Stay Report: Hyatt House Atlanta / Perimeter Center
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I travel to Atlanta a lot and have stayed in many areas but I prefer the Perimeter area due to access of services as well as strategic location. There a couple of hotels in this area and generally I used to stay at the Hyatt Place Perimeter Center which was a nice location as it was right on the Perimeter Mall parking lot and it was close to many restaurants and other services; however, the service at the hotel as well as other factors made us look for other hotels in the area. Down the street from the Hyatt Place is the Hyatt House and I had never stayed at this brand from Hyatt so was eager to check it out.
Hyatt describes Hyatt House as "a residentially inspired hotel experience offering spacious, apartment-style rooms and suites with full kitchens" and is Hyatt's response to the extended-stay format. It was easy to book and modify the reservation either through the Hyatt app or website. The entrance to the hotel is odd in that its right off of the main road but also next to a interstate onramp - good thing is that you do not hear the noise from the cars in the hotel. The main entrance to the hotel is on the upper level but the vehicle entrance is on the main level and so you park in the temporary spots and then walk up to the upper level to access the check-in desks and main level of the hotel. There are parking spots on the main level as well as the lower level of the hotel as well as entrances and elevators which can take you directly to your room.
As you enter the lobby, you notice how large the lobby is and how vast the space is. The lobby containsa large seating area, the check-in desks, the hotel restaurant and bar, the business center, and meeting rooms. It is a huge space and even though it can get crowded, it does not feel cramped as there is a lot of space for people to sit and mingle. Check-in was good, we received our key and proceeded to the room. There are a variety of room types available - there is the standard hotel room, an expanded hotel room that resembles the Hyatt Place with a kitchenette, and more extended stay-type rooms with full kitchens. As we generally are staying there for a couple of days, we book the expanded hotel room that includes a kitchenette and a seating area.
When you open the door, you enter into the kitchenette area. On the left side is a ledge with a mirror and coat hooks on top. On the right side is a small kitchen with a sink, a small stovetop, a microwave, as well as shelves with plates and glasses. In the middle of the kitchenette is an island with a huge counter space. On one side of the island, across from the stovetop, is a dorm-size fridge which is bigger than a mini-fridge but not much larger. On the other side of the island are two seating areas and this can be for both dining as well as working as there are plugs and outlets right next the seating areas in the island.
The room section is divided into the seating area and the bed section. The seating area contains a sectional sofa that turns into a sofabed as well as a small table. There is a small table next to the couch and the other sectional part of the sofa is against the wall and has a small window behind it. The seating area is small and once the sofabed pulls out, there is no room for the seating area or to access any other section/part of this area. In front of the sectional is a stand with a TV on top and shelves on the bottom. The TV can either face the sectional/seating area or the bedroom area as right behind the TV stand is the bedroom area - there is no separation between the bedroom and the seating area besides the TV stand. This room comes with on king-size bed so in the bedroom section there is one king-size bed with nightstands on either side. The bed is large and somewhat comfortable and provides a decent nights sleep. When facing the bed, to the left is the closet and bathroom area. From the bedroom, you pass a vanity area which has a luggage storage/ledge on one side and the closet on the other. The closet contains a mirror on the outside and inside a place to hang your clothes, an iron, ironing board, and a safe. Further along is the actual bathroom which contains a sink, a toilet and a long shower. The shower is decent and provides nice water pressure and there are standard Hyatt toiletries included soap, body wash and shampoo; this hotel does not provide lotion though.
As a full-service hotel there are a lot of amenities offered including wifi, complimentary breakfast,fitness center, meeting rooms, business center, onsite restaurant/bar, attached parking, and a pool. We have experienced the wifi which was strong and able to check email, stream videos, and handle multiple people working at the same time; the business center which was just two computers and a printer next to the meeting rooms in the lobby; the parking which is an extra charge and there are limited spaces connected to the hotel but there is also spaces in the parking garage across the street; and the complimentary breakfast which was a standard hotel complimentary breakfast with cereal, fruit, bagels and french toast. The hotel is located next to the MARTA station stop and is a 30-60 second walk from the station to the hotel entrance - that can be good during the day but caution does need to be adhered to at night.
Overall, its a decent hotel near the Perimeter Mall. The hotel lobby is spacious and while the hotel may be full it does not seem full in the hotel; the hotel does not seem rushed nor packed. The room type that we choose is decent especially the island which provides a nice working and counter space; the only wish is that the fridge would be a little bit bigger especially if you are staying at the hotel for an extended period. Other than that, nice hotel with decent service and good size room.
