Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa Review
While I didn’t have a great first impression of the Regency Tamaya, it ended up being an over all good stay; all things considered.
I booked my stay using a Hyatt Privé agent. During COVID, the property was running a 3rd night free promotion that stacked on the Privé benefits. At this property that included a $100 resort credit, breakfast each morning, a welcome amenity, and room upgrade.
I paid a total of $410 total for the three nights (including resort fee of $15 per night) + tax. It worked out to be $137 per night averaged out with the free night.
Location
The Hyatt Regency Tamaya is located in the town of Bernanillo, New Mexico. It is about 20 miles north of Albuquerque and 50 miles southwest of Santa Fe.
I would say the location lends itself mostly to getaways from locals and conferences (when COVID isn’t stopping that). It is definitely in a resort setting, there is nothing within walking distance and the local town isn’t interesting. There is a casino down the road (closed for COVID). Mostly you would be spending time on the resort property or day tripping to Santa Fe.
Check In
I arrived around 2pm and the desk agent was very helpful, letting me know my room was ready as soon as I said my name. The property had to be under 50% capacity due to state mandate, but I would guess it was significantly lower than that.
Most of the onsite dining was closed. It was explained I could have room service for breakfast and on the weekends there was a buffet (staff dishing up the food).
My room upgrade was a Mountain View King. I asked about parking and he said I could park in the VIP area just outside the front door. Parking is included with the room/resort fee.
Room
The rooms are a bit larger than a standard hotel room. As you enter, the bathroom is on the right and closet including small refrigerator, is on the left.
The main room has a king bed, chair, and table with two additional chairs. The bed faces a TV and dresser.
The sliding door opens out to a balcony. The room is on the second floor, I believe rooms on the first floor have more of a patio.
Bathroom
The bathroom is a bit dated. One side has the shower/tub combo.
A single vanity is in the middle. The toilet is on the other side.
Bath products were in refillable bottles and branded with the onsite spa.
Unfortunately after unpacking, I went to lay down for a rest. It was then I noticed the bed was covered in little bugs. Most were little gnats — I would guess about 50 covered the white sheets. While I expect a bug or two in a hotel room from time to time, this was an infestation and absolutely disgusting.
I packed up my bags and went back to front desk, unsure if I would just take off to another property. The front desk staff was horrified and went and looked at the room. He came back and apologized profusely. He said he would understand if I didn’t want to stay at the property, but wanted to show me a room he could offer me instead of my original room.
After seeing the suite he offered, and not having any other great options nearby, I decided to stay.
I am not sure why that room was infested. My guess is that due to COVID, the room hadn’t been used in some time and a nest had hatched. The front desk staff called me the next day and let me know they had an exterminator out and they had NOT found any bed bugs, so that was a relief.
VIP Suite
The standard suite is the Junior Suite. The VIP Suite I was assigned was room 1121 on the first floor. It was actually just below my original room, which made me nervous about the bugs.
As you enter, there is a half bath on the left along with a closet.
The main living room area is in the middle of the suite with a large couch, TV, desk, and fireplace.
Off of the living room is the dining room with a small kitchen area with wet bar, fridge and microwave.
The bedroom has a king bed, second TV couch and chair.
Off the bedroom is a dressing room area with walk in closet.
The bathroom has a double vanity, jacuzzi tub, shower and toilet.
The suite has a total of 4 sliding glass doors – 1 off the bedroom, two off the living room, and one off the dining room. The patio stretches the length of the suite.
Overall the decor is more modern than in the standard rooms and most likely more recently updated. It is a ton of space for one person.
Grounds and Pool
The property grounds are expansive. The building itself is at highest point four stories. It sprawls across the land with different wings.
There are hiking/biking/horse trails to explore.
There are a total of three pools. One adult/quiet pool, one large pool with water slide, and one that is shaped more like a lazy river.
Due to COVID, the water slide was turned off and the pools were set up for lap swim only.
There are a number of other activities on site including horse back riding, golf, horseshoes, a spa and fitness center, a kids center and other options.
Restaurants
The restaurants were closed or had strange hours due to COVID. During the week, about the only option was the Trading Post, which is a gift store and snack bar. They have a few options for each meal. They also act as the room service. That means that breakfast choices were rather limited.
On the weekends, the Santa Ana Cafe is set up for a breakfast buffet. Still, the dishes were quite limited (eggs, potatoes, fruit, sausage, bacon, baked goods).
Weekend evenings, the bar was open for food and drinks with patio dining only. There were a number of choices of mostly bar type food.
In addition, during the middle of the day the snack bar at the pool was open with nachos and tacos.
The food offerings were limited and the quality was not great in my opinion. I think the true restaurants on site are closed currently. Unfortunately room service is only what is available at the gift shop snack bar.
Overall
Typically I think of the Regency brand as being business oriented properties located in cities. This is a spa resort property in a more rural area (or at least suburb). If anything, I would think the property would be better as a “Hyatt” branded property (like the Hyatt Palm Springs) though I know there are other Regency spa resorts. I could see a lot of corporate retreats happening at the location, so perhaps that is why the Regency brand works.
I also didn’t get to experience the full property offering due to COVID. I understand there is a lot more to do.
Overall it is a nice property that reminds me a bit of offerings I’ve been to in Scottsdale like the Fairmont or even Four Seasons but at a lower level.
The service was top notch in dealing with the bug situation in my first room (of course, they should never have rented a room like that). By the way, I saw a lot of bugs throughout the property (since it is in a wilderness area of New Mexico it makes sense), in case that is not your thing.
At a Category 3 (12,000 per night) it would make a good use of a free night certificate or points. Since it is part of Privé, that offers some additional valuable options for paid stays.
Have you stayed at a Regency Spa and Resort property? What do you think of this brand within a brand within a brand?
