Hyatt Regency Hotels CONTACT HYATT CEO Mark Hoplamazian
December 6th, 2009 by Administrator
This information is not intended to be used for any unethical or illegal purpose.
The Hyatt CEO is just one of many CEOs who run companies who deal with travel, vacations, resorts, hotels, and hospitality.
Mark S Hoplamazian (wife: Rachael D. Hoplamazian)
1900 N Howe St
Chicago, IL 60614-5128
(312) 642-4747
Mark S. Hoplamazian is the current President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. According to Wikipedia, he took over the position on November 28, 2006. The Hyatt corporation headquarters is called the Hyatt Center, and is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Posted in Hyatt CEO | 16 Comments »
November 23rd, 2010 at 11:14 am
Cc To: Mr. Mark S Hoplamazian
Dear Mr. Willi Martin,
I’d like to compliment you on your employees at the Straits Kitchen and the Business Centre last evening, for the excellent service they provided the Singapore National Co-operative Federation and its guests.
The manager and the staff at the Straits Kitchen helped not only with recommendation for seating arrangements, they also printed up the name cards for the evening’s use and contacted the Business Centre to make arrangements for us to use a power point and a desk to print up photos of that very nights proceedings.
Things were panning out smoothly until our printer (the one the photographer brought) began developing problems. Your Business Centre staff immediately jumped into action availing two of the hotels printers to us to use. Unfortunately the formats were not compatible. Our photographer’s and our nightmare had begun.
The point I would like to make is that your staff at both occasions flew into action seamlessly like a well oiled team. They did this without complaint. We later found out later that the Business Centre usually shuts its doors at 9:30 pm however things were kept running for us right past 10:30 pm mark!
I have always been pleased with the service I receive the Grand Hyatt Singapore over my 20+ years of personal patronage. Grand Hyatt Singapore’s professionalism and ability to get to the bottom of the situation never fails.
As always the Grand Hyatt Singapore’s commitment to great customer service is to be commended.
Sincerely,
Maurice Williams
Snr. Manager
Singapore National Co-operative Federation
November 23rd, 2010 at 5:14 am
Dear Sir,
I stayed at your Hyatt hotel in Lakeland Florida, 21 November 2010. Most of the patrons staying that night were there for a concert that was happening next door (Elton John). Your hotel was SO unprepared for all the guests. Major long lines for food and beverages, the same two people on the desk with no help. Poorly planned…..major dissapointment not just for me and my girlfriend but for several of your patrons that stayed that night! I asked if the hotel would have some sort of hospitality room available for after the concert as we all knew we would be coming back from the concert to have cocktails and food. The staff had no idea why that would be needed. However, if that is what they did, it would of been alot smoother for alot of very angry people. I have always loved Hyatt hotels but my stay last night was so very dissapointing. Even the room, as nice as it was, was a very musty smell! Shame on the Lakeland Hyatt staff for not being prepared for all their guests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:13 am
I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty Six 4-star Resort in Ft. Lauderdale,FL for my Birthday weekend. I can honestly say this was the worst hotel experience ever. I have stayed at many Hyatt Hotels across the Country, and this Hotel stay was the epitome of a side of the road motel. I booked the reservations on Priceline.com, which i have used for all my hotel stays for the past decade. I’ve never had a bad experience and I’m so disappointed with the false advertisement and poor customer service of this 4star Hotel. When I looked at the photos of each room type, I saw the same pic of an updated bathroom. Although the pic was the same for all room types, I assumed it was because all the bathrooms were updated primarily the same. The checkin info stated after 4pm, so I called the night before my checkin date to find out the possibility of early checkin. I was advised checkin wasn’t allowed until after 4pm. My flight arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 11:45am. Again, I called Hotel to see if I could checkin earlier than 4pm and was denied. At 2pm I decided to take taxi to Hotel and take a chance. Once I arrived, I was met by a line of Hotel guests checking in. When it was my turn, I was asked why I didn’t come earlier when I stated how early my flight had arrived. I told Front Desk person about my phone calls and he stated that as long as a room was available I could’ve checked in anytime. He stated 4pm is only the time a room is guaranteed to be ready. Once I was told my Hotel room was in the back two story area, I asked for 2nd floor because I didn’t want bugs crawling inside from ground level. Once I found my room in East Lanai area, I was shocked at what I opened the door to see. First, a long legged spider was crawling towards the door and I had to get it out of the room. The bathroom was so outdated and disappointing that I was speechless. The carpet was stained, the drapes to the sliding door was stained, the bedskirt was torn along the seam, there was stiff table and desk chairs but there wasn’t a chair to relax and watch tv, the bedskirt laid down on the floor for more insects to make their way in the bed, and you could see daylight from a very wide and long space on side and bottom of room door. I couldn’t believe what I was standing in…this couldn’t possibly be a 1)a Hyatt 2)a 4star Hotel. I immediately called the front desk about the spider, and begged to be moved inside the tower. I even stated I would pay more if I had to. I was told that there was no more rooms available in the tower, and I was in South Florida so I shoud expect bugs. I couldn’t believe the attitude or that this is where I had to stay because the room was prepaid. The person from the front desk told me they would send someone to spray for the bugs right away, so I accepted the offer and waited..and waited..and waited. This was 3pm on 11/19/10. I checked out on 11/21/10 and no exterminator or spray. I had so much anxiety in that room, and it took me forever to lay on the bed and go to sleep. I will never stay at this Hotel again!!! If I could have stayed outside by the pool the entire time I would have been more comfortable than the outdated, spider infested room I paid too much money for.
