To kick off my trip to Dubai, I spent one night at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport. The hotel is awesome for the simple fact that it’s located inside the terminal, so there’s no need to wait on a shuttle bus to get to & from the hotel. Admittedly the hotel is able to charge a premium for that, but I find it to be worthwhile. While otherwise not as exciting as the Grand Hyatt SFO, this is an excellent airport hotel.
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Booking the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport
The Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport is a Category 4 World of Hyatt property, meaning that a standard room free night redemption costs 12,000-18,000 points per night. For the night I was staying there was the “standard” pricing, and I redeemed a Category 1-4 free night award.
Personally I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, just as a point of reference, so that means I paid the equivalent of ~$225 per night. The cash rate for my night was $350+, so redeeming points was the better value.
Even if you’re not a Hyatt loyalist, earning World of Hyatt points can be pretty easy. In addition to being able to earn World of Hyatt points with the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review), you can also transfer over points from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport location
I mentioned this above, but you really can’t beat the location of the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport, as it’s located inside the terminal. The hotel takes up the floors immediately above the central landside concourse, and you can even see the security lines from the hotel.
If you’re arriving off a flight, just follow the signage toward the hotel.
Then go to the area of the terminal where you see the elevators to the hotel, and then you can either take one of the elevators up, or you can take the escalator. The lobby is on the fourth floor.
I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate an airport hotel that doesn’t require relying on an airport shuttle. Airport hotel shuttles are notoriously unreliable, and I feel like half the time it ends up taking me an hour to get to the hotel. It’s worth paying a premium to avoid that, in my opinion.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport lobby & check-in
I arrived at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport at around 2AM (thanks, JetBlue, for the delay), and was immediately helped at check-in. The front desk associate told me I had been upgraded to a room on a high floor with a runway view, and that I’d receive complimentary breakfast as a Globalist member. I also requested 4PM late check-out, which was granted.
The lobby has plenty of seating, and from 5PM until 12AM daily that turns into a lobby bar (though I didn’t visit it, since that didn’t overlap with the hours of my stay).
The lobby also has a couple of PCs and a printer.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport king bed room
I was assigned room 1003, a king bed room on the 10th floor (the highest floor) with runway views. Upon exiting the elevator on the 10th floor, it was one of the first rooms on the right.
For an airport Hyatt Regency, I thought the room design was great, and I imagine it had been renovated in the past few years. The room had a comfortable king size bed (though I wish Hyatt hotels had bigger pillows), a couch with a coffee table, a desk with a chair, and a wall-mounted TV.
The room had an empty mini-fridge, a coffee machine with Keurig pods, and two bottles of water.
The room didn’t have a real closet, but rather had an exposed rack near the entrance, where you could hang things.
The bathroom had a sink, a shower & tub combo, and a toilet.
Toiletries were from Pharmacopia, as is standard at Hyatt Regency properties.
The room had an (unfurnished) balcony overlooking part of the airside terminal and runway in the distance.
I thought this was a great room, all things considered. Wi-Fi was of course free as a World of Hyatt member, and was fast.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport McCoy’s Bar & Grill (breakfast)
McCoy’s Bar & Grill is the Hyatt Regency’s all-day dining restaurant, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As an avgeek I appreciated the name — Orlando’s airport code is “MCO” because it stands for McCoy Air Force Base, which was the original name of the airport, before it closed as a military airport in 1975.
I also liked all the model airplanes in a display case outside the restaurant.
The decor of the restaurant as such was rather unremarkable. Unfortunately it didn’t feature much in the way of apron or runway views.
I had breakfast at the restaurant, and it’s served daily from 7AM until 11AM (personally I find 7AM to be a late start for breakfast at an airport hotel, but I’m also weird, so…). As a Globalist member I could order offer the menu.
I started with some (really hot) coffee and a glass of water.
Then I ordered the avocado toast with a side of scrambled eggs and fruit. It was excellent, and a huge portion.
By the way, even if you don’t want a full breakfast, the hotel offers complimentary coffee & tea in the lobby each morning.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport other dining options
The Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport also has Hemisphere Restaurant, which is open from 5PM until 10PM Tuesdays through Saturdays (find the menu here). It’s on the ninth floor, and as a result has great airport views. It was closed while I visited, but I remember the last time I stayed at this hotel (years ago), breakfast was served up there.
The hotel also has a variety of drinks and snacks for purchase at the front desk, and they were oddly reasonably priced — a Diet Pepsi cost $1.50, as did a KIND bar. I feel like most other places would try to charge at least twice as much.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport gym
The Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport’s gym is on the sixth floor, and can be accessed 24/7 with your key card. The gym had a pretty good variety of both cardio and weight equipment, and I enjoyed using it in the afternoon prior to checking out.
Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport pool
The Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport also has an outdoor pool along with plenty of seating on the sixth floor, which you don’t often see at an airport hotel. There was some construction going on around the pool, but it didn’t seem to get in the way of being able to use it.
Bottom line
The Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport is an incredibly convenient airport hotel. It’s located inside the terminal, and has nicely renovated rooms, a gym & pool, and a solid restaurant. If you have a reason you want to stay near Orlando Airport, you can’t beat the convenience of this place.
If you’ve stayed at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport, what was your experience like?
