Review: Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill

In a nutshell: the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill was a fun use of a Category 1-7 free night certificate. While it may have been more prudent to wait until a point where we could get even more value out of the free night, it was an enjoyable and comfortable stay in London’s West End. That being said, I’m not sure I’d pay the points for this particular hotel, given the value available at other properties. 

Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill Review

After spending four nights at the Comfort Inn Hyde Park, I decided that we’d splurge on our last night in London and stay at one of the several World of Hyatt properties. I had a Category 1-7 certificate from hitting 60 nights with Hyatt in 2019, and while there are certainly better uses for it around the globe, London has several Category 6 and Category 7 locations. I’d rather burn it when we have a reasonably good use rather than trying to make it work at the last minute in the future.

Booking

Even though it may not have been the very nicest hotel available to us, staying at the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill was the best option for us. Based on searching the Hyatt website, it would be the best for accommodating one adult and two kids. Plugging three people into the search limited the results, and reviewing the options further led me to the Hyatt Regency as the best choice.

Plus, we would be able to eat both dinner and breakfast in the Regency Club. I used the certificate for one night that was going for over £270 (over $350 USD), which is a fine value in my opinion. Just a week before our stay however, the hotel sold out of all rooms except the Royal Suite. This was being offered for over £1,500, so I’d like to say I got $2,000 of value out of my certificate. 😉

Checking Into the Hyatt Regency London

We took the Central line just a couple stops from Queensway and  walked the couple blocks to the Hyatt Regency. The hotel faces Portman Square, just a couple blocks north of the city’s affluent Mayfair district.

The hotel has a stately lobby with multiple paintings of it’s namesake prime minister adorning the walls. We were warmly greeted by the lady at the check-in desk. She informed us that they were able to upgrade us to a park view room, but due to the occupancy rate of the hotel, all the suites were currently occupied. 

I mean, I could have asked for the Royal Suite since this was the only available room remaining online. But I find it tacky to badger the desk into an upgrade unless it is really necessary. If offered, I’ll take it. But to request it? This would have been way over the top. A room with a king bed and a roll-away will do perfectly fine.

Park View Room

We headed up to our room which was indeed facing Portman Square. A standard room isn’t all that large, but like all Hyatt Regencys I’ve visited, they are plenty comfortable. Standard and club rooms are 270-290 square feet in size.

The desk features both British and European outlet types. Sadly, there are no U.S. plugs. But we had an adapter so all was fine. The corner featured a second chair and tiny table.

The kids were quite excited to find a welcome gift in the room. There were two bags on M&Ms and a bottle of wine provided, as well as a handwritten card from a hotel manager. Personal touches like this really go a long way, and Hyatt seems to understand this better than other chains.

I requested a roll-away bed to brought to the room while I was at the front desk. We weren’t there when it arrived, but it was set up nicely when we returned for the night.

Rooms at the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill provide complimentary coffee and tea. My main complaint about upscale hotel coffee in Great Britain and Europe is that you end up with instant Nescafe (or similar) at least 90% of the time. This just doesn’t cut it for me.

There were also several snacks and a lightly stocked minibar. All these items were for purchase, and my were the prices ridiculous.

The bathroom was very nice. It featured an overhead rain shower, which is my favorite style. If there is one thing I can’t abide in upscale or luxury hotels, it is a bad shower. This is something they should have nailed down.

Contrasting this, I really don’t know what to do with fancy toilets. From the heated seat, to the bidet settings, it’s far more complicated that it needs to be. Just give me a flush lever.

Our room had a decent view of the park, but the windows were quite dirty.

A couple other touches during your stay include a copy of the New York Times delivered in a bag in the morning. I hardly read the newspaper, but I did on this occasion, waiting for the kids to wake up.

Overall, standard rooms at the Hyatt Regency are very nice. There now “wow factor,” but the hotel offers a very comfortable stay in an excellent location.

Regency Club Dinner and Breakfast

Part of the draw of using the certificate at the Hyatt Regency (besides the occupancy issues at other properties) is the fact that we could enjoy both dinner and breakfast for free in the Regency Club as Globalist guests. Dinner features cold options, including a salad bar, cheese and cold cuts, a selection of bread, and crackers and fruit. It’s not the best I’ve seen from a Regency Club, but there was more than enough to choose from.

The bar was self-serve, with a number of wine options and other drinks in the coolers.

The Club was quite busy during dinner, and we only found seats at the very back of the lounge. The kids were excited to enjoy fruit, cheese, and crackers for dinner rather than having dad drag them out to enjoy some Indian food. Which I had done the night before. Oh, my un-adventurous children. 😉

In the morning, the Regency Club lounge offers a decent breakfast spread. You have all the makings of a full English, with the exception of mushrooms and black pudding. But eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, toast, and tomatoes are all options. 

Beyond that there is a small salad bar, cold cuts, pastries, and fruit. It’s a very typical lounge breakfast spread.

Coffee is unfortunately from a machine, which I find to be hit or miss. In this case, it was downright terrible. I’d much rather a hotel make brewed coffee that is actually decent.

We arrived rather early in the morning, and the Club was still quiet, which was a nice change from the evening before. For a hotel the size of The Churchill, I don’t find the Regency Club to be especially large. My guess would be that it gets extremely crowded if they have many elite guests.

We didn’t head down and check out the restaurant options at all, so I can’t provide any insight there. I can say that the Churchill Bar and Terrace on the ground floor does look very inviting, and the “Shades of Winston Churchill” menu is rather unique.

Neighborhood

We didn’t explore much of London’s West End beyond Gloucester Place and Baker Street, close to the hotel. You can be to the corner of Hyde Park within minutes on foot and take a stroll down Park Lane to see the many other luxury hotels in the neighborhood. The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street is also maybe a 15-minute walk, up toward Regent’s Park.

In general, the neighborhood is an upscale residential one, with lots of Georgian architecture, shopping, and a plenty of restaurants.

The Verdict: Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill

As with pretty much all upscale and luxury hotel stays, my feelings about the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill are mixed. The rooms are very comfortable, the location excellent, and the food and beverage in the lounge very good (except for the coffee). All the staff we interacted with were very pleasant, and the personal touch in the room was appreciated. Overall, it was a very nice stay.

Yet there is the side of me that always finds these sorts of stays to be too much. Would I ever pay the typical cash rates to stay here? Definitely not. Would I ever spend the points to stay here (at 25,000 per night)? Unlikely. Was it a good use of our certificate? Sure. But I probably could have gotten better.

Coming off our stay at the Comfort Inn Hyde Park, it hit me how much the value of an experience factors into my perception. I enjoyed the previous stay, even through problems, as it was such a fantastic award value for my Choice points. I was willing to put up with a small room and inoperable television. Here, that might have killed the stay.

I guess my final assessment is that if you have the points or certificates to spend and are looking for an upscale stay, the Hyatt Regency London -The Churchill is a good choice. For us, it was an enjoyable night at a fancy hotel, but somewhere I doubt we’ll ever return.