November 17th, 2010 at 2:54 am
I stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego
One Market Place,
San Diego, California, USA 92101 on November 6 and 7th, checking out of room 1858 the morning of November 8th. I left a shirt hanging in the closet with $16 in the pocket. My daughter stopped by and retrieved the shirt on November 24. I put the shirt on the morning of November 26th and the $16 was still in the pocket. I wish to commend your staff (and my daughter) for their honesty. If the $16 was not in the pocket of my shirt I would not have missed it, however, I am humbled and impressed by the honest of all Hyatt staff who handled my shirt. I will definitely stay at a Hyatt in the future. I hope this message will be passed on directly to the excellent staff at this hotel. Thank you!
November 7th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Mr Hoplamazian: I wish I had read these reviews before staying at your Grand Hyatt location on August 27. I secured a reservation for myself and 7 friends to attend the Women of Faith conference on August 27 and 28. We stayed one night and each one of us paid our own room charges. Three of us were billed twice on our credit cards and after many phone calls, we were told there was a 0 balance. I am now being billed again for a room charge that has long ago been paid. I am weary of trying to explain this to your employees. Please accept my complaint as a “gift” along with my donation of an extra room charge. It takes a lot to frustrate me but your company has manged to do that.
Your Hyatt name has always meant quality and excellence but that is no longer the case for me.
October 15th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Rochester, in Rochester, NY on 8/18/10. This was a business trip, and because I work for a government agency, I provided a tax exempt form upon my arrival. When I checked out on 8/19/10, the bill did not include any taxes and had a $0 balance; everything had been done correctly. However, when I checked my credit card statement, there was an additional $14.28 added from the hotel, and showed as a separate charge on my statement. When I called the Hyatt’s billing customer service department I was told the additional charge was for taxes. I told them I had supplied the tax exempt form upon check-in and that my original bill did not include any taxes. The person I was speaking to asked me to fax the tax exempt form to her and she’d take care of the charge, which I did that day. When I checked my credit card statement 2 weeks later, the charge was still there. I contacted the Hyatt billing customer service again and spoke to Tokeya Young. I explained the situation again, and again faxed the tax exempt form to her. Two weeks later, the charge was still on my statement. I contacted Tokeya via email and she told me that they couldn’t see the signature on the form, so could I scan it and send it via email to her; which I did that day. Two more weeks go by without any response from Tokeya, and the charge remains on my statement, so I contacted Tokeya myself. She tells me that Hyatt isn’t going to credit my account because they can’t read the signature on the tax exempt form. I asked Tokeya if I should have my company send it directly to her, via regular mail, or the Hyatt Regency Rochester, so that the signature could be read better. This is the response I got from her:”In this case if the $14.28 was a charge that Hyatt has charge it would not be a problem to satisfy a credit refund. However, in this case the government wants to see proof of the credit adjustment for the taxes. I do apologize I resubmitted the case until the cashier insisted that he would help me submit the form so even the way that he submitted the form the Hotel would not except.” This makes absolutely no sense to me. I replied to Tokeya that I had not used a gov’t credit card, that it had been my own personal card, and that the bill I submitted to my company for reimbursement did not include any taxes so therefore, they would not need “proof” of anything. This is strictly between myself and Hyatt. I’ve yet to hear a reponse from Tokeya or anyone. I did ask her again if there was something else I could do to resolve this issue of $14.28. I travel several days a month for work, and it seems ridiculous to quibble over eliminating $14.28 from my credit card, when I can easily choose not to stay at your hotels every again (for pleasure or work). Hyatt would rather keep $14.28 then potentially get thousands of dollars from me??? Doesn’t make any business sense at all. For such a large corporation, it’s shameful that it treats customers this way. I’m being made to pay for an error that was caused by the check-in person.
