In order to complete my Hyatt Diamond Challenge last year, I booked three nights at the Hyatt Crystal City near Washington DCA Airport.
If you are mileage running and trying to keep your costs down there are two cheap options available to get to the hotel. Firstly the hotel runs a free shuttle to the airport every 20 minutes. If you are already downtown or have taken the train or bus to Union Station, you can take the Metro service to Crystal City station. The hotel runs a shuttle to and from the Crystal City station every 15 minutes. Or if you weren’t aware of that, like me, you can walk for 15 minutes to the hotel.
Upon check-in, I debated whether to use the automated kiosks. I wasn’t sure how room assignments were processed and wondered if Diamond upgrades were only completed manually by the front desk personnel. While checking in the staff member said that it wouldn’t have mattered, most rooms for Diamonds are pre-assigned and the check-in kiosk would have given me the same room.
I was “upgraded” to a King room at the end of the floor. Due to the odd shape of the hotel my room was an oblong triangle shape. The extra room was nice, but nothing I would call an upgrade. Sorry for the poor phone camera photos, I didn’t have my regular camera with me on this trip.
View of DCA from the window
This Hyatt Regency doesn’t have a Regency Club, instead Diamond’s are offered a free buffet breakfast in the morning. The buffet consisted of the usual items, plus an omelet station with made to order omelets. Like many buffets, the bacon and sausage that were sitting under the heat lamp were lukewarm and a little dry, but overall the food was good. The meal was charged to the room and the front desk simply removes the charge from the bill.
Here’s a question for you from a Seinfeld episode: Tuck or No Tuck? I always untuck. Am I strange or do most people sleep with their toes mashed down when everything is tucked in? #firstworldproblems
Tuck
No Tuck
Overall the hotel had a good weekend rate from time to time ($89 AAA rate), nice rooms and a hearty breakfast option for Diamonds. This is a good hotel for people mileage running to DCA.
