Hyatt Regency Boston Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Downtown and Waterfront, Boston, Massachusetts

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The Hyatt Regency's rooms could use updating.

Everyone seemed to be quite lost at the Hyatt Regency. First, there isn't really a proper entrance to the hotel, with the exception of a small staircase that's burdensome if you have luggage (though they do have an employee standing there to help you -- and he expects a tip). If your bag has wheels, you can enter through the parking garage, and while it's dangerous, this was how they suggested I exit. Of course, neither of these lead to the actual lobby or front desk; to find these, you take the constantly malfunctioning elevators to another floor. I encountered many lost and otherwise irritated guests during my stay.

Like the elevators, the rest of the hotel felt ill maintained. While the large gym is pretty good -- lots of free weights and weight machines, though the ellipticals and treadmills don't have their own TVs -- the pool is not: the ladders are rusted, and the nauseating presence of a used Band-Aid indicated the infrequency of basic cleaning. (Also, the gym and pool are located at least five minutes walking distance from any room; even if you're on the same floor, you have to trek down a series of long, faded-yellow hallways and stairwells. Once I finally got to the gym entrance, I was actually quite surprised to find the gym right behind it ... rather than find a smaller door behind it, and then another even smaller door behind that one, and so on and so forth). That's the feeling you get when you navigate around this hotel.

All rooms now have flat-screen TVs. They come with Nintendo 64s, which came out more than twelve years ago. Other highlights? My room smelled overwhelmingly of car freshener, the bathtub's drain was rusted, and the hair dryer induced images of faulty-wire fires. The rooms did, however, have iPod docks, which came in handy when the not-remotely-soundproof rooms got noisy. (One guest said he could hear not just the person in the adjoining room on his cell phone, but also the person on the other end of the line.)

The lobby's unremarkable restaurant, Avenue One, serves the type of unfocused fare that calls itself "contemporary cuisine": nachos ($8), meatloaf ($14), fish and chips ($14), with most typical entrees (steak, fish, et al.) ranging from the low to mid $20s. The 24-hour room service was not much better. It was slow and sloppy: the tomato accoutrement that I didn't ask for may have been, along with the potatoes, an intended bonus, but the tomato was burned and what few potatoes I was served were cold. Tomato. Potato. Let's call the whole thing off.

The business center, however, is decent, with several computer consoles and printers ($5 for the first 10 minutes, and 50 cents for each additional minute), and the hotel has a great location just a block from the Boston Common. But you can get that at other, better Boston hotels. Until the Hyatt Regency undergoes a full renovation and its entry/exits are made easier to access, there's just not much of a reason to stay here, especially when you can go to the similarly priced Omni Parker House up the street for a better overall product and a little history thrown in.

View on a Larger Map

For business travelers who want to easily access a bit of Boston's history, the Hyatt has a great location. Bordered by the Financial District and the Boston Common, the Hyatt Regency is located on Avenue de Lafayette, a small downtown street. There are three T stops (Boston's subway system) (Downtown, Chinatown, and Boylston) nearby, each no more than a five-minute walk. The hotel's surrounding blocks are lined with bars, Irish pubs, Chinese restaurants, steakhouses, and seafood joints. Handily, the hotel is just around the corner from the 19-screen Loews Theatres Boston Common, which is available for videoconferencing or simply movie-going.

• Two minutes' walk to the Boston Common, the country's oldest park and the start of Boston's 2.5-mile Freedom Trail
• Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, is a 10- to 15-minute drive.
• Harvard Square is across the Charles River, about 20 minutes via public transportation.
• 10- to 15-minute walk to New England Aquarium
• Faneuil Hall, a historic marketplace and modern-day mall, is about 10 to 15 minutes on foot or via public transportation.
• One block to Downtown T (Red and Orange Line) and Chinatown T (Orange); two blocks to Boylston T (Green Line)
• Boston's Logan International Airport is a 20- to 25-minute, $25 to $30 taxi ride.

An impression of what the meeting room areas look like

• Wedding Size: Up to 350 people

• Extra Fees: $1,500 ceremony fee, plus a 7 percent "administrative fee" on the entire cost of the wedding (in addition to the required 15 percent service charge and 7 percent sales tax).

• Wedding Packages: All packages include the help of a wedding coordinator, a bridal suite (to get ready in), a cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres and an open bar, a champagne toast, a three-course plated dinner with wine, a wedding cake, simple decorations, and a free suite for the bride and groom. For all this, the total package price ranges from $124 to $137 per person.

• Ceremony Locations: The Thomas Jefferson Ballroom (also called the "Grand Ballroom") can host up to 350 guests and it also includes an outdoor terrace. Smaller events can be held in the Adrienne Salon.

• Food: The total cost of the package depends mostly on your food choices -- $124 if you opt for panko-crusted chicken; $137 for bleu cheese crusted petite filet and lobster (you can choose two entrees). You can also get a kids' meal for $30 per child, and kosher and vegetarian diets can also be accommodated. If you don't like what's on the menu, you can also choose your own entree (along with three other options from the menu) for a four-course dinner for $149 per guest.

• Drinks: Bar items, in the standard package, include a good selection of brands -- Absolut, Jameson, and Patron Silver among them. In addition to the one hour of open bar included in the standard packages, you can also opt for an additional four hours at $30 extra per person.

• Freebies: If you spend $10,000 on your wedding, you'll receive a free two-night stay at any Hyatt property for your honeymoon; at $20,000, you get three free nights; at $30,000, four nights; at $40,000, five nights.