A New Hyatt Place Strategy
Hyatt and specifically their limited service Hyatt Place brand has been expanding a lot lately. While the growth is noticeable, the company seemingly focuses on building properties in major cities. Just about every small town along a highway will have a Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, etc. but you really don’t see Hyatt Place locations outside of population centers in the United States.
Internationally Hyatt Place locations are starting to gain traction too and while there is an occasional “exotically located” property in China or this amazing looking Hyatt Place in Armenia, for the most part they have stuck to the same strategy. Build Hyatt Place properties in population centers with a lot of business need.
With 277 Hyatt Place locations in the United States, perhaps its time for the company to expand beyond major cities. A few months ago a rather remote Hyatt Place opened in Delano, CA that piqued my interest. Never heard of Delano? That’s because it is a small farm town (about 50K people) in between Bakersfield and Fresno. It sits off of CA-99 which is one of the major North-South routes in the state, but it very much is in the middle of farm country.
Last year I was in this area a few times and had to stay at Marriott/Hilton properties including a terrible Doubletree in Bakersfield where I saw one of the biggest insects I have ever encountered! Last week I once again had to pass through, so I was DELIGHTED to try out this new Hyatt Place. And it truly brings the “rural” roadside hotel experience to a new level.
Hyatt Place Delano Review
The Hyatt Place Delano shows off Hyatt’s newest product when it comes to this brand. It’s very clean, very modern and dare I say attractive?!? While I loathe the old Hyatt Place locations which were converted from Amerisuites, I really do love these new Hyatt Place properties. In some cases they are nicer than older full service hotels under the Hyatt umbrella.
Hyatt Place Delano Review – The Room
For one night the Hyatt Place Delano cost 5,000 World of Hyatt points, however I received 1,500 points back as part of two promotions currently going on bringing my out of pocket cost to just 3,500 points. Not bad considering the base room rate was $116 plus tax. For that amount we got a pretty typical but nice Hyatt Place room with 2 queen beds and a view of the shopping center across the street.
Hyatt Place Delano Review – Amenities
The Hyatt Place Delano also has some cool amenities in case you want to hang out in this small farming town. The hotel has a very nice pool, a patio area to chill and a well equipped fitness center along with meeting spaces. I suspect the Hyatt Place Delano will become very popular on this route for anyone who goes through the area a lot.
Of course Hyatt Place also includes free breakfast and this property’s offerings were above average. They had a nice spread of both hot and cold items and the staff was working hard to keep everything fresh. We were in a bit of a rush to get out so we only grabbed some fruit, but it looked like a decent way to start your day.
Conclusion
While I don’t generally highlight Hyatt Place properties, I think this one deserves it. Not only does it offer Hyatt’s compelling new Hyatt Place product, it is seemingly the first (if not one of the first) Hyatt Place properties in the U.S. which isn’t located in a huge city. As someone who loves road trips, I hope a lot more of these pop up in more remote locations.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
The Hyatt Place in Tijuana has quickly become one of my favorite spots to stay when I’m in the border region.
Best midscale brand, hands down. I’m been so happy with our couple stays. And they are so incredibly affordable in terms of points, most being Category 1 and 2 properties.
Hyatt Place is just so boring and so sterile..oh and that absolutely gross smell ever Hyatt Place has when you walk in…I wish it would go!
Many old properties have a deign I actually cant even tolerate. The Air conditioner is DIRECTLY next to the bed. Its leave it on and have a Window Air conditioner blowing on you all night OR turn it off and sweat it out.
New builds do seem to have central AC. Either way.. clean but too boring.
Another nice one in a smaller area is Dewey Beach, DE. We have stayed there a few nights over the last couple years and enjoyed the location a lot.