I would appreciate a response regarding this complaint. I’ve already contacted the person who makes travel arrangements for my company, and advised them of this situation and the company’s failure to resolve it. They will no longer be using Hyatt hotels for business travel.
Theresa Roberts
September 5th, 2010 at 6:35 am
This message is for Mr. Hoplamazian. This has nothing to do with a stay at the hotel. I have been applying for several jobs at various Hyatt Hotels in the Chicago area. I have been one of the unfortunate people that have lost their jobs. I have been unemployed for 22 months. This is not a woe for me message. I have applied for many many jobs without a reply. Although I have not been hired at your hotel, I received a reply everytime I applied for a job. Whether it was a form letter, I still received a response. Only one other company replied to me. I appreciate being acknowledged. Unless you have walked in my shoes, you have no idea how it is to feel lke a nobody. Thank you for making me feel like somebody again. People are always quick to complain, but seldom take the time to compliment the appropriate party. Thanks again.
Ellen J. Emler
August 25th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
My company made a reservation for me to attend a conference at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. The reservation was made, secured by company credit card in March for a conference currently going on. Reservations Sunday 23rd of August until this coming Friday.
Our administrative assistant called several times to confirm all the arrangements the last time was Thursday before I was to arrive on Sunday.
My flight was delayed and I was beyond tired when I arrived. I live in Alaska so it was a long journey.
The clerk could not find my authorization from my company. Since I did not have a personal credit card (I am one of those get-out-of-debt people)
and I did not have eight hundred and eight dollars to give them, they told me that I would not be given a room and that I would have to leave.
The young man was pleading when he said, “My job is on the line here, this a new company policy and I will be fired if I violate it.”
I called my boss in the middle of the night, she had to get in her car in Alaska, drive to the office and send another fax to the company. In the meantime I sat in the lobby with my suitcases piled around me. It took an hour and a half, but I finally got my room.
I am a crusty ER nurse who has “Seen it all” but this experience reduced me to tears. It was so humiliating. I felt as welcome as a wet dog at a wedding.
The next day, my company’s travel people called to talk to the manager and was told that the paperwork had been in the office all along but it had been misplaced so the check in clerk couldn’t find it.
In customer service, I have been told that people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but they will never forget how they made you feel.
I travel a great deal with my company and this is the first time in all my years that anything like this has happened anywhere.
I would like for my dilemma to be acknowledged and an apology to myself and my boss for having to get out of bed and go to the office in the middle of the night because of your company’s mistake.
Please respond.
Debra L. Graem, RN, BSN
August 12th, 2010 at 10:16 am
I am really hoping that this gets to the right person so no one else has to be treated this way at the Hyatt Place in Grapevine Texas.
I was the head of a High school reunion in Grapevine. People were coming in from all over the country.
I went online to check out hotels and really liked the spacious rooms at the Hyatt. I called the Hyatt and spoke with Lisa Faulkner. She was not friendly very stand offish but I thought maybe she is having a bad day. When I met with her she was the same way. I waited for her to shake my hand and say hello but she didn’t so put my hand to hers and did so myself.
She only gave me info that I asked for. She didn’t seem to care if I used the Hyatt or any other hotel. I had to ask to see the room and the the party space. I really felt like I was bothering her.
The next time I met with her I brought a classmate that was helping me, basically the same thing happened and my friend asked what was wrong with her.
Before I go on, I just want you to know I never wanted special treatment for anything. I just wanted some one that was friendly and knew what she was doing.
