Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Orlando (International Drive)

Hyatt Regency Orlando is a very large hotel, comprised of two towers, located on International Drive in Orlando, Florida. The hotel is across the street from a number of convention centers and, in fact, is home to it’s own convention center on the hotel premises.

It is quick, easy and usually economical to fly to Orlando from New York (and many other cities), and there are many restaurants in walking distance of the hotel (or by hopping on a trolley that goes up and down International Drive). Although we usually rent a car when we visit Florida, we didn’t do so on this trip, which worked out fine.

We stayed six nights at the hotel in July. I made the reservation using a points and cash rate many months earlier.  As massively large as the hotel is, we never felt that it was overly huge or impersonal.

Hotel lobby

hotel convention center

We arrived at the hotel on a Tuesday when the hotel was at low occupancy and there were no lines for check-in. We were told that the hotel would be quite busy for the weekend, so we weren’t necessarily surprised to see long lines on Friday (there was a new convention coming in concerning school lunches).

hotel front desk – check in

Our Suite

This was the hallway on our floor (16th floor).

As a World of Hyatt Globalist, I used a suite upgrade certificate. The suite was one bedroom with a small balcony. The suite was nicely furnished and perfect for our needs – especially since we were still exercising caution to distance ourselves from others due to the Covid pandemic.

Here are some photos of the suite:

We had a small balcony that looked out over the hotels second pool (the Terrace pool). My only complaint was that there was no furniture on the balcony.

We received a nice welcome gift.

The Regency Club

The Regency Club was open for breakfast and appetizers in the evening. We found the offerings rather limited and repetitious. For example, at breakfast, there was only one hot item served each day, such as an Egg McMuffin type of item, instead of fresh eggs.  There were fresh fruits in the morning and fresh vegetables in the evening (with an assortment of dips, but often no olive oil or common condiments).

Breakfast in the Regency Club:

Evening appetizers in the Regency Club

In the evening, like the morning, there was one hot item offered. Two would have been better. There was a nice crudité offered. I kept thinking how easy it would have been for the hotel to put out a bowl of lettuce and maybe some oil and vinegar too.

Most evenings, there was also a small dessert item.

There was beer and wine (for a charge) in the Regency Club. I don’t know if this was the usual policy or just for pandemic, but beer and wine had to be served by a server. There was no honor bar.

From the Regency Club, you could catch a nice view of the main pool area.

Most nights, you could see fireworks in one of many directions.

Pools  

There are two pools at the hotel. This is the main pool.

This is the hotel’s second pool, which we preferred over the main pool.

Restaurants, etc. 

The hotel has a 24-hour market, a diner-style restaurant (B-Line Diner), an upscale Italian restaurant (Fiorenzo), and a bar (Rocks which is currently closed for renovation). I did not eat at any of these restaurants, but they looked nice and were popular with the hotel guests.

Overall, we had a great stay and caught up on some needed R and R. Succinctly stated, this was the perfect short getaway and just what the doctor ordered!

The hotel fitness center will be reviewed separately.