MO Kansas City Hyatt Crown Center Downtown

[gruntlumber]

I have been to the Hyatt several times before, but never as a guest (only to go to Skies). My up-front summary is a resounding thumbs up.

To avoid paying for parking, we opted for the UMB bank parking garage. Only on weekends/holidays you can park there with no problems, and it's fairly convenient to The Link which connects the Hyatt with Crown Center, Union Station, and the Westin. We didn't have much luggage so it was no big deal to park and carry it back, but if you have a lot of luggage you may want to drop it off at the door before parking.

The lobby was as attractive as I remembered it from before. Large, open area with typical higher-end decor and cool ceiling fixture. Check-in was a new experience with the automated kiosk. I simply swiped my credit card and it looked up my reservation and spit out two room keys for us. Fast! Since this was a Priceline booking ($42 bid!), I called ahead to make sure we got a room with a King bed. A trick to get a good view is to ask for a smoking room, since they are on the higher floors. We ended up on the 37th floor with a great view facing south (Crown Center, Liberty Memorial). Not a city view, but besides the skyline at night it's mostly ugly parking lots and old decrepit buildings anyway.

The room was great as expected. The high point is the phenominal bed, and the well-appointed bathroom is worth mentioning too. The satellite TV was kind of quirky as some channels faded on and off, especially HBO. Under the TV cabinet was a fridge/mini-bar, and the prices were actually within a reasonable range. Occupancy was very low the night we stayed, so disturbances were very minimal. One complaint was the room was slightly stuffy, and the A/C didn't get any cooler. It wasn't a big deal, just kind of annoying.

We didn't actually go swimming or use the exercise equipment, but we strolled through and hung out by the pool for awhile. The pool is mostly outdoor with a tunnel leading to an inside portion. I believe they keep it open most of the year unless it gets unreasonably cold. Nice place to relax and catch some sun since it's on an upper floor.

Checking out involved pushing a few buttons on the remote control. Hopefully my next Priceline bid will get this place again. All-round great experience.