I had a contract for a certain number of rooms at the group rate. My classmates were being turned away 9 rooms before we reached that limit. My classmates were being told that they no longer had rooms for that wk end.
I called to staighten it out and she just shrugged it off. Then a few weeks later it happened again. I gave up on Lisa and asked to speak to a manager. I was connected with the front desk manager, Debra. I told her what had happened and that I wanted to work with some one else that knew what they were doing and if she could help me instead.
Her first reaction was that it would be very uncomfortable to do so since it was Lisa’s job and they have to work together. I was floored.
I asked her what that had to do with me? I just want some one that can help me this reunion.
I told her I wanted to change the food order to something else from the menu and she told me that some groups have their food catered from an out side restaurant .
She was very friendly and finally told me that she would help me and apologized for Lisa.
She e-mailed me the menu’s and I made arrangements for food that way.
We also upped the Number of rooms by 12 for both Fri. and Sat.
It happened again my classmates were turned away again, so I called and spoke to Debra and she suggested that i speak with the general manager Jay.
I called and left a message for Jay. He called me back 2 days later. I told him this story and he said that is not what Lisa says and Lisa spoke.
Yes, Lisa was on the line as well but he did not bother to tell me this.
He told me that I was “not telling the truth” about my experience with Lisa and that Debra gave me the option of catering from out side of the hotel. I told him that I have her e-mail and would print it for him,so he backed down on that issue and said “If that is true, then I guess we will have to honor that.” He then had Lisa go track down Debra to join our call hoping she would deny the catering e-mail. She didn’t and i felt bad that she was stuck in the middle.
I told him that I have never wanted special attention I just for my classmates to not be turned away and have some one nice to help me with this reunion. He told me that the calls go to another state and I should have given my classmates the direct phone #. I asked “should that be mine or my classmates problem that the calls got to another state?” I also told him that i gave everyone the same ph # I use to call Lisa, him and Debra. His response was “Well its not my fault.”
I was in shock! After him and Lisa ganging up on me as if I was 5 yrs old he asked if I would rather that I go to another hotel. This is happening 4 wks away form the reunion and I had been planning this with the hotel since January.
I was SPEECHLESS after what he had said.
I told him I would call him right back because I really did not know what to say.
I was so upset I felt like we were being kicked out and I started calling other hotels. The service I got from The Hilton and Marriott was incredible. Friendly helpful all that I wanted from the Hyatt. They could not match the price not to mention it would be a mess trying to get in touch with all of these classmates to tell them that the hotel has changed and more expensive.
I did call Jay back and the first thing I said to him was “for future refrence you should show some courtesy to a person by letting them know that there is some one else on the line.” He again accused me of “not telling the truth” and that he did tell me. Again I was shocked. I said you did not tell me, so he said he told my 12 yr old son that answered the phone. Which he did NOT.
I said you should be telling the person you are talking to, not a child.
He again said he did tell me.
All I could say was “Wow, I guess i need to record our conversations and I did want another hotel”. That was because I felt like I had no other choice.
I was so upset when I got off the phone. I really had no idea what I was going to do.
I ended up calling the Hyatt at the DFW airport and asked to speak with a manager.
I was transfered to a man named Frankie Maranie (sp?) He was shocked at my experience and apologized over and over. He insisted that at the Hyatt no one is aloud to have that behavior with a customer NO matter who they are or what they say. He was so professional and friendly. He was trying so hard to keep the Hyatts business.
He said he would check to see if the dates were available at his Hyatt and call me back. He did and I told him how I didn’t know how to deal with the change of the hotels location with my classmates. He said he would help me as much as he could.
He really made me feel better and was so nice.
The next morning I was going out of town on a family vacation and I got a call in the morning from Mike Radar. He got a call from Frankie and was very concerned about my situation.
He asked if I wanted to change hotels and I told him that I felt like I had no choice but to do so and It has made a mess with the reunion.
He told me I could still have it at the Haytt in Grapevine. I told him I was afraid to because of Lisa and Jay and they could make it even worse than it is. He assured me that they had to be professional.
Mike called me back 15 mins. after our first phone call to ask if Jay had called me.
I said No. He told me that he told Jay I was having it at the Hyatt in Grapevine and to call me.
I did not recieve a call form Jay. I did recieve one from Lisa 4 hours later. The first thing she said was “Which hotel are you changing to?”
