Alexandria, Virginia is one of my favorite weekend spots to stay in the DC metro area. My wife and I recently had a chance to check out the 124-room Hyatt Centric Old Town, a good value hotel right on King Street (which is the main steet running through Old Town). It’s not perfect and has smallish rooms as well as a laughably bad elite breakfast. But, the terrific location, price and chic design make it a winner.
Hyatt Centric Old Town Alexandria Bottom Line Review
- Price: This is a category 3 Hyatt and costs 12,000 Hyatt points per night standard, 9,000 points off-peak, and 15,000 points peak. The cash rates are often quite low; the weekend we were there it was ~$125/night after taxes, so we opted to pay cash rather than fork out 12,000 pts/night.
- Value: Because of the up-and-down cash rates, it can sometimes be a sub-optimal points value, like the weekend that we were there. Most of the time, the points value seems to hang out around 1.5 cpp. Given the location, both the points and cash prices are reasonable for what you get.
- Location: Excellent. It’s located on the Western end of King Street, the main drag through Old Town. It’s within easy walking distance of the bars and restaurants on King Street and about 12 blocks from the Waterfront. It’s just far enough to the West to make noise levels reasonable and parking fairly easy.
- Room: Well-designed, recently-refreshed and “boutique-feeling.” BUT, they are quite small. At only 275 square feet, it’s on the tight end for a couple and would feel pretty cramped if you were traveling with kids.
- Parking: Self-parking is $25 and is located in a small garage beneath the hotel. There was no need to use it over the weekend, though, as the street parking right in front of the hotel was free overnight and constantly open. Valet parking is supposedly an option, but we never saw an active valet stand.
- Resort/Destination Fee: None.
- Internet: Great, able to stream easily throughout the hotel.
- Service: Fine. The hotel seemed a little understaffed while we were there, but who isn’t these days.
- Turndown service: None.
- Dining:
- IndoChen is a pan-Asian restaurant open for breakfast daily from 7am-10am. Lunch from 12-2:30pm and dinner from 5pm-9pm(Tues-Sun only). The bar stays offers a happy hour Tues-Fri from 4:30-7:30pm.
- Spa: None.
- Fitness Room:There is a tiny fitness room located on the ground floor that has a minimal amount of free weights and mats.
- Hyatt Globalist Elite Benefits:
- Suite Upgrade: I booked a standard room and was upgraded to a high-floor “view” room. There are only two suites at the property and so upgrades can be tough.
- Club Lounge: None.
- Free Breakfast: This is something that could be drastically improved. While they have a restaurant with a full menu, it isn’t offered to Globalists. Instead, they have a “Globalist Breakfast” that gives you an option of two plain eggs and toast, cereal or a parfait. Probably the worst breakfast benefit I’ve seen at a Hyatt.
- 4PM Late Checkout: Applied automatically without asking.
- Free Parking: Free self-parking on award stays. Valet wasn’t running when we were there.
- Would I stay again? Yes.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Chic, well-designed rooms and public spaces
- Great location in downtown Alexandria
- Good restaurant/bar
Cons
- Very small rooms
- Lack of suites makes upgrades difficult (although the suites look very nice)
- Terrible Globalist breakfast benefit
Image Gallery
Hyatt Centric Alexandria Standard King Room
IndoChen Restaurant and Lobby Bar
Fitness Room
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Your post was successful! We stayed earlier this week and the Globalist breakfast now includes one breakfast entrée, juice and tea or coffee. I had the Create Your Own Omelet with all the veggies and it came with a side salad. It was a large portion and was delicious. My husband had the oatmeal and he enjoyed it. Another entrée choice was the Centric Breakfast. It includes 2 eggs, bacon or pork sausage, breakfast potatoes & toast.
Love the words first and pictures second format on FM reviews!
What does MS Staples Gift cards mean?
https://frequentmiler.com/manufactured-spending-complete-guide/. MS = Manufactured Spending
Thank you for not showing a picture of the toilet bowl
Ha! My pleasure.
Yeah I’ve seen that at other hotels
and I just ignore and order off the menu and it’s wiped off at checkout.
I would definitely have a discussion with hotel management about such a non-compliant breakfast (preferably before my arrival if I knew what they were doing) and, if that didn’t work, I’d call Hyatt and try to get the matter resolved. We generally get what we’re promised as Globalists, so I think it’s important for Hyatt to know we expect that and value it.
I was tempted to do that here as well, even though they told me it specifically wouldn’t be credited, just to see.
Which other properties have you seen this sort of thing at? It’s a first for me with Hyatt.
That might qualify for the worst globalist breakfast in the entire Hyatt portfolio lol.
I looked at this previously and after reading your review about the small rooms and exceedingly poor breakfast options I’m glad I chose something closer to town.
You got Globalisted!
Great timing for this review, I’m staying there in 2 weeks. Thanks for the details Tim!