Andy B.
Yelp
Calgary's Hyatt Regency hotel made for a convenient home base during my recent stay at Calgary. About 15 minutes from Calgary's beautiful new airport, the hotel's right off of the Stephen Avenue pedestrian mall, the main shopping stretch in the downtown commercial core. The hotel is also right next to C-Train stations with Red and Blue Line service, making it uber-convenient to get around the parts of the city served by light rail. The 17th Avenue restaurant district is also very easy to get to, less than 10 minutes away by car.
The best thing about this property is the staff. Every single staff member I interacted with was incredibly friendly and accommodating, from Franco at check-in to the lovely staff in the Regency Club to the very nice gentleman on the housekeeping staff who made up my room each day, all sincerely wanting to make sure that their guests were well taken care of during their stay.
While the common areas downstairs are quite lovely and appear to be recently renovated, the rooms, while comfortable, do need a bit of updating. As I was walking from the elevator to my room, I quickly noticed that the guest floors were showing their age in places, with a lot of the guest room doors desperately in need of a fresh coat of paint, a bit dingy and marked up by their fair share of roller bags over the years - first impressions... My room was comfortable but average in every way, sparsely decorated and looking quite different from the pictures on the Hyatt web site, where the photographer was able to make the rooms look much more luxe than they actually are.
A big plus is the large picture window, making the living space feel bigger. The bathroom was disproportionately huge, square footage that would have been better-used as part of the living space. The bed is quite comfortable and, as someone who usually doesn't sleep well on my first night in a hotel, I was out like a light.
It was nice to have Regency Club access, especially in the morning, where the breakfast offerings are quite generous, with both hot and cold options, as well as healthy options for those wanting a lighter start to the day. The staff was constantly checking in with guests, making sure we had everything we needed, truly great ambassadors for the hotel. My morning experiences in the Club were much more pleasant than those in the early evening, strictly due to the layout of the Club - it's way too tight with a hard-to-navigate layout when there are more than just a few guests in the Club. I also noticed that the layout made it harder for these diligent staff members to do their jobs - honestly, who thought it was a good idea to put the dishwasher and a prep area in a corner of the public club area? Do your staff a favor: knock out the guest room next to the Club and give them ample room to do what they do so well!
So, all in all, a pleasant and comfortable stay, with the five-star staff knocking it out of the park. The guest floors and Regency Club really do need to be updated, pushing my overall rating down.
I've covered the hotel's Sandstone Lounge in a separate review (https://www.yelp.com/list/calgary-gateway-to-the-rockies-calgary).