If you are looking for a great hotel for a family beach vacation, look no further. Situated right across the street from famous Huntington Beach (no worries as there is a pedestrian bridge that you walk over PCH to get to the beach and no hotels in HB are right "on" the beach, don't let anyone fool you), this is a dream hotel.

Their Toes On The Nose Surf Shop is fantastic for getting surf lessons (which we did as a group and absolutely loved), renting beach comber bikes (great bike bath right on the beach), renting a cabana on the beach (comes fully loaded with a cooler filled with drinks and waiter service) or having them set you up for S'mores on the beach over an open bonfire at night (highlight of the trip for the kids!) and most importantly shopping! They have great clothing in there. They are the best and we took advantage of each of these activities.

Restaurants on the premises are actually quite good. The Californian is good for breakfast (try to get a package that includes breakfast as it's quite expensive) and Pete Mallory's is a very casual bar/family restaurant that the kids enjoyed. Great Fish Tacos! There is also a small market in the hotel that you can pick up drinks, snacks, etc and stow them in the room.

Newport Beach is very close for some really fine dining and shopping and the downtown of Huntington Beach is also quite great for both! What a perfect surf town. Its awesome to see guys and girls walking down the streets towards the beach in their wetsuits and carrying boards! Try Wahoo Tacos for lunch one day in Huntington Beach and for the best meal you'll ever have, try Mastro's in Newport Beach. Very pricey but worth every dime!

Only negative about the hotel is the small pool and pool area. It gets REALLY crowded with kids. There is a lack of chairs and space to put chairs come mid day! Don't come here for a romantic get away unless you want to surf (as my wife and I just did) and can handle a boatload of kids running, splashing, making tons of noise! Kids rule this place which we knew going on and was why we brought ours! They even show movies in the pool at night. To help with the overcrowding situation, they are building another pool area which is much needed. It will have slides, etc and looks really nice! Parking cost of $25 a day does stink, but not much you can do about it. And yes, down the block is some type of power plant with large smoke stacks, but it is not right on the property and you'll never even notice until you drive to Newport Beach.

Lastly, when you check in ask about upgraded rooms as for a nominal fee you can get upgraded to a number of suites they have which are HUGE and give everyone enough room to spread out. Best for families.

Great resort with some great deals if you search hard enough! We'll be back next year!

This gorgeous & modern hotel is literally right across the street from the beach off of Pacific Coast Hwy in Huntington Beach. They even provide a walkway and overpass to get from the hotel straight to the beach, and it only took us a few minutes! This hotel is also centrally located to Disneyland, Newport Beach, and downtown Huntington.

As for the rooms, it was very clean and spacious, and had a very comfortable bed. The bathrooms were bigger then the normal sized ones you find in hotels (although not as big as Vegas hotel bathrooms!). The one disappointment I had was for the money you are paying to stay at this hotel, they should have nice, separate tubs that you can use. This hotel did not. Only had a shower/small tub combo (and you wouldnt want to sit in this tub). Balcony was beautiful and almost all of them have views of the ocean. Very relaxing! You can however, hear the disruptive loud teenagers in the pool evvery night. We didn't see any staff try to quiet them down.

This hotel also has mandatory valet parking, which can be frustrating sometimes, esp when you just want to get in the car and go. Although you do feel like a celebrity ; )

Overall I think this is a beautiful hotel, that provides beautiful scenery and a relaxing environment. Staff is extremely friendly and helpful and the rooms are luxurious!

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa in October 2008.

I had requested early check in if possible, so as soon as we arrived I parked my car in front of the main lobby entrance so I could go in and ask if that was possible. Right away a valet came over and told us we couldn't park there because it was for emergencies only. He then said (in a less than pleasant manner) that he would need to take my car keys and hold them in case he had to move the car. I pointed out that there were other cars there, no signage, and no area painted red that would indicate a no parking zone. There were two limos parked in front of my car and one in back, so if the area was for emergencies then why were those cars parked there? It seems the parking was selective. I did not like his attitude!

I gave him my keys and we went in. We were able to register early so that was good. The bad news was that in order to park on the property it would cost $25/per day. If we didn't want to pay that then we had to park across the street (beach parking) for $10/day. (There is absolutely no other place to park in the area.) We decided to park "across the street," which was not exactly a short walk.

The other negative was that our room was as far from the lobby as you could get, which was interesting as this was off season and most of the rooms around us were unoccupied. If you are elderly or have a disability this is not the place to stay. If you are not close to the lobby you will walk through corridor after corridor after corridor to get to your room.

Another problem with the area in which the hotel is situated is that there are no places to eat or shop within walking distance other than the hotel's own establishments, which are rather paltry. When staying at this Hyatt you would need to head down to Newport or Laguna Beach because there is absolutely nothing to see or do at the Hyatt.

One more thing about the offsite parking: you must return to the lot no later than 9:00pm or the lot will be closed.

To summarize, the hotel and grounds are very nice and the room was nicely appointed and very clean. These are the only positive things I can say about the hotel. The parking situation is ridiculous. I booked this room on the hotel's website and nowhere on the paperwork was there any mention of the parking situation/cost. I have never stayed in a hotel, especially this caliber of hotel, in which I had to pay for parking. Why not just raise the cost of the room and give people who stay there parking on-site? Those who want to valet park would just have to pay the extra cost.