I wanted to travel from Milan to London and when I looked online, there were not a lot of direct options so looked for connecting options. Each time I travel, I am also looking for the best options and looking at points redemption versus payment, and in this search I found I could redeem Delta Skymiles points to get an intra-European business class ticket on KLM from Milan Malpensa to London Heathrow via Amsterdam. I booked the ticket through Delta using my Skymiles points and then contacted KLM to confirm the booking and obtain the KLM booking reference number. Once I had the KLM booking number, it was somewhat easy to manage my booking through the KLM app as well as through customer service. 
My flight was from Milan to London Heathrow via Amsterdam. The first flight was approximately 1h55min while the second flight was 1hr20min and with an originally layover of 1hr30min. Both sectors were flown by Boeing 737 and both were in 'intra-European business class' which means that the seats are the same as the rest of the plane with extra legroom and the middle seat blocked off. As part of business class, both sectors included complimentary meals. The experience on both sectors were similar so I will combine all experiences into one review. Our flight was scheduled to depart Milan at 4:55pm. We had both Business Class access as well as Sky Priority status so we were able to use that check-in as well as fast track security; although there were not many people in check-in line so either line would have been fine. The business class lounge in Milan was through a third party and the lounge was small but decent and had complimentary soft drinks, water, alcoholic beverages, as well as a wide variety of snacks and small foods. The drinks were plentiful and the snacks were decent enough to fill you up but not to overstuff. There was also complimentary wifi. During the layover in Amsterdam I was able to try out the renovated KLM Crown Club. The club was massive with lots of seating but also lots of people. The food was disappointing as it was minimal snacks and I expected better quality and quantity of food from a lounge in the airlines home airport (in face, the food on the plane was better than the food in the lounge). The drinks were weak and not good either; overall it was a disappointing experience in the Crown Club in Amsterdam.
KLM has a departure time and a scheduled boarding time and for both flights, the flights were delayed and boarding time came and went without any communication. Boarding is to be conducted by groups, with Business Class and Sky Priority in Group 3 but each time boarding was chaotic and many people were unsure which group was going when. There was a lack of communication and order during the boarding and regarding any delays. Once onboard, both planes were laid out in a similar fashion as they were both Boeing 737-800. Both were in a 3-3 configuration and as mentioned above we were in 'European Business Class' which meant that the seats were standard but there was extra legroom and the middle seat was blocked. The major difference was that the Milan to Amsterdam sector was operated by a newer plane with newer seats while the Amsterdam to Heathrow sector was operated by an older plane with the old style seats. The newer seats were more slimline and thus had less padding but were more efficiently designed. The older planes had a bit bigger seats but the wear and tear had made them uncomfortable towards the end. 
Both seats were designed in a similar fashion with the updated ones having somewhat more modern features. Both featured a tray table as well as pocket underneath, and neither had a monitor. The older plane's tray table was a standard tray table while the newer plane had a bi-folded table. The newer plane had a USB port on the back of each seat as well as plugs underneath the seat; the older plane only had plugs underneath the seats. The newer plane had a literature pocket on top as well as while the older plane did not have this. Neither plane had wifi nor stream to your own device entertainment, which meant that you had to bring your own entertainment or occupy yourself. In Business Class, KLM offers a complimentary meal as well as complimentary drinks, including complimentary alcoholic drinks. The meals come in prepared boxes and cannot be modified - ie no special meals can be ordered nor requested and there is only one option for the meal choice. Prior to the meals, a warn nuts and a menu card was handed out explaining the meal box along with a berry burst drink, which apparently is very popular but after trying it, is an acquired taste. Due to the short flight time, once airborne the meal boxes were served immediately. The meal boxes contained a main meal which was vegetarian and included a veggie protein with a salad and another box containing dessert; warm bread and your choice of drink were served afterwards. The quantity of the meal box was sufficient for the short-duration of the flight, and as I said earlier the quality of the food was better than expected. I tend to not enjoy airplane food, as most of them are not good, but this food was actually good quality and taste and in fact the food in the plane was better than the food in the lounge.
We landed in Heathrow late as we departed late and even though we had business class tags and sky priority tags, our luggage did not come out first but rather came out in the middle. Overall, it was a mixed bag experience with KLM. I haven't flown with KLM for over 20+ years so I was unsure as to what to expect. Positives were the better-than-expected quality of food that was given and the average seat quality and pitch. Negatives was the lack of wifi and/or entertainment provided, a lack of customer service nor attention even paid to business class passengers, lack of communication regarding delays, and finally confusion and lack of order regarding boarding. 
