Hyatt Place Royal Oak Review – Best Location/Deal In Detroit?
A new Hyatt was launched in popular Royal Oak a few weeks ago. It is still technically under a soft opening since it isn’t officially opened until the first of January. I stayed there the week it opened and had reserved two rooms and had a few issues. My parents also stayed there over the holidays and had some issues as well. I attribute this to new staff etc. and once they get them ironed out it will be the best location in Metro Detroit to stay in my opinion.
The hotel averages $175-$200 per night during the week and $125-150 on the weekends. The Hyatt Place Royal Oak is a category one hotel though meaning an award night is only 5,000 points. Points will always be the play at this location!
UPDATE: This has been bumped to a category 2 hotel at 8,000 points per night.
Hyatt Place Royal Oak Review – Location
As stated above the location is in Royal Oak and it is located on Main Street just blocks from all the action of downtown Royal Oak. For those people not familiar with the Detroit area Royal Oak is probably the trendiest night life scene in the Metro Detroit Area. They have clubs, concerts, comedy clubs, bars and restaurants galore. My personal favorite is HopCat – make sure you try the crack fries!
Royal Oak is 20-25 minutes from Downtown Detroit and 30 minutes from the airport. It is also a few miles from swanky Birmingham, hipster haven Ferndale, laid back Clawson, and quaint downtown Berkley. You have a ton of options but you don’t really need to leave Royal Oak unless you want to.
Hyatt Place Royal Oak Review – Check In
Check in is like just about any other Hyatt Place you walk up to the small front desk when you enter the front entrance.
The lobby is very nice though and offers a lot of seating and areas to get work done if you prefer to do it in a social environment instead of your room.
The main issue I have with this location though is that parking is not free. Valet was $30 or $15 for self park when I stayed there. Self parking was $10 when my parents stayed there for some reason. Maybe they are still trying to figure out pricing. DO NOT valet for any reason. The parking lot and garage (2 story garage) are located just behind the hotel. It takes all of two minutes to get into the hotel from the parking lot. Valet does not save you any time really. I know Royal Oak is a desirable place with limited parking but I think charging for it is a mistake and self parking should be free for guests.
Hyatt Place Royal Oak Review – Room
Pretty much all Hyatt rooms are the same throughout the brand. It is one thing I love about them, the consistency. Having said that the Royal Oak location had a unique, to me at least, mini suite where the living room area was separate from the bedroom. Usually the couch has a small partition wall between it and the beds. This room had a hallway between the two with the bathroom in the middle of the hallway. The set up was more like a traditional suite.
The Hyatt Place Royal Oak also has the traditional Hyatt Place rooms, which my friend stayed in. But for the two rooms I booked and for the room I booked for my parents I was given the upgraded room. I am only an Explorist, at least for a few more weeks, and going 3 for 3 in upgrades is pretty great. That is most likely because it is the soft opening and not very busy yet. I expect this hotel to be fully booked often throughout the summer.
Hyatt Place Royal Oak Review – Amenities
The other thing lacking from the Hyatt Place Royal Oak was a pool. Most Hyatt Places have them but this hotel did not. I am guessing the footprint was too small and the land too expensive to “waste” space on a pool.
The Hyatt Place Royal Oak does have a restaurant/bar area (picture at the top of the article), free breakfast for guests who book direct with Hyatt, and a fitness area. I wouldn’t hang out in the restaurant except for one drink before heading out or before heading to your room. There are so many options within 2 blocks there is no need, with a couple options being right outside the front door.
They do have food available 247 but I am not sure how extensive the offerings are.
Hyatt Place Royal Oak Review – Conclusion
The Hyatt Place Royal Oak is a great option if you are ever in the Metro Detroit area. The location is superb, the price is amazing as a category 1 hotel, and the design is very nice. It is probably the second best Hyatt Place I have stayed at.
They do have their service issues for the time being. It took me a long time to check out even though it was an award stay. The desk agent struggled dealing with two rooms and overall they just seemed lost. I am surprised an experienced staff member from a nearby location is not there all the time until they are fully trained. My parents also were given a room that had not been cleaned. They were given a new room and 1 free drink ticket as an apology. Not the best look and pretty stingy on the apology as well.
Overall I would stay again and will most likely put up visiting friends and family there for the night.
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My family lives in Royal Oak and we all wonder about the logistics of putting a hotel in this location. The real estate had to be uber expensive and while R.O. certainly is a hip place to go, we wonder who is traveling there? It isn’t a center of auto related business traveling and those suburbs that are have sufficient lodging available. Seems a little strange but what do we know.
That is true I could see it filling up on the weekends for bar nights or concerts etc. but the business traveler aspect during the week may be a little lacking. I am sure the project was very expensive. They may get some of the bankers from Troy staying there when they come into to town I guess.
We wanted to stay there in October! Obviously it hadn’t opened yet. Thanks for the review
You will have to hit it up next visit!
You need to come to Ann Arbor for a much better night scene.
I have been to Ann Arbor a few times. Matter of personal preference I guess and Royal Oak has a lot more other areas surrounding it vs Ann Arbor. And I don’t believe there are any good points options downtown AA either are there?
There is a fairly new Residence inn in downtown Ann Arbor. (Cat 5, 35000 Marriott points) Also, a new Hyatt place around Briarwood mall, around 3 miles from downtown.