CA Santa Rosa Hyatt Vineyard Creek

[BEAV]

Being Hyatt fans, we were anxious to try this property after learning of their purchase earlier this past summer from the original owner. Not too long after the conversion, I noticed the addition of 4 star bidding in the Santa Rosa zone and figured it must be the Vineyard Creek.

I called Hyatt's 1-800-Checkin number around 1:00pm to get a room assignment. The employee on the phone asked "what city and state are you checking in to"? I replied, "Santa Rosa, CA". Her response was "we don't have any hotels in Santa Rosa." I always hate it when a reservationist hasn't heard of something, it therefore doesn't exist! I told her it was a new Hyatt property. After a few strokes of the keyboard, she located the hotel and proceeded to try and check us in. After about 2-3 minutes on hold, she assigned us to room 102.

We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm. The hotel is a 3-story affair, with a rather Mediterranean look from the outside. The lobby is spacious and beautiful, with comfortable couches and chairs surrounding a fireplace. It was here that I determined his hotel belongs to the Kimpton group, rather than Hyatt. The lobby area cries out for Kimpton's evening wine reception. At the very least, some soft piped in music would be nice. The room is quite spacious, and one can't help but think a wine bar would be a great addition to what seems like a lot of wasted space.

Check-in was swift, however one did get the feel that the hotel was still under conversion from it's former owner. There was what appeared to be a front desk manager assisting two clerks checking guests in. It's anyone's guess whether Hyatt hired new people or simply took over with the existing work force.

Upon entering room 102, once again my thoughts turned Kimpton. The rooms, although not large, are very colorful and decor is what you would expect to find at a boutique hotel. The walls are painted a light peach, with taupe ceilings. The space above the bed is adorned with wallpaper with a grape pattern. Very appropriate for the wine country!

Before I get too much into the description of the room, we noticed we did not have a door leading into the central courtyard. Upon looking out the window, we could see that the room next door did, however. Wanting to sit outside and enjoy the great weather, I returned to the front desk and asked if we could be assigned the room adjacent to ours. The Manager said it was a handicap room and they needed to keep it available, however she reassigned us to room 118. Little did we know we had hit the jackpot. Room 118 has double doors which lead out onto a patio facing the pool. On our patio were two wooden chairs and a small table. We enjoyed this immensely.

Like the rooms, the bathrooms aren't overly large, however the angle of the counter makes them visually appealing. The bathroom was fully stocked with soaps, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, cotton balls, q-tips, shower cap, large, high-powered hair dryer, and a very nice adjustable mirror.

We noticed there were no robes, so I tried to call housekeeping to ask for some. The phone has a number of buttons to press without having to actually dial the extention you want. I punched housekeeping, but instead got the voice mail of an employee. I hung up and called again, but same thing. Finally called the Front Desk and asked for two robes, however the employee reacted as if it was the first time he had ever been asked the question. He said he would try to get some and get back to me. Perhaps robes are not a normal amenity in this hotel. Whatever the policy, there was a knock at the door about 10 minutes later and we had our robes. They were the lightweight waffle type robes, so I have a feeling they were obtained from the hotel's spa.

We noticed the TV in the room to be fairly large by most hotel standards. Channel selection seemed very good. There was also a keyboard for Internet usage via the TV. I didn't look to see what the charge was, however. We brought a laptop and got on line twice during our stay and were charged $1 for each local call access call.

Around 5:00pm we wanted to order appetizers from room service to enjoy on the patio with a bottle of wine. There was no room service menu in the hotel directory. I checked all the desk and dresser drawers, but never could locate one. This time I punched the room service button on the phone and got yet another person's voice mail. I hung up and called the front desk. I asked her if she knew the name of the person who's voice mail answered at the room service extention. She replied it was the hotel's audio/visual Manager! Obviously, this hotel has some phone problems!

I told her there was no room service menu in our room and she said she would get one to us. After about thirty minutes and no menu, I called the front desk once again and a different employee said he would try to get us one. After about another twenty minutes, and with the sun rapidly setting, we scratched Plan A and decided to have pre-dinner cocktails at one of the many neighboring restaurants across the street in Railroad Square. Just as we put on our jackets and walked out the door, here came the room service menu. Oh well, next time!

Railroad Square is about a four-block radius made up mainly of restaurants, antique shops, and a healthy dose of "colorful people". They don't appear to be homeless, but more like former hippie-type street people that just love to hang out in the area. Completely harmless, doing nothing but adding color to the neighborhood!

We enjoyed great cocktails at Mixx before making our way a couple of blocks to La Gare for a delicious dinner. La Gare served some of the best french onion soup I've had in ages. The ambiance was great and the restaurant was full of locals on a Thursday night. Overall, a very enjoyable evening.

Our king bed bed with feather pillows was very comfortable. This was a nice change as we often find Hyatt's beds very hard. I didn't want to get out of bed the next morning.

We decided to have breakfast the following morning at the Seafood Brasserie, but not before enjoying coffee and newspaper on the patio first. Breakfast was tasty and reasonably priced. There is not a lot of ambiance, however, so I was glad we didn't chose the Brasserie for dinner the previous evening. I find it unfortunate the restaurant is detached from the hotel. If you could walk directly into the restaurant and bar from the hotel, it would help to create some much-needed atmosphere in the lobby. Who knows...maybe Hyatt has plans up their sleeves.

As is the case in many hotels, the television check-out system wasn't working, necessitating a stop at the front desk. This turned out to be good, however, since for the first time I was handed a receipt that showed what Priceline paid for the room....$50.65. So it looks like I overbid by just $4 on my accepted $55 bid.

Hyatt Vineyard Creek is a nice Priceline addition to the Wine Country. I would classify Santa Rosa as more of a gateway to/from the wine country, rather than right in the heart of it like Sonoma or Napa. But once just a few miles outside town, wineries are plentiful, if that's the purpose of your visit.

Until such time as another 4 star hotel is built, or another Priceline participant is upgraded (slim chance IMHO) the Hyatt is an easy "target." The luxury accomodation for the price paid can't be beat.

Incidentally, Hotwire classifies this property as a resort, which in my opinion is quite a stretch!

[jimham4]

Just returned from our own trip to the Hyatt Vineyard Creek 4/23 - 4/26/07 and was looking at old reviews before writing mine. My wife and I were also given room 118, and you're right, for what we paid it was an extraordinary room! Not much to add to the room review, everything is still good and the staff was exceptional. No mention of PL or looking down the nose. Staff was great at pointing out restaurants and area attractions.

Wanted to give some plugs to a couple of places we stopped at and enjoyed. Third Street Ale Works has good microbrewery type food at very good prices. Also by the courthouse is Cafe Japan, probably my favorite japanese place yet (and I've been to plenty!). Just about all organic, their sushi and other items are outstanding.

Just down the street from the hotel is the California Visitor Center. Right across from there is a local coffee house called Aroma Roasters (they also have ice cream). Stopped by every morning for smoothies and bagels for breakfast, very filling and very cheap! If you have a wireless laptop they also have free internet access. I was able to check my email from the car, while my wife went in and ordered our breakfast. This was much cheaper than paying for the T-mobile hotspot available in the hotel.