CA Orange County Hyatt Newport Beach

[LPines]

Got back now from our stay here at the Newport Hyatt. Overall, not a bad value for the price paid on very short notice. First night was in the Lido building, most remote from lobby and other amenities, and older and in need of some updating, but a good size room. They did mention "Priceline" when we checked in and my hunch is they do not put out their best inventory for bargain travelers. However, they did (reluctantly?) upgrade is to the newly redone Balboa building with a King bed and nice golf view the second night. You have to politiely push a little in some hotels like Hyatt to be treated like a "first class" patron. Same experience at Hyatt Century City L.A. 2 nights later. First room had smokey odor, and front desk said it was not a smoking room. Since I called down immediately, they moved us a few rooms over and got a nicer smelling room. You just have to push a little if they give you "B" inventory. But to be fair, that often happens off priceline in many hotels..... :)

Parking of $12 is a bit high considering the self park lot is quite a hike from the main hotel and most buildings. But, alas, it's a bargain compared to the Hyatt Century City, who got us for $29/night for vallet, claiming on check in that it's cheaper than self park -- which is not totally true, unless you are in and out a few times during the day in self park, which has no in'n'out privileges. With a couple of bucks tip to valley, the tab was close to $35 to park one lousy day. Even the vallet guys know it's high, and give you little water bottles to "ease" the pain! :)

[April520]

Sorry so long to post about my stay. I was even MORE disappointed with this hotel this time around. We asked for a room near the parking lot (by the pool) because it was closer to the parking since we had a double stroller and it is a long walk to get to the lobby thru the parking lot. Last time we stayed in the main building by the lobby and wished we would have again. Our room by the pool was terrible. Priceline has this down as a 4 star. I would go as far to say that our room was barely a 3! The room was not that clean and our bathroom was probably the worst I've stayed in. It was very old, worn, and moldy smelling. Anyway, I won't be Pricelining that star quality again in OC. I'll go down a star and get a better hotel. The second leg of our stay at Crowne Plaza was FABULOUS! I will post a review there as well.

April

[amiedelanoche]

I just stayed here the second week of April 2010. After getting it for $55 on Priceline, I was kinda happy till I read the reviews. It is true that it's not that great of a hotel, but the rooms are clean and smells kind of like Grandma's house. I stayed in Balboa which is right across from the lobby and thus easy to get to my car...but it was also right next to the shuttleboard? thing, which means at 9 am..some families might wake you up.

Maybe it was because I braced myself for the hotel to be super bad or maybe I just have low standards... but I wasn't that disappointed. I thought the balconies are a nice touch, it's great for spring break. It's close to Fashion Island and about 8 mins from the freeways. Definitely worth $55 but not anymore than that.

[ladodger34]

If my memory serves me correctly, I think I bid $60 for the room and got it on my first try. My wife and I decided that $60 was a nice cheap getaway from the kids for a night and for the most part it was.

For those looking to book this hotel, I would caution that the parking is $20 a day. I understand that parking is at a premium in most overly populated areas, but I also think that it was a bit high considering that our walk from the parking lot to our room was a trek. As a counter point, my wife and I stayed at the Loew's Coronado a few years ago as a getaway before our oldest son was born. I think the parking was $20 a day there as well, but we were right by our room.

There is also a daily charge for internet access, so beware. I don't remember exactly what the price was, but I'm pretty sure it was $10/day. I didn't use it, but I would have been putoff a bit if we had stayed more than one night and if we had paid closer to full price.

As for our room, it wasn't anything superb but I wouldn't say that it was terrible either. For a "4 star" place, I would say it was lacking. The bathroom was nothing special. We stayed in the Lido building, which I assume is the place where they stick us cheapo priceline folks. Our room was on the first floor and we had a little patio that was adjacent to the golf course. It was fairly nice. The pool and spa area seemed nice as well.

We really did like how close it was to Fashion Island. It was easy for us to find a decent place to eat without having to look high and low.

One thing that I would like to make really clear with this review is that we could almost hear everything that our neighbor did. I'm not sure if this was because the rooms had the possibility for adjoining access, but I would hesitate to stay at the hotel again simply for that reason alone.

If you are looking for a quite "couples" type of getaway, you might want to look elsewhere.