We just returned from the Hyatt and loved it. This was our second trip to Aruba - stayed at the Marriott last time and liked the Hyatt much better. The lobby and grounds have a wonderful feel. The resort is large but not overly so and functions like a more intimate property. The outdoor bar is close to pool AND beach plus there is a swim up bar to handle the pool crowd.

One thing I liked was the furniture in lobby, around outdoor bar, etc. All of the seating is large and definitely designed to encourage groups to sit and visit,drink, eat, etc. There was also plenty of it.

Service and staff were excellent. I have no complaints. In fact, every day as I left for the beach, I noticed three housekeepers on my floor preparing to clean for the day. Front desk was always helpful.

Ate at the new restaurant Mexicado which was very good. Great guacamole and good entrees. I recommend.

One place I think the Hyatt needs to give attention is the pool/beach bathroom. There is only one bathroom for the entire pool/beach area/outdoor bar/palms restaurant(at lower level). As you can imagine, this is a busy place. The whole 8 days we were there, one toilet was out of service and one of the soap dispensers never worked. The bathroom was cleaned with regularity which was great - no complaints - but it could use one of those automatic air fresheners. The smell was never terrible but was not great either. An air freshener would help.

Great location. You can walk out the front door and visit local restaurants, shopping, etc. I really liked this aspect of the hotel.

I definitely recommend the Hyatt!

The good: The white sandy beach was beautiful. Although there's a lot of activity there (boats, jet skis, etc) it was lovely and there seemed to be plenty of room for everyone. The grounds are beautiful and there are lots of lovely places to relax, including the open air lobby, which is a nice place to sit and have a drink. We used the spa & were surprised at how good the service was. The room was also a bonus. We booked the sunset suite and got a room on the 6th floor. The views were phenomenal. Stunning ocean views, even from the bed. The room was spacious, bed was comfy & the bathroom was large and updated. We've heard a few people complain that there's no tub but we had a rainshower and enjoyed it very much. The water was beautiful. There were a few places where there's muck or seaweed on the ground but most of where we swam was lovely & sandy, and we could see that they were very diligent about keeping the beach clean.

Most rooms only have what is described as a balconette where you could stand outside but we had a fairly roomy balcony to sit and enjoy the views. The grounds and interior of the hotel were impeccably clean. The pools were very nice and the two hot tubs are set away in a quiet location away from the pools, which I thought was a nice touch. There are diving classes that are taught sometimes in the pool, which seems a little disruptive but we just came back another time. I also liked that part of the pool had shade.

The bad:

The noise. I have to ask why a luxury hotel would think it beneficial, for example, to blast bingo games over the loudspeaker each lunchtime? Yes, there are a few children playing bingo near the pool but they could gather them around a table and play instead of disturbing everyone on the whole grounds. Crazy! We were on the 6th floor and could hear it & it was very annoying & it kept us from the pool bar. Similarly, the little bar at the end of the pier blasts loud (and bad) music each night. I thought it was tacky & it definitely took away from relaxing. There are places that are for that & I just didn't expect a Hyatt to be one of them.

The food was overpriced & nothing special but we kind of expected that. One day at lunch one of the big iguanas jumped up to the table next to us and freaked out their kids, which I found a little unsettling. Apparently the waitstaff feed them lettuce to keep them at bay and someone had forgotten to do so. We would have eaten there throughout the rest of our stay if it had not been for that. The waitstaff at the little outdoor place by the bar was very good (not so for some of the very slow Palms staff and the very talkative guy at the new Mexican restaurant, who seemed big on trying to get us to buy tequila shots). Also, despite having the privacy sign up at our door we kept getting knocks from housekeeping. I guess they want to earn their tip but it's a little bothersome when you just want complete downtime.

