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Greenville, South Carolina has become one of the East Coast’s “chic” mountain destinations, along with its North Carolina cousin, Asheville. Since I first visited, 20-ish years ago, the city has boomed, with more restaurants, hotels, wine bars and retail stores every time I’m there. Understandable, as it’s a great small(er) town for a weekend getaway, especially during the Fall colors season. Once you’re there, though, there’s probably better places to stay than the Hyatt Regency Greenville.
Hyatt Regency Greenville Bottom Line Review
I find Hyatt Regency to be one of the more uneven World of Hyatt brands in the US. They’re often massive, older hotels that were originally built for conventions and have been heavily used, leaving them sorely in need of maintenance and a refresh. This describes the Hyatt Regency Greenville to a “T.” Outside of the location, there’s really not much to recommend here, with its worn facilities and mediocre service. One of the lesser Hyatt experiences I’ve had in awhile. Thumbs Down
- Price: The Hotel is a Hyatt Category 3, with prices ranging from 9,000-15,000 points/night. We booked using 15,000 Hyatt points and applied a suite upgrade award. Cash prices for standard rooms were ~US$225/night over the weekend.
- Value: The cash rates during our stay were slightly below our current Reasonable Redemption Value for Hyatt points of 2.1 cents each…and it’s usually that way. Before we arrived, I was surprised to see that the Regency was the same points cost and a lower cash price than the nearby Hyatt Place. I understand a little better after having visited.
- Location: The hotel has a great location at the north end of Main Street. It’s walking distance from pretty much all of the downtown restaurants, shops and bars.
- Room: We booked a standard room with one king and applied a suite night award to get an upgrade to the 625 sq ft Panorama Suite. The layout of the room was terrific, as it occupied an oddly-shaped corner of the hotel that gave the living room/dining room a “V” shape. That main room had floor-to-ceiling windows and was right in the middle of some massive trees, so it felt like being in a fancy treehouse. I loved it. However, the room was beat up. Paint was flaking off the bathroom walls and into the shower (there was no exhaust fan and it looked like it had just been repainted over and over). The furniture was pretty severely scratched up and there some small chunks missing from the walls. The massive sectional couch was terrific, but it too had seen better days and was sporting some stains.
- Parking: Valet parking is $25/night (waived for Globalists on award stays). It wasn’t often a fast service.
- Resort/Destination Fee: None.
- Internet: Complimentary and good speed throughout the property.
- Service: Weird and, at times, off-putting. The check-in agent placed special emphasis on telling us that, with all the sunshine, we needed to check-out the “beautiful” pool deck. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance. The first morning, housekeeping visited us at the stroke of 8am, despite us having a “do not disturb” sign up AND being in the middle of a three-night stay. Restaurant service was slow and harried, refills were tough to come by and the servers were a bit snappy (probably because they were stressed out). When I ordered a “house” Manhattan at the bar, the bartender gave me a premium whiskey that resulted in a $25 drink (+tax and tip). Car service was slow and, before we checked out, I noticed numerous $3-4 valet charges from on my bill. The charges were taken off, but no one had any idea why they were there in the first place.
- Turndown service: None.
- Dining:
- Roost: Located on the mezzanine level, with one half facing main street and the other facing the atrium. The fire-lined, outdoor patio is sweet, day or night. The food and service? Meh. For elite breakfasts, there is a small a la carte menu, as well as a mediocre buffet. Open M-Fri from 6:30 AM-10:00 AM and 11:00 AM-9:00 PM. Saturdays the hours are 7:00 AM-10:00 AM and 11:00 AM-10:00 PM. Sundays, it’s open all day from 7:00 am-9:00pm, with brunch from 10am-2pm..
- Orb Lounge: Hopping bar located in the center of the atrium. It was taken over by multiple wedding parties the nights that we were there. The only time we bellied-up, I ordered a house Manhattan to take up to the room. My fault for not being specific. The bartender evidently thought that house meant, “pick an expensive one,” and it ended up being a $25 drink. Open daily from 4:00pm-12am.
- Starbucks: Open daily from 6:00am-6:00pm.
- Spa: None. There is a sunny, outdoor pool deck on the 3rd floor behind the fitness center. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance when we were there.
- Fitness Room: One of the smallest fitness centers that I’ve ever seen for a hotel of this size, with a couple ellipticals and treadmills alongside a seemingly random assortment of small free weights. Like the hotel, the cardio equipment had seen better days and was unbalanced, so shook from side to side if you were brave enough to use it.
- Hyatt Globalist Benefits:
- Room Upgrade: We booked a standard room with one king and applied a suite night award to get an upgrade to the 625 sq ft Panorama Suite.
- Free Breakfast: Served in Roost restaurant. The goal is to get you into the breakfast buffet, but there is also a small a la carte menu (most of which comes from the buffet). Average food and service.
- Club Lounge: None.
- Late Checkout: We were given a 4pm checkout upon asking.
- Welcome Amenity: None.
- Would I stay again? Nope. There’s better places to stay in Greenville.
Pros
- Great location at one end of Main Street
- Atrium area has some charm, with multiple water features and a nice bar
- Suites had a lovely dining/lounging area that felt like being in a treehouse
- Great views from the higher floor rooms
Cons
- Rooms (and the property in general) have been roughed up
- Mediocre breakfast
- Service oscillated between inattentive and downright snappy
- Fitness area is tiny and the equipment is poorly-maintained
- Often not a great points value
Image Gallery
Hyatt Regency Greenville Panorama Suite
Roost Restaurant (elite breakfast)
Hyatt Regency Greenville Common Areas
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Breakfast sucks here it was better pre-covid, it’s a bed in a great location at a low cost and a good property overall. I love staying here. Never had housekeeping problems. I think the GM changed recently and I’ve had less problems than I use to.
When I stayed there they charged me for parking and said the hotel did not own the parking garage. We were there during a gymnast convention during covid and they would pack the elevators full. I would cough and say I had covid and they would all push a button to get off. Nice having fun with kids. We have stayed at the Hyatt Place down the street with much better results. Greenville is a great town to walk around. Our last stay was at the new Marriott at the falls bridge. Very nice.
LOL funny I read this review and was like “damn this hotel looks fun!”
Hope to stay there some day. Hyatt elite nights + free Globalist breakfast + confirmable suite upgrades all in humble Greenville SC? I’ll take it!
Heaven forbid they didn’t have a turndown service, the service was inattentive, the free breakfast wasn’t 5*, and they didnt have a spa at the Hyatt Regency. Did you think it was a St Regis or a Waldorf?
Sounds like this might be the first time that you’ve read our hotel reviews. The bulleted points are the same on every review, regardless of if it’s a Ritz-Carlton or a Fairfield Inn. It’s not necessarily meant to suggest that we expect, say, turndown service or a spa at a given property, simply to let readers know what they can expect. If you’d like to read more you can find all our reviews here. Alternatively, you can read about another (better) Hyatt Regency here or about a (relatively) mediocre St Regis here.
Dear Tim, You say, “Service is downright Snappy”…..is that meant in a good way (fast and efficient)? Or do you mean some good ole Southern Sass and atitude?