The Newly Renovated Hyatt Place Boston/Braintree

I have to admit that I stopped writing about Hyatt Place hotels a while ago unless something stood out about the particular hotel or experience. But that’s the point of Hyatt Place hotels – they are supposed to be predictably the same and rather vanilla. So why write a review?

Hyatt Place hotels are not, by their nature, aspirational. I go to them based on the location and the price. The Hyatt Place Boston/Braintree, a category 2 World of Hyatt hotel, is quite far from Boston, but it is close to where my father is currently living. When I visited my father, it was convenient to stay at this hotel.

But then, sometime in 2019, this hotel closed rather abruptly for renovations. Add the pandemic into the mix and it seemed like the hotel would never reopen, or if it did, it wouldn’t be a World of Hyatt hotel. Happily, I was wrong. It reopened a few months ago.

I booked a night there last month. We almost didn’t make it because our car broke down on the way. Later than expected, we finally arrived at the hotel.

We were greeted with enthusiasm. The front desk clerk excitedly told me that the hotel was renovated. She was almost giddy about it. My gut reaction was somewhat cynical – I mean how different can it be, it will still look just like a Hyatt Place, right?

The elevator had a sign limiting the number of passengers and reminding guests to wear masks.

On our floor, I noted that the hallway actually had sparkly fresh new feeling. The walls were freshly painted and the carpet was new.

The door to our room was taped, with a message that the room was cleaned and sealed.

And then we entered the room. Yes, it still looked like a Hyatt Place room, but it now had a modern touch – it was bright and newly decorated.

And, hallelujah, there were outlets! (And God said, let there be more outlets…)

The bathroom did not look vastly different than previously. Perhaps it was painted and freshened up.

This is how you can best see the improvement – this is a BEFORE PHOTO from one of my prior visits. I think you can agree that the prior motif was somewhat tired and depressing.

Breakfast was primarily grab and go with a few hot items (scrambled eggs with hash browns and sausage, and pancakes). Everything was individually packaged. I’m not saying it was delicious, but breakfast was better than okay given the trying circumstances.

As is often the case, it is the staff that make or break the experience, and I felt warmth and enthusiasm from them. Covid-19 precautions were kept and staff wore masks. For future visits to see my father, I will stay at the hotel again. Two other pluses for me: there is a nice mall across the street, and a Legal Seafood Restaurant next door.

The fitness center was also fully renovated. That will be reviewed separately, but here’s a hint: I ran into a professional rugby team there!