We wanted to take the kids away for a Spring vacation, but couldn’t decide between a few days at Disney World, or staying at a beach property. After a little research we landed on heading to Clearwater, FL for a beach trip, and thought we’d maybe do a day trip to Disney if we could swing a last minute park reservation.
Pros: One bedroom suite with two queen beds was an amazing layout for our family of 5. Food was great at all of their restaurants. Prime walking location to the beach, shops, activities, other food options.
Cons: The rooms/bathrooms were a little dated. Pool is on the 8th floor, small, and the area was not that clean. You have to cross the street to access the beach and strollers won’t work on the fine sand so it can be a tough walk getting down there with small kids.
Room Quality:
We stayed in a one bedroom suite we were able to book with Hyatt points (earned with our Hyatt Chase card). The suite had two queen beds in a separate room and then we brought our pack n play for the baby. The suite had a full kitchen with an open family room space for the kids to play. This worked out so well for getting everyone to sleep and then we were able to have lunch up in the room and even made the kids mac and cheese a few times for dinner.
There were two bathrooms which was also amazing. One had a tub which is always a positive with kids, however the bathrooms were a little dated compared to other Regency properties.
Location:
Your opinion of this location will highly depend on what you’re visiting for. We wanted to go to the beach with the kids and were so excited to see they had little cabana rentals available online. We didn’t take into account that the beach is public and all beach rentals are also public.
Because we went during a popular spring break week, we were never able to get down to the beach in time to get a rental anywhere near the hotel. I assume if you go early in the morning you would be able to, but it’s not a quick walk to the beach so getting three small children ready and out the door that early wasn’t in the cards for us. The beach is located down an elevator, across the street and quite a walk, so be sure to plan ahead. However, if you have older children, it likely won’t seem as bad.
Beach:
The beach itself was gorgeous. Fine sand and blue waters, but was absolutely packed in early April- cabana after cabana- you couldn’t see the water if you weren’t in the front row. Our room did come with an umbrella and two chair rental, which you reserve once getting down to the beach.
The sand is not stroller friendly in any way. There’s no access from a boardwalk or any type of packed sand to get you closer to the cabana/umbrella rentals. Take it from us and don’t try bringing it. It’s a lot of walking to fail and have to bring your stroller back to the room. They do offer beach wagon rentals if you have lots of gear, as most families do.
So for us, we never spent time at the beach because of this. It just wasn’t as convenient as we had hoped with our infant in tow. If your kids are older and can walk well and hold their own gear though, it won’t be such a pain. Our lesson was to try and revisit during a less popular week!
Pool:
We spent our days at the pool, which is located on the 8th floor. It’s a small rectangular pool, and although our kids loved it (because they will swim in any body of water), it wasn’t overly impressive. The hotel website mentioned a separate gated kid pool, but that was tiny, and never clean so we stuck with the main pool. Starting with the location- it’s not convenient to have to bounce between the 2nd floor of the hotel (where the restaurant/market/and beach access is) and the 8th floor where the pool is located. (And then of course back up to your room should you need anything). Again I say this all with the perspective of having small kids (age 5 and under) and if that’s not you, this probably wouldn’t bother you at all.
The pool chairs are tucked between pillars, which nicely provide shade, but hugely block your view to the pool. So if you are a family with multiple children, you might not be able to see them playing from where your chair. Obviously we had one adult there in with them swimming at all times, but as the second adult sitting out of the pool with the baby, I feel like I missed out on a lot not really getting to see them playing.
The game of getting down to the pool to get chairs early is an issue (like most resorts). It was a busy spring break, so this was to be expected. But it wasn’t even hard to find a “good spot”, it was hard to find a chair no matter the location. There is also a small section with Connect-4 and large Jenga games, plus they offered free snow cones a few afternoons which was a hit amongst the kids!
Food:
But ending on a good note, the food was phenomenal. Tropico, which is their pool side restaurant, has amazing food and the service was always top notch. You can even order on the Hyatt app right on your phone and it’s delivered to your chair (or room) quickly.
There were also smaller pizza and ice cream shops a few minute walk from the hotel. This was great having small kids, because we were able to pick up pizza a few nights, and even sat down by the beach to eat a few times.
In review:
Mistakes were made by booking an extremely popular week, and had we gone at a less busy time, many of the negatives likely wouldn’t be an issue. Food and service were top notch, however this was the first Hyatt resort we’d likely wait to visit again until our children were a bit older. The price for the location is great, especially with beach access. Just be prepared for crowded spaces if you’re visiting during popular vacation weeks.