I told her I would like to keep it at her hotel and that Mike had called Jay and told him that.
I felt like I gave her an explanation of why I needed to keep it at the same place.
She said I am sorry if you were upset yesterday with how the phone call was. I told her I didn’t appreciate the way I was treated and I just want some one to help me and not turn away my classmates. She said she would help me and to call her if I needed something.
About 10 days before the reunion I called to make an appt with Lisa to sit down and go over everything to make sure we were both on the same page. I got another lady , Victoria, that told me that Lisa was on vacation until after my reunion.
I was so shocked that she did not bother to call me and let me know that she had someone else taking care of this and not to worry.
I made an appt. with her. When I met with her she was very nice and helpful. I told her that I really appreciated her help and that I wished that she would have been the person that I dealt with form the beginning of all of this.
She made me feel like this was going to be a good reunion party. I was grateful for that.
The reunion did go well. The man that set the room up asked me if everything was set up right and told me that he could make any changes.
I really appreciated his help as well. I believe his name was Everette.
Those 2 people made a difference but they can’t take the hell Jay put me through.
Lisa truly needs alot more training for her job and Jay needs more training for his job and etiquitte.
I would appreciate very much a response to this letter.
Thank you,
Marie Gunderson
February 26th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
My name is Janice, I worked at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Rochester, NY for 11 years. In October,it was nessary for me to leave because of stress related I let my Human Resource Director know that I would return when I felt better, he was ok with it. I thought I had a year to reclaim my job. Should I get a lawyer?
February 5th, 2010 at 10:09 am
If the owner of this website doesn’t remove this experience, which I have asked them to, I want everyone to know that in the end, Hyatt Hotels Consumer Affairs contacted me and resolved my frustration and anger with my situation. I am happy that the Hyatt Hotels Consumer Affairs team actually cared about my issues and took the time to resolve this matter.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
No surprise that the Dallas Better Business Bureau decided to close this complaint as “Administratively Closed”. This furthers the point that contacting the Better Business Bureau can be a waste of your time, if the company is NOT a BBB Member, because a company is under no obligation to do anything to resolve your issues with them.
What I did discover is that if I had initially filed my complaint with the Chicago Better Business Bureau, they could have forced the Hyatt Regency into binding Arbitration. With this being said, do not ever file a complaint against a Hyatt Regency Hotel directly, file the complaint against the Hyatt Regency Hotel’s headquarters at:
BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois
(Chicago, IL)
330 N. Wabash, Ste. 2006
Chicago, IL 60611-7621
Phone: (312)832-0500
Fax: (312)832-9985
Email: info@chicago.bbb.org
Web: http://www.chicago.bbb.org
By filing your complaint against the corporate headquarters who oversee all of the smaller divisions of their company, you are increasing your chances of the BBB not just closing your case as “Administratively Closed”. Administratively Closed goes on their BBB record in their favor. By filing against their headquarters in Chicago, you can force them to go to BINDING ARBITRATION which will COST THEM A BUNCH OF MONEY and time, as well as INCREASE YOUR CHANCES of success in a resolution. An arbitration will decide the outcome and even if you lose, you have won because you did to them what they did to you… cost them time and money. At this point, the Hyatt Regency Hotels has cost me about $900 and 3 hours of my time.
The Hyatt Regency Headquarters is an accredited BBB member, and we encourage you to contact the Chicago BBB.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Complaint ID#: 91131429
Business Name: Hyatt Regency Hotel
The Better Business Bureau has received your Customer
Response and has noted that you remain dissatisfied after the company’s
formal answer to your complaint. Our conciliatory attempt of having
the two parties arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement to the
dispute was not successful. Because the company is not an Accredited
Business of the BBB, there are no other options available at this time
to help bring about resolution between the parties. Because the issues
remain disputed, we are closing the case under the heading of
Administratively Closed.
If you wish to pursue this matter
further, you may pursue these options.
1. You may be able to
sue in the Justice of the Peace county courts, commonly referred to as
Small Claims court. You will need to determine the county in which the
company is located and call the county seat for more information. Or,
check one of the online search engines to see if your county has a web
site, which may provide helpful information on how to file a suit.
2. You may consider hiring an attorney to assist you. If you
do not have an attorney, you can call the Dallas Bar Association
Referral Service at 214-220-7444 for assistance.
