Thomas

Nov 3, 2024

Hyatt Place in Newark, California: Want to be bitten by bugs? Stay here!

This is specifically related to the new Hyatt Place Newark/Silicon Valley, California. Other Hyatt properties have mostly been fine, other than this one and another Hyatt Place a couple of miles away (Hyatt Place - Fremont California) which is also sub-par. I have stayed at many Hyatt properties in the Bay Area, most of which have been excellent. Not these two. As for the Newark, CA property, I had an initial visit a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I was bitten by bugs of some kind, with very very visible marks. The room also had a somewhat putrid odor. I am not one to make a scene, so I very politely and simply mentioned it upon departure. I initially asked if the general manager was around and was told by the front desk that they do not have a general manager on-site and basically operate on their own. So, instead I just mentioned the situation to a front desk supervisor. I did not ask for a refund nor was I agitated. Her response was really quite rude. She said: “Thanks for letting me know” in an “I don’t really care” style. End of conversation. Fast-forward to this past week. I stayed again and, as it turned out, I was given the same room. However, I travel a lot and did not remember the room number from the initial stay. The following day I noticed actual insects crawling around, including on the bedding and the room again smelled horrible. I called the front desk and the night shift gentleman was extremely helpful and brought keys to a new room. When I opened the door the first thing he said was: “Oh wow, this room does smell terrible.” He was very nice and helpful. Again I had some insect bites and also, the room was not properly cleaned, which was really pretty distasteful and ridiculous. Fortunately, I took a bunch of pictures to show the management in an effort to be helpful but once again, I was told there were no management personnel on-site. Anyway, I paid the bill and left, after again letting the front desk know. As you can see, there was no rancor on my part nor did I decline to pay. It is, however, an odd way for them to treat a major Hyatt frequent traveler with well more than a million lifetime Hyatt points across family accounts. Interestingly, I also had exchanged emails immediately prior to the stay with a member of their sales team about some upcoming groupings that I was interested in talking with her about. Obviously, I am not going to stay there, much less book any colleagues or groups at this place. My advice: Stay at and, in general trust Hyatt brands domestically and internationally, as I have. You will most often have a very good experience most of the time. But, STAY AWAY or, use abundant caution when it comes to this hotel and also, the Hyatt Place two miles away in Fremont, California. These two properties most certainly do not reflect Hyatt’s usual level of quality and customer care. And, should you happen to book these properties being a ton of cleaning supplies and some insecticide or alternatively, some medication to put on your insect bites.