Stay Report: Hyatt Place Atlanta/ Perimeter Center
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I have stayed at many Hyatt Place's and I generally have a good experience and they provide a good service for the price point. Generally at a Hyatt Place you will get a junior-suite type room with beds + couch, complimentary parking, wifi, and breakfast, and a decent stay. Some hotels are newer than others, and the decor and layout indicate so, and some hotels have better service than others. Hyatt is building a lot of new Hyatt Place so when I was looking for a place to stay in Atlanta, I noticed that the Hyatt Place near Perimeter Mall was now open and accepting reservations so decided to book and experience this hotel. This was not my first experience at a newly built Hyatt Place as I previously stayed at Hyatt Place Arlington, VA (review here) which was somewhat new at the time.
The hotel is located on the malls general area and right next to the mall parking lot, but on the train station entrance so its less crowded to enter but you can still easily access the mall. The entrance to the hotel is very small and there is a small driveway in which you can stop to go inside and checkin - this driveway can only fit 2-3 cars and it fills up very quickly; the entrance was not designed well and was very inconvenient.
As you walked into the lobby, it smelled really nice and overall looked modern and fresh, but overall it was very narrow. As you entered, the two check-in desks were in front and there was a small seating area to the right. Right behind the check-in desks was the small pantry (to purchase items you forgot or snacks) while along the right side was more seating, the business center, and the dining area where the breakfast was served and the hotel restaurant. The elevators were located on the left-hand side opposite the business center and behind the pantry area. Overall, it looked nice and well decorated but it was very narrow and tight space to navigate (especially now with social distancing).
The customer service here was not great - there was nothing bad but there was nothing good noroutstanding neither; they did the basics of their job with the minimal interaction, barely any smile, and that was about it. That was the service received when we checked in as we got our key, got information about the parking and that was it - no other details about any other amenity of the hotel (also, we were not welcomed as loyalty members). We took our key and proceeded to the room. Once I received my key, I had to use to access the elevators to the room. I was on the 2nd floor, and the hotel overall has 9 floors. The hallways to the room were a bit narrow so they could fit the luggage cart but could not fit the luggage cart plus guest side by side; luckily the narrowness did not extend to the rooms as they were spacious and very comfortable.
As you enter the room, on the right was the bathroom which was more spacious than I had expected. The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet, a shower, bathroom toiletries of shampoo, conditioner, and soap, as well as a sliding door between the bathroom and the main room. As you enter into the room, on the right side are couches - one of which can turn into a sofa bed – as well as a table in front of the couches. There is a ‘partition’ between the 'living room' and the bedroom, and I put it in quotes because it only extends a quarter-way while the remaining section is open so it does not provide a lot of privacy. Across from the couches and bed, along the wall, was a luggage holder with drawers on the bottom and this was connected to a full-size desk with a chair and a TV on the wall, and this was connected to a mini-closet with a small place to hang clothes (there was a safe as well as an iron in the closet and the ironing board was in the bathroom; there was also a fridge within one of the cabinets of the console). On the other side of the 'partition' is the bedroom. I had booked a room with two beds and so there were 2 double beds with a nightstand in the middle. The nightstand had two small reading lights, an alarm clock, as well as plenty of USB ports and outlets. The bed itself was comfortable and provided a decent sleep. Many of the newer constructed hotels are coming up with more narrow and space-restricted rooms so with all the furniture, the room felt a little cramped and confined. Because of the newer construction though, there were plenty of USB ports and outlets throughout the room to charge electronics.
The Hyatt Place does offer free facilities for its guests to enjoy such as complimentary parking (there was also valet parking but I never saw a valet attendant), complimentary wifi (for members - some hotels enforce and check while this hotel did not), and complimentary breakfast. The hotel also provides a fitness center and a business center. The complimentary breakfast was still offered, which was nice given the pandemic and other cuts, but it was very basic as there was prepackage bagels, cream cheese, yogurt and cereal. Other hotels are continuing to offer complimentary breakfast during the pandemic - and I appreciate the consistency to do so - but this was really basic (even more so compared to others). The wifi was complimentary, needed to login or code, and was decent strength but not secure at all but you could connect as many devices as you wanted to. There was a business center downstairs which was basically two computers and a printer in the lobby; the fitness center was open and there was enough equipment to provide a good workout.
Safety protocols - given the pandemic, what safety protocols did the hotel implement? There weresocial distancing stickers on the floor but these were not really enforced by the staff; there were signs that masks were mandatory but again these were not really enforced by staff; there were 3 elevators and they came pretty quickly so you could wait and social distance in the elevator; the hotels were not cleaning your room in between nights so if you needed something you had to call down and request it. As with the service, the safety protocols were the basic ones that were implemented - no more, no less.
Overall, it was a typical stay at the Hyatt Place. The hotel provided complimentary parking, wifi, breakfast along with comfortable beds. The location was convenient as it was next to the mall so you could walk there, you could walk to the train station, and walk to other restaurants and stores. The negatives were the driveway and entrance to the hotel, the lack of enforcing safety protocols, and the average service. I have had some great stays at Hyatt Place and some awful stays and this was in the middle - so while I wouldn't rush to book the hotel again, I also would not avoid it either.
