags of merchandise. Apparently you can also go to the convention center via skywalk, which doesn't require passing through the federal building.

We actually ate at three of the hotel's restaurants, Knuckles sports bar, Polaris (the revolving restaurant on top of the hotel), and Pilsner Palace. I don't consider myself much of a connoisseur, but I thought the food was okay, if not great, at all three locations. I had the breakfast buffet at Pilsner Palace, which featured french toast, sausage, bacon, potatoes, cereal, made-to-order eggs/omelettes, and milk/juice/coffee. I would consider the food to be of standard "buffet quality," which was good enough for me, and for $9-$10 I wasn't expecting a gourmet meal. I think Polaris is worth visiting, especially if you've never been to a revolving rooftop restaurant, for although Milwaukee's skyline may not be up there with the best in the country, Polaris affords an excellent view of what there is. The atmosphere is classy yet very relaxed, which I enjoyed, and the staff was polite and attentive. Again, the food was probably just average, but to me it was a nice experience. Knuckles is a sports bar with a very limited selection of entrees. I had a cheeseburger and fries, which again, were pretty much average.

The hotel is in a "good" downtown location, although downtown Milwaukee, in my experience, is eerily empty (at least on weekends) and without a whole lot to do except for during special events like Summerfest.

There is no pool but there is a fitness room, which I did not visit.

Self-parking is available for $10.50 for 24 hours (this is the discounted rate for hotels guests) at an adjoining parking garage which is not owned or operated by the hotel. I don't know about the valet parking situation.

Overall I had a very pleasant experience here and wouldn't at all be disappointed to win this hotel again on a future Priceline bid.

[SinatraFan]

Arrived at 9:30 in the morning and got a room right away, no problem, friendly front desk staff. Rooms do not have coffee makers but each floor has a free coffee machine by the elevators (though coffee is only available till 11:30 a.m.). The morning newspaper is left outside the door each day. The room size and accomodations are standard but the bathroom, while clean and modern, is much smaller than I would expect from other hotels in this class. High speed internet access is now available. Views are best to the east and north.

The concierge was a very nice person and provided 2-for-1 coupons for the zoo and most museums. I asked where the Milwaukee Visitor Center was and she replied "I should know that, shouldn't I?". Three phone calls later she did - it was one block south.

Parking is in an independently owned lot connected by skywalk to the lobby. $16 for a 24 hour period, but show your Hyatt receipt and you get a dollar off.

Location of the hotel is fairly central and as Senoreit has said, Milwaukee is one quiet town. The middle of a workday in the thick of downtown feels like a sleepy sunday almost anywhere else. But all your favorite shops and restaurant chains are around, and the Historic Third Ward has many very interesting little shops. (Not to be confused with "Old World Third Street", just across the street from the Hyatt, which has Usinger's sausage shop, Mader's restaurant, and as of December 05, a branch of Munich's Hofbrauhaus.)

I look forward to returning.

[coharahawk]

So, there hasn't been a review of this place in quite some time, so I thought I would add my two cents. I stayed there for one night (Thursday) and got a great deal on Priceline. The hotel is undergoing a massive renovation project that is supposedly going to be extremely nice. The lobby was completely torn up with much of it inaccessible at this time. I had read reviews on other websites about the noise level, which was even worse than I had imagined. Parking was ridiculous ($24/day), but was attached and convenient. My room was on a floor which was one that had not been renovated yet. The room was fairly clean, but did not compare to any other 3.5* I've stayed at. Everything was outdated. Reviewers on other sites have noted that the renovated rooms are extremely well appointed and nice. I can't help thinking I was given one of the old rooms because of Priceline, which is understandable, but this hotel should not be listed as a 3.5* if that is the case. By no means are the old rooms "luxury". No free Wifi or breakfast as noted on their website. I think this hotel will be really nice once it's all done, but who knows if they will continue to have low prices on Priceline by that time.

[aglinka]

Stayed here in December, came in from chicago on megabus and had a flight early the next morning.

- there was free wi-fi from my room. not sure if it originated at the property, based on the SSID being something like Milwaukee Wi-Fi, but it worked fine.

- was given a refurbished room by default. was really nice, totally 3.5* compliant. not sure if all are this way.

- bed extremely comfortable.

- very, very friendly service.

much better, and a far better value than staying at an inferior airport property for around the same money.

only con i'd note is their elevator, plan an extra 2-4 minutes (unless they've already fixed it, they were waiting on a part) to get to your floor, since elevator calls don't work, and it randomly shows or doesn't.