Hints:

* Reserve a palapa. It's pricey but better than waking up early to hold one. And you definitely want some full shade. It gets very hot! They tend to run out of floats but you can rent one for just $5 at the little tent nearby.
* Having a room that had club floor access was very handy. They had a good complimentary continental breakfast and also some light snacks and wine in the early evening. There's also a computer on the club floor. Again, the TV was blaring though. I have no idea why people think they need to have noise to entertain people. We were looking for a relaxing getaway.
* Get a room with an ocean view on a high floor. It's definitely worth it. Hearing the ocean when you woke up was lovely too. I just wish they didn't feel compelled to blast noise at other times. It definitely took away from the experience. We would have returned had it not been for that.
* I'd ask the hotel to bring up a chaise lounge or two for the balcony. There's room for one & it would be nice to have. When the music isn't blaring & bingo isn't going on, the balcony is a great place to relax.

I've never written a review, but feel compelled to do so while I'm even still at the Hyatt and have a day and a half to go. My husband and I go on one 4-day vacation every year, and we really look forward to it. This is our first time at the Hyatt, first time in Aruba. As other reviews mentioned, the Hyatt is a gorgeous hotel in a great location.The rooms are nice and modern, and we have a magnificent view. Also, as mentioned, everything in the hotel is incredibly expensive.

There is something to be said for "getting what you pay for." We've stayed in nice places before, and aside from having to get up early to get a spot at the pool or on the beach (which seems common in any warm climate vacation resort), we got "what we paid for:" a nice visit, clean room, staff that was sometimes there, sometimes had to be tracked down, but never absent, etc. We are certainly not getting what we paid for at the Hyatt.

Anything you use or eat or touch is for a charge. If you want to sit on the beach, you pay $35 a day. Nothing is complimentary. You buy Wifi while you're here, and if you need to use Wifi on your computer and then your phone or iPad, you have to log out of one and switch to the other. In other words, my husband and I could not work at the same time, because only one person can use the internet on one device at a time. You can pay more money to get Wifi on another device, and that's what we had to do. If you want to buy your own food at a grocery store (for less money) and store it in the refrigerator, you pay a $50 re-stocking fee for taking anything out of the minibar/fridge...My husband went to eat breakfast yesterday and asked for yogurt. The servers suggested he get the "Continental Breakfast" in order to get yogurt, and he wound up paying $25 for it...and the list goes on.

We ate at the Hyatt's Ruinas Del Mar restaurant the first night we were here. The setting is beautiful. The outdoor seating area is situated on a pond with fish and turtles swimming right up to your feet. The food was ok, but within 12 hours I was up with a fever, throwing up my whole dinner. I had a fever the entire next day, knocking out a whole day of our vacation.

Having had to stay in the room the entire day, I was hoping for someone to come spruce it up. The housekeeper did not make it down the hall until 2:30pm. Today, my husband and I were at the beach from 9am-4pm. Housekeeping staff did not even make it down the hall to our room by then, and said they may be able to stop by at 6pm. Although we do tidy up our own apartment at home, this is one of the things for which we pay extra when we stay at a hotel. There is no such thing as "turn-down service" in the evening here, either.

I guess the bright side to this is that we don't have to tip the housekeeper when we leave, because she never came in the first place...

We stayed at the Hyatt in Aruba with our 8 year old twins and we loved it! Walking into the lobby is beautiful. You are greeted by an open lobby with a beautiful view of the ocean and palm trees. We couldn't help but feel immediately relaxed as soon as we walked in, especially after the chaos of the holidays. The staff is very helpful and pleasant. The pool area is very pretty and my kids loved the pool slide. The beach is beautiful. Although it is public, there are mainly people from the Hyatt and I was impressed with the security which constantly (but discreetly) went back and forth from the beach to the pool. The location of the Hyatt is great also because you can walk to some restaurants, souvenir stands, starbucks and dunkin donuts. We dined at one of the hotel's restaurants on New Year's eve and they handed out hats and noise makers. The hotel also had a dj and fireworks that night. Too bad my kids couldn't stay awake for too mamy of the festivities! Each day at the pool, they would have bingo and ice pops which my kids loved. My only complaint about the Hyatt is that they don't have a lot of activities for kids. Basically, my kids were happy to play in the pool and beach but it would have been nice to see some more activities for the kids by the pool or even at night.. One day they said they were going to have a pool slide race but it never happened. I have to say that one day they did have someone handing out balloon animals and face painting which the kiddies liked also. We would definitely go back!