With regard to one point, I want to be clear… you said:

“If you stay at Hyatt Place again, and you plan to arrive very late, passed midnight, give them a call and let them know.”

I did. As it says in the original post: “Late, yes, but we had called ahead to ensure that our prepaid reservation was still there, and not given away to someone else.” I remember it like it was yesterday. I called at 10:30 pm from the road and was assured the room would await me.

“They will check you in before you arrive so that this situation does not happen.”

They didn’t. And it happened.

Just saying that I did everything I was “supposed” to. This was over three years ago, and I’m over it, but it’s still a case study in a hotel’s failure to deliver.

As for your key situation, the problem was not due to the front desk person. And from what I gather from your story, it seems as though the auditor was trying to explain that because you came in at 3am, a new day had started in the computer system and hence cancelled your reservation because you did not show up on the actual day of your reservation; you were considered a “no show”. This means that if your reservation was set for Jan. 1st and you came in on Jan. 2 at 3am, technically you did not show up on the day of your reservation, which in turns leaves the night auditor in a world of sh*! b/c they now have to re-do your reservation and issue keys to you in a timely manner. If you stay at Hyatt Place again, and you plan to arrive very late, passed midnight, give them a call and let them know. They will check you in before you arrive so that this situation does not happen. Also, as an employee I know that often times the key machine does not work causing everyone a great deal of stress.

I would like to address the comment about the “very low paid night person” who was said to be basically not intelligent enough to fix the problem…that is probably untrue. Although, some employees may not be the brightest, just b/c we are paid terribly doesn’t mean we are uneducated or not trained properly. That is a false correlation, and insulting to those of us who work hard, are smart, and get paid very little to do what we do. I hold two bachelor’s degrees and am in graduate school and am trying to get by at this job b/c the job market is not great…most of my collegues are very intelligent and have degrees as well…it makes no difference however, because people think because we work at a hotel we are idiots with little sense; that is completely untrue.

The other thing I want to address is the 3rd party booking issue. i.e booking through priceline, hotwire, hotels.com, et cetera. Hyatt Place does not put people in rooms before you arrive, you do not have a blocked room. You have a reservation guranteeing you a room, but we do not pick a room for you when we get this reservation. In fact we do not block anyone in any room unless asked to do so by the guest. The rooms are generated at random on arrival, although we will ask you what floor you’d like to be on or if you have a room preference. If we are sold out, you might get the last room, which may very well mean it’s a faulty room b/c we didn’t use it until the last person came in, in hopes they wouldn’t show up. Please note too that there are no managers, no maintainance staff, no housekeeping, and no housemen on duty in the evening, in fact at 11pm there is only ONE employee in the entire hotel. It’s ridiculous.

I will say that the front desk person should never have made you make your own bed or even stay in that room…at the very least your room should have been comped. In a better case, you should have been directed to another hotel close by that would have been paid for by Hyatt. You should not have had to go up and downstairs 100 times when your key didn’t work either; the attendant should have gone with you on the second try.

I hope this helps everyone to understand the workings of a Hyatt Place, at least the few I have been in. It’s a busy place with overworked staff, all of whom are underpaid greatly for the amount of work they do and the availability we must have to the hotel. Keep that in mind next time your complaining about the fact that we don’t offer a full breakfast bar. In any case, I am sorry to the person who had the bad experience and think you were probably way too nice in this situation, but speaking as an employee, thank you for handling it so well. If you ever stay in Atlanta I will make sure you see the good things about HP. We may have crappy pay and too many responsibilities, but we do try to make it a pleasant stay for our guests and be as hospitable as possible.

First, about the door opening issues…

IIRC, when you get an orange light when trying to open the door, it means that the door lock has become deactivated and needs to be reconfigured with a special computer of it’s own, usually a handheld device. A red light means that the key needs to be reactivated, and if it’s blinking all colors, then it’s the deadlock. I could be wrong, but either way maintenance our management should have been called immediately, considering the hotel was sold out, which it was (see dirty room on 1st floor).

Having worked at four different hotels, and all with the overnight shift (11-7am), I can honestly tell you that stuff simply happens, and it usually happens to the same people over and over again. That’s just the luck of it. In fact, just recently at my current hotel (Hampton Inn), I had to call Maintenance to come and use a crowbar to get into a room that was dead bolted. That’s a first for me.

What the hotel “host” as they call their employees, should have done, was offer the choice of waiting for a maintenance staff or manager to arrive to fix the door issue, while enjoying a free snack and beverage at the bakery. That’s one option, while the other is to accept a comped room at another hotel because of the door lock issue. This guy should NOT have given out the dirty room. Prepaid reservations are easily comped, just in case you’re worried.

Either way, you must understand that the night auditor has his own work that he needs to complete for his lackluster management and sales departments, and considering that he or she does NOT have a break like everyone else in the good old USA, you’re best to accept whatever is offered and keep your mouth shut about the options given. They have a busy enough workload as it is.

I’m sorry, but it’s not the job of the night auditor (gallery host) to make special deliveries to your room, change sheets, or fix broken doors. It’s also not in this particular auditor’s best interest to make false promises of breakfast deliveries; Hyatt Place is NOT a full service hotel, lest he should forget.

Some people really expect the world from these limited service, yet often understaffed and overrated hotels, and it always amuses me a bit.

Don’t like the options? Leave earlier next time and arrive at the hotel at a reasonable time, before 10pm. If you show up at 3am, don’t expect a great deal of “welcoming”, especially from those of you that don’t call ahead. At least this fella did call the hotel in advance to say he was coming in late; I give him credit for that. That’s always a plus for whoever is working nights at a hotel, assuming that the shift working before them is competent.

Too bad the night shift worker was probably tied up at the bar serving alcoholics beer until midnight, starbucks lattes to the addicted, and pizzas and sandwiches to the starved. If he wasn’t working by himself, he might just have seen that note about your late arrival, and had another room all ready, possibly even ground floor.

Hyatt Place is a joke, but IMO, the guests that prefer the brand fit right in with the madness. It’s a hotel brand that would rather have your money than your loyalty any day of the week. That’s why they overbook their hotels whenever they get the chance. When you book a room with this brand, you’re really only booking a room at some hotel, but not necessarily theirs.

So what did they add with this new age brand of hotels?

They added 42 inch plasmas to the rooms, but took out the microwaves, full size coffee makers, and yellow pages.

They added pricey starbucks lattes and coffees, along with outrageously expensive and crappy menu items, but did away with the Amerisuites full complimentary breakfast, and also did away with free coffee during non breakfast times.

If only you saw the kitchen, you would understand that eating at a Hyatt Place is not the smartest route to go.

Everyone should do themselves a favor and stick with Mariott and Hilton branded hotels.

The rest of the bedding “formula”? I was too tired to notice.