Review: Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach – Fully Open After Renovation
In this review: Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach. This hotel has been completely renovated, and it’s now fully open. How was the experience? What’s the property like now? And how is the staff? I’ll cover all of that and more. Bottom line up front in this review: Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach is a really nice hotel. I’d stay here again.
Booking Process
This is a category 3 property. We used 12,000 points per night for the 3 nights we stayed here. The cash price for a standard “1 King Bed” room was $180 per night (World of Hyatt member rate) when we stayed. That’s a value of 1.5 cents per point, which is average for our valuation of Hyatt points.
Our upgraded room, “1 King Bed Deluxe” was $197 per night, providing even better value.
Because I have Globalist status, we booked the reservation in my name.
Simple truth: we booked this hotel because I haven’t seen any reviews after its full reopening. There are tons of reviews of the nearby Hyatt Regency, so my curiosity led us here. Why does it get so little attention? I had to find out.
Review: Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach – The Property
In my review of Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach, we’ll start with the property. Where is it, what’s there, and how’s the room?
Location
Lobby
I like that they used a lot of natural light in the front, but there’s ample lighting further into the lobby where the light fades out. There’s plenty of seating, but it doesn’t feel “stuffed”.
Something I found really cool was this table in the front corner of the lobby. It has a ton of outlets for charging your devices while working. Great concept.
Public Areas
Inside Watercraft, there’s ample seating. This is also the breakfast location, open 6am-1pm. It has hot teas and coffees plus bagels and things you’d find at a Starbucks. There’s also a grab-n-go section with lots of options.
Continuing straight ahead through the lobby, there’s a small business center. 2 free computers allow you to check in and print boarding passes or tickets for events.
Continuing ahead, doors on the right lead to an outdoor area. We had our breakfast here every morning after getting take away from the Watercraft.
After this, also on the right side, is the fitness center. While the hotel website still says it’s closed, it’s open.
This is because California fully reopened while we were there. Thus, the fitness center and restaurant restrictions on our first day were gone on days 2 and 3.
Between the Watercraft and the business center, there’s a water station and an ATM in front of the elevators. The elevators sit directly across from the reception desk.
The rooftop pool is obviously the best part of the public areas at the Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach. They serve drinks, appetizers, and snacks poolside.
There’s a rinse-off shower near the elevators.
Views from the rooftop are great. You can see the marina and nearby shops. Behind the shops, the tall-ish tower is the Hyatt Regency Long Beach.
Access To Guest Areas
To reach the rooftop or the guest floors, you need to use your guest key within the elevator. You can access only your floor and the rooftop. The doors to the elevators are cool.
The hallways, though…
The hallways really bring out the aquatic/naval theme. We loved it. This hotel is really cool.
We had room 704, which is the top guest floor. 8 is the pool/rooftop.
Guest Room
While not huge, the guest room is a fair size. We were upgraded to the 1 King Bed Deluxe room. It feature a king-sized bed, obviously.
Across the room, there is an L-shaped couch and coffee table. The part of the couch that sticks out is not built in. You can move it, then the couch folds out into a bed.
There are also a lamp and table on the sides of the couch.
Bed
Each side of the bed has a night stand. My side also had a small cushion thing to sit on with it, plus a phone and a small alarm clock. On my wife’s side, her night stand had 2 big drawers and a lamp.
A great feature is that each night stand had a built-in outlet & 2 USB charging points.
Closet
Immediately next to the door, there is a storage / cubby area above a safe and 2 drawers. Next to this is the closet.
The closet has extra bedding, hangers, an iron & ironing board, and a luggage rack.
Next to the closet, there is a small mirror built into the wall.
Views
While nothing special, the view from our room did show the marina in the distance. The room had large windows next to the bed and some medium-sized windows next to the couch.
Bathroom
Nearly half of the bathroom was the large walk-in shower.
You could use the handheld option or the rainfall option. While the shower is really large, I will point out that it doesn’t mean a lot when the water is only in the front 1/3 of it.
The toiletries had a nice citrus scent. We liked them.
The other half of the bathroom has the toilet and sink. There is a fair amount of counter space next to the sink. The light around the mirror is on a separate control from the overhead light.
Under the sink, there is a non-slip mat for the shower, a make-up mirror, and a hair dryer. There’s also a spare roll of toilet paper. Not a bad idea!
The door to the bathroom is a sliding door, which maximizes space in the room.
Room Amenities & Internet
It includes a mini fridge, ice bucket, storage areas, and free coffee + coffee machine.
While nearly every hotel room has a TV these days, we thought this room really set itself apart here.
You can completely turn the TV toward the couch or toward the bed to watch it in your preferred spot. I’ll admit it takes a bit of effort. You have to push/pull hard, but I didn’t want to to push on the frame of the TV and crack it. That takes a bit of finesse to use force without using force.
Near the window, there’s a trash & recycling bin. On the wall, there’s a large unit for the central air.
The touch screen air controls were super easy to use. The system worked as expected.
Overall Thoughts On The Room
We really liked this room. The theme, the amenities, the layout. We liked how they packed a lot into the room without it feel cramped or tacky.
Parking
The hotel does not offer on-site parking. Parking is in this nearby structure in the middle of the photo. Thus, you can’t charge it to your room, and they can’t offer free parking to Globalists.
Review: Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach – Staff
Now that we’ve seen the property, it’s time for the next part of the review: Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach staff members. How were the people who worked here? Bad staff can ruin a great hotel. Luckily, that wasn’t the case.
Prior To Arrival
We did not receive any communication from the hotel prior to arrival.
Check In
The employee who checked us in was really friendly and set the tone for our stay. No one greeted us at the door, so he was our first impression. He was friendly and informative. He asked if we had a car (no), so he could give us info if needed.
We received this welcome letter outlining the hours of various services and their cleaning policies. You can choose what time of day you’d like housekeeping, but we declined it. For just 3 days, it’s not necessary for us.
The friendly employee also thanked me for my loyalty as a Globalist and gave us our 2 free waters for the day. Something I haven’t seen before is that the waters came with these cookies.
Lastly, as a Globalist, he told us that we could have a free drink and free breakfast item at the Watercraft each day. Charge it to the room, then the hotel would erase it from our room bill.
During The Stay
Throughout our stay, our interactions were primarily with the front desk staff and the Watercraft employee. We found them all really friendly.
Each day, we asked for our daily bottles of water at the front desk. We also asked for information about some activities and what time we should leave for our flight on the last day. The employees were all friendly and helpful.
The sole employee at the breakfast marketplace (Watercraft) was friendly. He’s the type of person who tries to act like he’s your best friend from the first time you say hello. It’s “friendly” but it comes off a bit strange. Service was prompt and efficient each day.
Check Out
At check out, we confirmed that our bill was $0. Other than that, we just dropped our keys in the box and said goodbye. It was very simple and efficient. Again, the employee was very friendly and helpful.
Final Thoughts
We liked this hotel a lot. If I’m back in Long Beach, I’d easily stay here again. I get that the Hyatt Regency is closer to the ocean, but the Hyatt Centric has a lot of character. The nautical theme is really cool. Employees are friendly and helpful. The rooftop pool and other amenities offer great value. I never stayed here prior to the renovation, but I’ve talked to those who have, and they say it looks great.
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