3. If the
company requires a state license from a state agency, you may be able
to file a complaint with that agency. If you do not know if a business
requires a license, you can access the State of Texas website State
Agency link to
inquire.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
The response basically stated that they received my concerns, that they were not interested in doing anything to try to resolve my unhappiness, especially after I sat down for an HOUR and wrote a 1,505 word complaint about my issues. They also claim our stay was somehow “COMPLIMENTARY” which is complete BULLSHIT and I will be uploading a copy of the approximately $800 we paid to stay there.
They DID NOT EVEN REFUND ONE PENNY. Mr. Ripton Melhado‘s response was only 142 words, with no REFUND attached. Btw, Mr. Melhado, I have my receipt for the “gift certificates” that you claim we paid for our stay, and everyone is going to see what JACKASSES the Hyatt Regency Executive Staff is. I am not encouraging any illegal and unethical behavior and you contact the Hyatt CEO at your own risk. Make sure you contact Hyatt Regency and post your complaint on here. The more you contact Hyatt Regency CEO and complain, the more people will see that piss poor customer service is not accceptable in the hotel industry.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Dear Mr. Unsatisfied Customer
We received a copy of the note you sent to the Better Business Bureau. Thank you for your comments on your recent stay with us. Our guest feedback is a valuable tool assisting us identifying service and facility concerns.
Mr. Unsatisfied Customer, I have shared your comments with the appropriate staff regarding the charge for parking and the Internet. Our policy is to provide guests with a refrigerator to our guests for medical reasons at no cost. We evaluate all comments from our guests to improve service.
We pride ourselves in providing exceptional service to our guests and in your case we have clearly failed. We take comments from our guests very seriously and evaluate all comments from our guests to improve our service.
My. Unsatisfied Customer, thank you again for taking the time to share your comments from your most recent stay with us.
Sincerely, Riplon Melhado
Senior Executive Assistant Manager
Hyatt Regency Dallas
December 6th, 2009 at 7:55 am
*Here is how the Hyatt Regency ruined my Dallas, Texas vacation. We decided to plan a trip to Dallas to check out the city because we were thinking about relocating to the area. We booked our travel arragements through a third party, who we have used several times before. The first two nights we were set to stay at the Hotel Lumen in Dallas. When we arrived to the Hotel Lumen, which is actually a Kimpton Hotel, it was a truely amazing experience. Upon entrance to the hotel, it radiated the essence of big city hotel with a personal feel. Each guest was treated as if they were of the utmost importance, and valued like a guest of honor. The Internet was free, which seems to be a common free ammenity these days of almost all hotels. The shower was amazing. It had 4 body jets built into the walls, reminding me of our lavish shower at home. Considering that I had recently gave up drinking alcohol, I was even tempted the first night to indulge in the complimentary wine hour from 5-6pm. They served beer, wine, and champagne. What the hell, I was on vacation, and it was FREE! After two amazing nights at the Hotel Lumen, it was time to head across Dallas to stay at the Hyatt Regency hotel. We were looking forward to it, I honestly hadn’t the slightest idea about what it looked like, where it was, or what it would be like, but with the name Hyatt, it was going to be amazing… wasn’t it?
This is where the vacation tanks. We arrive in downtown Dallas to a hotel that gave the new Dallas Cowboy stadium a run for its money. It was probably the biggest hotel I had seen possibly in my lifetime. I was impressed by the sheer architecture of it. This meant it was sure to be better than the Hotel Lumen right? I mean bigger is better right? After all, this is Texas. If you can’t see the entrance because you have to drive what feels like a half-mile around the building, it’s a sign. After driving around the building and trying to finding the entrance, it reminded me of an assembly line. There was at least 4 valet parking attendants that I could see, who knows how many more were getting vehicles, attending to the stream of steady cars pulling up. I dropped my wife off to check in. As she returned to the car, I could see from the look on her face that something was not right. She got in and told me it was $20 per day to use the valet. I was like okay, so where can we park for free? She said they told her there was no place to park for free, but we could park in one of the downtown city lots for $10 each time. So if we left the city lot once, it was going to cost us as much as the valet. Fine, we will just do the valet and lose the $60 we were hoping to save to spend on Christmas presents for our family, since I hadn’t worked in five weeks. I am sure Mark Hoplamazian needed the money more than our son or Christmas’ gifts right? I mean he does have to pay for his 7,544 square foot downtown Chicago home somehow.
