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ToP reviews the Grand Hyatt Washington, the Hyatt property with the most convenient location for visiting the National Mall, most museums, and downtown DC.

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ToP reviews the Grand Hyatt Washington, the Hyatt property with the most convenient location for visiting the National Mall, most museums, and downtown DC.
Travel on Point(s) is an independent, advertising-supported website. This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites like Cardratings.com. This compensation does not impact how or where products appear on this site. Travel on Point(s) has not reviewed all available credit card offers on this site. Reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any partner entities.

The Grand Hyatt Washington is Hyatt's best-located property for DC visitors looking to stay downtown or visit the monuments along the National Mall. This hotel is extremely popular for large conferences and conventions, featuring tons of meeting space. All these events can cause demand to surge, but with nearly 900 rooms, you can usually still snag a room no matter how busy. While the hotel isn't particularly fancy and the rooms are becoming a bit dated, the Grand Hyatt Washington is still a great option for Hyatt loyalists visiting DC.

Booking

The Grand Hyatt Washington is a category 4 property. Award nights cost 12,000 points off-peak, 15,000 points for standard nights, and 18,000 points for peak nights. Since this is a category 4 property, you can redeem category 1-4 certificates for this hotel.

Cash rates typically run around the mid-$200s to mid-$300s. Of course, when demand is higher due to big events, rooms can reach as high as $600 per night.

If you want to book this hotel on points but don't have World of Hyatt points, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt.

Location & Transportation

On the corner of 11th and H Streets NW, the Grand Hyatt Washington is very well located for those who need to be in downtown DC. The hotel is a couple of blocks away from Capital One Arena, where you can catch hockey and basketball games as well as big concerts. An Uber or Lyft ride from Reagan National Airport costs less than $30 without traffic.

The hotel is also next to the Metro Center stop on the DC Metro. In fact, you can access the subway stop from the Grand Hyatt's lobby without ever leaving the building. When facing the elevator bank, there is a set of glass doors to the right that lead into an adjacent office building lobby that has its own entrance to the Metro. Access to the subway without exposure to the elements can be clutch during peak DC summer months, as well as in the winter. Metro Center features the red, blue, and orange lines of the Metro. The blue line takes you to Reagan National Airport.

The National Mall and most of the Smithsonian museums are within walking distance. The hotel is also just a short walk from the White House.

Check-In

The massive lobby offers many different seating areas for guests to congregate. From the lobby, you can access one of the hotel's restaurants, a Starbucks, a couple of souvenir shops, and the check-in desk and concierge desk.

Multiple check-in desks means you rarely have to wait long to check in.

The hotel has six check-in counters and at least three counters are typically staffed, meaning you rarely have to wait much for assistance. As expected, World of Hyatt elite members have a dedicated line. I consistently find the elite member line staffed.

The Grand Hyatt Washington's massive lobby.

The Grand Hyatt's lobby is typically bustling with activity due to the many conventions and meetings it regularly hosts.

At check-in, Globalist members receive a sheet of paper with information about the Grand Club lounge, located on the 12th floor.

Rooms

The Grand Hyatt Washington has 897 rooms, including 26 suites. This is a pretty small suite-to-room ratio for a hotel this size. The rooms face either the exterior of the hotel or the hotel's large atrium.

The hotel has 6 elevators servicing all 12 floors. It often seems like not all of the elevators are working. Guests usually have to wait a while and when an elevator finally does arrive, we stop at almost every floor. A few of the elevators have been renovated, so here's hoping that things improve once the remaining elevators are renovated as well. But for now, I'm inclined to ask for a room in a lower floor and save myself some time going forward.

The rooms are ample and comfortable, but nothing extraordinary. The backlighting above the beds is a neat feature that helps give a more modern feel to the room. The headboards have multiple outlets, making it easy to keep all your devices charged. Meanwhile, the rooms all have a work desk, which is a bit smaller in the rooms with two double beds. Rooms also have a small coffee maker and an empty fridge for guests to use.

The rooms are quite spacious. Those with just one bed have a large working desk.

The bathrooms are quite industrial and a bit dated. Perhaps the biggest offender here is the toilet, which is exactly the type you'd find at a rest stop or your local dive bar. That said, the bathrooms are clean and functional. They are well-stocked with Balmain toiletries and other amenities, and the hotel staff is typically quick to provide any items you may have forgotten, like toothbrushes or shaving kits.

The bathrooms are dated but well-stocked with toiletries.

Overall, the rooms are beginning to show wear and tear. Chips and deep scratches on the furniture are not uncommon.

Nonetheless, the rooms are comfortable and clean, making it a fine place to spend the night during a busy trip to DC, whether for work or fun.

Dining

The hotel has two restaurants: Cure Bar & Bistro and Cabinet. Cabinet serves breakfast and is located one level below the lobby. Globalists do not receive complimentary breakfast at Cabinet since they have access to the Grand Club lounge, which also serves breakfast.

Cure Bar & Bistro is located in the lobby and serves lunch and dinner. The restaurant also features a bar. The bar is usually pretty full due to the constant flow of conferences and meetings. With so many excellent restaurant options in the neighborhood, visitors are better served exploring those options instead.

The hotel also has a Starbucks in the lobby. Customers can access the Starbucks from the lobby or from H Street.

Lounge

The Grand Club lounge is located on the 12th floor and open to Globalists. The lounge serves breakfast, snacks throughout the day, appetizers in the evening, and dessert at night. Alcohol is also available for purchase.

The Grand Club lounge is open to Globalists and located on the 12th floor, near the elevators.

Breakfast usually offers plenty of variety, including fruit and yogurt options, cereal, muesli, some pastries, scrambled eggs, egg frittata, and bacon and sausages. Snacks during the day include cereal bars, fruit, trail mix, cereal, yogurt, and hardboiled eggs. Evening appetizers are usually sliders, a warm pasta dish, pita, hummus, chicken salad, tuna salad, cut vegetables, a couple of cheese and cured meat options, and a vegetarian sandwich option. I recently found out that the pita chips are actually made in-house. Dessert options at night usually include small pastries, a couple of baked goods, and cookies.

The Grand Club offers different food throughout the day. The evening appetizer (pictured) include house-made pita chips and sliders.

Alcohol prices aren't bad, and certainly cheaper than at the hotel bar or any other bar nearby. A light beer costs $4. Wine pours cost either $2, $5, $7, or $11 depending on the wine and the size of the pour. The liquor options are also pretty good are roughly within that same price range.

The lounge has multiple seating areas and seldom gets crowded. Breakfast tends to be the busiest period.

The service at the lounge is excellent. The staff is friendly and attentive, quick to clear dirty dishes, and regularly check in on guest needs.

Other

This large hotel has 42,000 square feet of event space. Most of the meeting space is located in the lower levels underneath the lobby, where a true maze of hallways and escalators connect several rooms of varying sizes. The event space is quite modern and more up to date than the guest rooms. There is also a FedEx store one level beneath the lobby.

The gym is located a few levels beneath the lobby. Finding the gym is half the battle as you navigate two escalators and another set of stairs. Nonetheless, the gym is spacious and offers everything most folks would need for a workout on the road.

The gym has plenty of space and equipment for a quick workout while on the road.

Final Thoughts

The Grand Hyatt Washington's biggest appeal is convenience. The hotel's location can't be beat for Hyatt loyalists looking to tour the National Mall and its museums while still being close to great restaurants. Being adjacent to a Metro stop is also a huge plus. The Grand Club lounge is also a good resource for quick snacks throughout the date. All these qualities make it easy to live with the dated rooms.

Travel on Point(s) has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Travel on Point(s) and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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