Could've been better…read more..
My wife and I were nearing the end of our ten day upper Midwest road trip, and needed a place to sleep on Friday night before taking a Saturday flight back to LAX from Chicago. I used Hyatt properties exclusively throughout the trip since I have a nice stash of points to use for free nights. I had reserved a stay at the Hyatt Place in Munster, IN, since it was very close to my wife's relatives who we were meeting that night for dinner. However, a couple of days before, received an email from the Munster Hyatt Place that many of their rooms did not have air conditioning because of the storms that had passed through their area the prior week. So ended up canceling the reservation (Hyatt will return your points if you cancel at least 24 hours before your stay) and decided to book something that was closer to where we were going to pick up my wife's mom the next day. The Hyatt Regency Lisle was the closest and also had the best redemption (at only 6,000 points). I was surprised at the low cost for a Regency, but figured it must be the location.
We ended up checking in late, around 10 pm. Since we had to catch our flight the next day, we had to bring all of our luggage and various knick-knacks that we've been purchasing (and dumping into the back seat of our rental car) and bring it all upstairs. There was nobody out in front (which wasn't a big deal), but absolutely no luggage carts anywhere to be found. The lobby was empty, with one lone guy manning the check-in desk. He checked us in, told us we had a room on the 3rd floor. Hyatt sends out surveys after visits, and one of the questions asked if the guest had been recognized as a loyal member of Hyatt. The only times it did not happen during our road trips, was at the two Hyatt Regencies, this one included.
Built in 1988 and last renovated in 2012, with 317 rooms and 13 floors. Thus elevators are a must. Well, two of the three elevators were out of service, and from the look of the sign, seemed like for a while. It has enough meeting spaces and ballrooms to host large events. And there was definitely night events happening, with the low price of rooms and it being a Friday night. There was no bottled water offered, so my wife went to the ice maker to get ice to melt down for water the next morning. We also spent a bit of time packing our bags, making sure we didn't hit the 50 lb limit (I had purchased beer to bring home so it was a bit of a challenge, but we made do). The room was definitely an older style, but the room and BR was clean with a shower/tub combo. It was meant to be a place to get in/out for an overnight stay, and figured I had done alright.
There is no complementary breakfast at Regencies, so decided to checkout (via the app) and leave by 9am. I should have guessed what would happen...with only one elevator working, and people all trying to get to the lobby to leave, each elevator stopping on the 3rd floor was already full by the time it reached us (since there were 10 floors of people above us). After waiting 10 plus minutes, letting 2 elevators leave without us, was determined to get onto the 3rd one. It was full and a young women said 'Oh no, there is no room'. Yeah, I was a bit of an ass in making space for my wife and our bags (didn't ask..just told the people in front, "No..We are getting on...please make room). People were not happy, with some smartass in the back grumbling..."it's only the 3rd floor...you could have taken the stairs"...lol...pretty sure he didn't have any luggage.
Luckily the elevator didn't break down with all the people, and we got out of there as fast as possible as soon as the door opened. Reading reviews, it was clear that the elevator situation has been bad for a while now...should have read Yelp before making the reservation. Lesson learned!