So seriously, what else could happen. No sooner did we get into our room to find that the view was definitely a sight to see, but not nearly worth the $1,000 we were closing in on spending for 3 nights at this place. The entertainment center was sporting a bulky ass box TV that was facing the opposite direction of the bed. Really, I had to sit in a wooden chair to face the TV in the correct direction. It turned towards the bed enough to make it seem like it was fine, but I guess we didn’t come all the way to Dallas to watch TV did we? Did I mention the Hotel Lumen had a FLAT SCREEN TV mounted on the wall direcltly in front of the bed? It did. The Hyatt Regency Hotel was just another shining example of the disconnect between corporate America and the average hardworking American family. I powered up my laptop to hop on the Internet to check for some jobs in the area, to see if Dallas was a place really worth relocating too. A stupid screen from the Hyatt Hotel pops up and tells me I am going to have to pay between $30-$40 for 3 days of the Internet. I couldn’t believe I just had to waste $100 of money that I really didn’t have to spend on things that every other hotel in America pretty much gives you for FREE. I decided to post this blog entry about my experience with the Hyatt Regency so that other hardworking American families that decide to pay a visit to Dallas, TX would know where to and where not to stay. The Hyatt Regency was the perfect example of why America is in the position it is in today. Wasn’t my $750ish plus taxes, and whatever other fees I am sure they will try to sneak in or tell me I don’t have a choice but to pay, enough to cover the cost of my rental car to stay and my hour a day of Internet usage? It cost me $25 a day to rent the car and more than $20 a day to park the car, since it is customary to tip the valet parking attendents. If Hyatt Regency wants to discuss how they can make up for this gut-wrenching experience that we incurred by staying at their hotel a few weeks before Christmas, they will have more than an opportunity to resolve this once they receive my Better Business Bureau complaint. I haven’t filed a Better Business Bureau complaint in close to a decade, so I am unsure if they will care. I’m pretty sure they will choose to keep the $100 rather than try to satisfy our disgust at this point. We willl just have to wait and see. I could have stayed at a small chain hotel for three nights for about the cost of the valet parking and internet, and saved almost $700. I will post another entry if there becomes other news to report.
I forgot to mention the Hotel Lumen had a refridgerator in the room, the Hyatt did not. However, the Hyatt had two bottles of WARM water in our room for sales for $4.50 each if we were thirsty. I think the Hyatt ripped us off for enough money today, they can keep their bottles of piss warm water. When you are in a city from out of town, a refrigerator is definitely important so you can keep leftovers, your own drinks that don’t cost $4.50, and diabetic supplies in. OUCH, I guess Hyatt’s CEO doesn’t have diabetes.
As a foot note, I checked out their website and if the valet and Internet fees were listed, they were listed where I could find them. However, I did not see anything mentioning that there was no free parking anywhere close to the hotel, something that obviously would deter many potential customers, if they knew their vehicles had to pay for a room as well.
Lastly I took a photo to show how a small refrigerator has room to fit next to the TV. 1,200ish rooms at the Hyatt, one night at half full: $150,000 in sales. Cost of small refrigerators in every room: no more than about $75,000. Exceeding guest’s experiences, PRICELESS.
Of course we ended up checking out, and I will show you the receipt. We got charged Valet parking, and it did NOT include sales tax, which was charged when we checked out. We were also charged sales tax on the Internet fees. I am pretty sure the sign at the valet parking didn’t mention anything about sales tax, I could be wrong, but I already knew they would sneak in a hidden fee somewhere. Didn’t I say that earlier? The business center was going to cost us about $6 to print one black and white coupon for dinner. We had to email it to FedEx-Kinko’s and drive across town to pick it up. Honestly, staying at the Hyatt Regency was a pretty much disgusting experience for us. We have travelled all across the Globe and the stay at the Hyatt Regency ranks in the bottom two. The only other experience that was worse was staying in the Bahamas at a Breezes resort. That is a whole other story for another day. It was my honeymoon, and they ended up giving us 5 free nights at another resort in Jamaica. We are loyal to that company because the one horrible experience was quickly forgotten with the stay at the nicer resort. Instead of calling it the Hyatt Regency, they should call it the Hyatt Rip-Off.