Hyatt Regency Albuquerque Review
After staying two nights at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, I spent a night at the Hyatt Regency Alburquerque prior to a morning flight out of ABQ. The property is a lowly Category 1 which means free nights are only 5,000 World of Hyatt points. The other two Hyatt properties in the city are both Hyatt Place properties (old AmeriSuite builds which I would recommend avoiding).
The Hyatt Regency Albuquerque is located in the center of downtown in the Albuquerque Plaza development. Built in 1990, the block houses two high rise towers that are connected with a two story base. The towers are the tallest buildings in all of New Mexico. The taller of the two is offices while the slightly shorter 20 floor building is the Hyatt Regency.
Location
Downtown is the business center of Albuquerque. The hotel is across from the civic plaza and only a block from the convention center. Central Avenue (Route 66) runs a few blocks over. Old Town is a quick 5 minute drive and the airport is 10 minutes. It is also not too far from the University of New Mexico campus.
My visit was on a Sunday night of a three day weekend. I did not find the neighborhood particularly charming or pleasant to walk. With that said, there are a number of restaurants and bars on Central. Alburquerque is not a tourist destination (unless you want to see Breaking Bad filming locations); most tourists would head to Santa Fe or Taos.
The hotel does offer valet and self parking in an underground garage. I was told that parking is always free for Globalists.
Check In
I arrived around 4pm, though in the app I saw my room was ready had I needed it much earlier in the day. I self parked and took the elevator to the lobby. The lobby is a bit strange as it seems to be a shared lobby with the office building with the check in desk in one corner. There is a bar and a restaurant that are connected to the hotel as well as a gift shop but there really is no differentiation from the rest of the office building.
As a Globalist I was upgraded to a Junior Suite on the top floor. It was also explained that the Globalist breakfast was a $40 credit towards room service. I am not sure if that is standard or just because of Covid and/or holiday weekend. I would guess that normally breakfast is served in the restaurant (when opened) since there isn’t a Regency Club.
Room
I was assigned to room 2011/2012; adjoining rooms that make up the Junior Suite. The two rooms are identical in layout with different furnishings. As you enter the living room side, the bathroom is straight ahead. The room has a leather couch in front of the large windows.
The large wood panel is actually a Murphy bed that can fold out if you needed a second bed. Along the opposite wall is the TV, coffee set up, desk and a mini fridge just sitting on the floor. There is also an arm chair in the opposite corner.
Mirrored in the other room is a king bed that faces a second TV. When I arrived the TV didn’t work but they sent up an engineer and got it fixed.
The furnishings are dated. I noticed that the lamps have a power outlet built in (which is helpful) but also a telephone jack; I assume for plugging in your computer with dial up modem circa 1999. There are more modern touches like the Keurig coffee maker, flat screen TV, and iHome speaker (maybe not actually that modern…). While the room is dated, they have kept it in good shape and extremely clean.
The views are dramatic as there really are not many tall buildings in the city you feel like you are really high up.
Bathroom
The Junior Suite has two identical bathrooms. Even more so than the rest of the room the bathroom feels extremely dated. If there have been any updates since 1990, it might be a new toilet and countertop. The bathrooms feel dark but were extremely clean.
There is a single vanity with a good amount of counter space. A combo tub/shower with wall mounted shower head and toilet round out the basic bathroom.
The bath products are individual Pharmacopia. No refillable bottles at this property.
Pool & Gym
There is pool located outside on Floor 3. It was not open during my stay in January. A sign said it was closed due to weather (which I assume means winter) but I also noticed that the hot tub was being renovated which may be why the entire pool area was closed.
The gym is located on Floor 2. It is a modern gym with a wide variety of machines including a Pelaton (that was out of order) and one of those wall mounted digital Mirrors that can show you work outs.
Breakfast
The Globalist breakfast was provided as a $40 room service credit. The limited menu is reasonably priced; $40 could cover breakfast for two.
I had to leave the hotel shortly after 7am for my flight; so I called down to order the yogurt bowl and an orange juice to be delivered to the front desk so I could grab it and go.
The yogurt bowl was large with some fresh blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries. Unfortunately the granola was just a broken up packaged granola bar. They also didn’t have orange juice so I was provided cranberry juice instead.
Overall
It is hard to complain about a full service Hyatt for only 5,000 points. While the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque is dated, the property is clean and Globalist benefits are generous. The location is not far from the airport; while there isn’t a shuttle it should absolutely be picked over the Hyatt Place if you have a car. I would probably not recommend paying the cash rates unless you are being reimbursed. The points rate is always going to be better.