I cannot recommend this hotel on any level. It is in a most unappealing part of Huntington Beach (a couple of blocks from some kind of factory with large smokestacks), most of the staff was less than motivated and not friendly, depending on where your room is located, the walk to the main lobby and beach can be extremely, extremely long and the cost of and inconvenience of parking are all factors that make me give this hotel a very poor rating.

In 2006, my husband and I ended up at this hotel for one night spontaneously, as another hotel for which we had reservations was not working out. We enjoyed our stay so much that we planned our whole vacation around this hotel in October, 2008. We spent 8 nights at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach and were just as impressed this time as we were two years ago.

When first pulling up to the hotel, valet parking attendants quickly rush to greet you and someone assists with luggage. The friendly parking attendants whisk the car off to the underground parking garage. A doorman opens the sparkling glass entry door to an elegant rotunda, featuring a huge, luminous chandelier with cone-shaped glass. Elegant floor tile and wood accents give a warm welcome to visitors, and the alcoves containing giant crystals add a decorative touch.

The attendants at the front desk are all friendly and welcoming, and are glad to accommodate guests in any way they can. The young man (Chad) who checked us in, was happy to upgrade us to a full ocean view King room. (I highly recommend signing up for the free Hyatt Gold Passport card.)

Our room was wonderful! It overlooked the Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean. I have read other reviews about how noisy the traffic was on PCH, and yes, there is a lot of traffic during the normal business hours. But it decreases in the evenings when we would sit on our terrace and watch the beachgoers gather around the fires in the fire pits. We could smell a bit of the smoke from the fires, but it wasn’t bad at all. We captured some excellent photographs of the sun setting behind the palm trees over the beach and ocean. (See posted photographs)

The bed was so comfortable that we wished we could take it home! The light-weight bedding allowed for very restful sleep. Every morning we would wake up at sunrise and look out over the Pacific Ocean, joking that it was still there. However, on the fourth morning, I looked out and exclaimed to my husband, “Well it’s still there, but something happened to it during the night - mountains formed!” We were amazed to find hills and mountains out in the ocean, which hadn’t been there the first three days. Upon questioning the attendant at the front desk, she informed us it was Catalina Island, which isn’t always visible from the hotel, depending on atmospheric conditions.

Our package, booked through hyattvacations.com, included breakfast for two. I highly recommend this option if it is offered. The breakfast is not a run of the mill continental breakfast, but offers anything off the menu at the Californian Restaurant, located at the hotel. The food is amazing! It is prepared fresh, and served appearing as if it were something out of a national food magazine, or a work of art. My favorite was the Crab Cake Benedict. They offer indoor dining, complete with a fireplace, or dining near the fountain outside on the terrace. If you are paying for the meals separate from the room, plan to spend $20 to $25 per meal, which includes unlimited fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee or tea. Our breakfast bill for the two of us averaged $52 each morning, but was taken care of with the free breakfast coupons included in the package. The coupons also included gratuity, which made them even more of a value.

The valet parking, at $25 a night, is a bit expensive, and was not included in the package we booked. I did see it included in another package online, but in that one the breakfasts weren’t included, so shop wisely and pick the things of most value to you. It was great after a long day of sightseeing, to return to the hotel, drive up to the front door, hand the keys to the valet attendant, and not have to worry about finding a parking spot.

We picked an excellent week to stay at this hotel, as although there was a conference going on the first day, and a couple weddings over the weekend, it was fairly quiet. Since it was in the “off season,” and children were in school, there was no noise from the pool area. This hotel is in the process of building a family pool by next summer, which will keep kids entertained and cut down on the noise from the main pool area even during tourist season.

We ate lunch one time during our visit on the terrace of Pete’s Sunset Grille, located on the property, and as expected, the meal was delicious. We purchased a few gifts at Surf City Trading Company, and bought groceries at Surf City Grocers, both located in the retail courtyard.

The walkway from the hotel property across the Pacific Coast Highway is very convenient. You may take the stairs or use the elevator to get down to sea level. After just a short walk across the parking lot, you are at the beach, complete with all the sea air and salt water aromas, and the sounds of the crashing waves as they break near the shore.

We love this hotel not only for it’s elegance, but also for it’s convenient location to the activities in the Los Angeles area. We planned day trips north to Universal Studios, Long Beach, and Venice Beach, and to the south to Newport Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano. The activity we enjoyed the most was driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping at various piers to take photographs of the surfers, and stopping to eat at seaside restaurants such as Joe’s Crab Shack in Seal Beach, and Tequila Jack’s in Long Beach.

We only had a couple of minor annoyances with the hotel. The wireless Internet connection kept dropping out, but when we brought it to the attention of the front desk attendant, she immediately credited our Internet charges and suggested we switch to the wired, Ethernet cable connection. Also, when returning one evening after a long day of sightseeing, we found that the housekeeper had moved everything around in our room. Things left near the sink in the bathroom were stuffed into my cosmetic bag, which was then zipped up and stashed on a shelf. It took me two days to find my dental floss! While I don’t mind things being moved for cleaning, this housekeeper was a little too thorough!

We recommend this hotel to anyone who wants elegance at a moderate price. We are already planning our 2009 vacation, and definitely plan to choose the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Spa in Huntington Beach!