Review: Hyatt Place Atlanta Airport-South

My epic saga to find a good hotel around the Atlanta airport continues. This time, due to a corporate status challenge I'm currently going after, I chose the Hyatt Place just south of the Atlanta airport.

Booking

I paid the member cash rate for the night, which amounted to just shy of $150 including tax for my one night stay. Do note that this is a Hyatt Category 1 hotel, so a point redemption may be better. For example, there are multiple nights even during the summer where you can get the hotel for as little as 3,500 points, and it maxes out at 6,500 points per night.

Location

I am a huge fan of the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel. I think the location is perfect, and it's out of the flight path of airplanes, so you won't hear the rumble of flights all night long. The same could not be said for the Hyatt Place, it is right in the middle of the southern runways, and you will hear the rumble of every flight overhead as they takeoff or land.

To the hotel's credit, their windows are quite well insulated from the south, however you can't drown out the ruble of the engines overhead. During the late evening hour you have Delta's South America departures, London departure, and South Korea departure. All of which depart close to midnight and if the airport is in a west flow, you will hear the engines rumble overhead as they took off. I did note that smaller aircraft really were not noticeable compared to the heavy jet aircraft.

Check-In

The check-in lobby is quite small and houses both the check-in desks, an eating area for breakfast, and a small grab-and-go area with drinks and some select food. With that being said, check-in was a breeze and I got all situated for my room. As a Hyatt Explorist they gave me two waters from the grab-and-go area to comply with the member benefits.

Even for the late night hour that I checked in, around 11PM, it was very busy with people. It looked as if a flight may have gotten canceled or arrived late at night and passengers missed their connection.

The Room

For a Hyatt Place, you get a lot of basic amenities in your room that you don't see at other hotels, or at least have to pay for. There is a full couch which converts to a pullout bed, a bar area with microwave and mini-fridge, and a small desk to work at.

Just past that area, there is the bed and bathroom. I always find it peculiar that they put the sink in the bedroom area rather than extend the bathroom to encompass the sink area.

The whole area is pretty open, including the closet, which really doesn't have a door. And of course the towels are inside the shower, again a design flaw that I don't think many designers don't think about.

However, overall I'm very impressed with the space. The bed was a King and very comfortable. I find that I'm quite enjoying Hyatt's beds over Marriott's. They're just a touch more firm and their pillows have a nice soft give to them while staying firm.

If I had to throw some criticism, it would be the side tables. They are quite small and if you needed to put some gadgets up to charge on the bedside you'd be struggling for space, especially with the house phone in the way. I was also not a fan that the electrical plug was far away from the side table, meaning if you didn't have long enough charge cables you'd be sad out of luck and charge your phone on the ground.

Food

Complimentary breakfast is served in the lobby area from 6AM to around 10AM. They have all the typical low-cost hotel offerings from cereals, juices, coffee, and a handful of hot options including eggs, bacon, and sausage. For me, it's perfectly acceptable, I know what kind of hotel that I'm staying at, and I don't need the most fancy or extravagant breakfast. I want something to get me going in the morning and start me up with something warm and decent.

Service

The two gentlemen working the front desk in the evening were working quite efficiently and quickly to get multiple people checked in. They were pleasant for a light chat and getting me promptly checked in.

The same could not be said for checkout, I could not find anyone at the front desk to check me out. And there was no sign of any staff around the front desk for the couple of minutes that I stood there.

I ended up dropping my key in the box and using digital checkout to confirm that I was leaving the room. In a way, I don't really blame them for having the front desk unstaffed. They are probably understaffed, and they people meant to work the front desk were probably dealing with the breakfast rush. In a world of digital checkout, it wasn't really needed for me to have someone check me out, as I didn't have any room charges and nothing funky going on with my bill.

Final Thoughts

While the Hyatt Place Atlanta Airport-South is not the golden ticket I have been looking for, it is still a decently priced quick overnight hotel if you have a layover at the Atlanta airport. The noise from aircraft taking off was really barely noticeable except for the heavy aircraft late night departures, and they are so closely spaced at night it's all over in about 30 minutes.

I would ultimately stay here again if I had to, they have a shuttle, and it looks like a quicker ride as compared to other hotels in the area. But my search will continue for the best airport hotel around the Atlanta airport.

Do you have any hotel suggestions? Let me know!