A second blizzard in two weeks having Denver squarely in its sights, and not wanting to miss more work, I started searching for a downtown hotel to hunker down in. I live in Boulder, but work in downtown Denver. I was NOT going to be stuck at home 2 weeks in a row. So I started surfing the web for downtown hotels.

There were more "tony” (and expensive) hotels closer to my office, but the reviews of the Hyatt at the Convention Center on Trip Advisor-- and the more reasonable rates -- sold me; sight unseen.

Now that I have seen and experienced the Hyatt, I am pleased to recommend this as a great hotel. Let's define "great": if you want a boutique hotel, a micro hotel, or if you believe there IS status in overpaying, skip the Hyatt; it's not for you. But if you want a clean, modern, comfortable and efficient hotel that really knows how to take care of its business guests for a reasonable price, this hotel is for you.

The Hyatt is huge. Located one block off the 16th Street Mall and adjacent to the Colorado Convention Center, to literally towers over the competition. The view towards LoDo from the 27th floor bar, with the blizzard swirling outside brought back memories of the long gone (and much shorter) Top of the Rockies restaurant in the now razed Security Life Building.

The Hyatt towers above its competition in every other way for a business traveler, too. It has a 24/7 health club with lots of top equipment and weights in great condition, all maintained by a friendly and helpful staff. The view from the striders and treadmills is of the convention center. The Denver light rail, operating through the snow, and the giant snow-covered blue bear peeping in the convention center, made it look like someone had laid out a train set and a large scale model village model under someone's Christmas tree. This is hotel that understands its customers want to work out in a nice club and that the basement is not the place to put it.

The rooms are designed for business travelers. Attractive and functional. Not Spartan, but not overwrought. WiFi, flat screen TVs, a wheel-out work table AND a working counter-desk, ergonomic chairs, ample and well-positioned electrical outlets for chargers. I'm going to enjoy recommending this Hyatt to my out of town clients.

In addition to the friendly bars, the restaurant breakfast brunch is good, filling and very reasonably priced.

And location? Don't be fooled by the name. This Hyatt is not just for convention goers. As I sipped fine top-shelf beverages from the 27th floor bar enjoying the Denver lights below, I could see the Denver Center for Performing Arts 2 blocks away. All of downtown Denver is accessible from the free 16th Mall shuttles 1 block away. Denver Pavilions, a shopping and entertainment complex with a 16-plex movie theatre is one block away.

But a hotel is only as good as its staff. The Hyatt’s is friendly and helpful. When I called down to see if I could book an extra night, they had it done in less time than it took to type one-half of this sentence; so fast I went down to make sure I understood them correctly! And when the blizzard moved out and sun came out and I wanted to go home, they waived the cancellation fee without hesitation. And when the room was not made up because their cleaning staff was stranded at home, they "comped" breakfast and apologized profusely (and unnecessarily). The Hyatt couldn't help being short-handed in a blizzard, but knew how to treat it's guest. That's what sealed the deal for me.

Denver has lots of very nice (and very expensive) boutique hotels. But don't confuse "large" with "institutional" at the Hyatt. These folks run a tight ship with a great crew. For the business traveler, you will not be disappointed.

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency for a convention in mid-October. It was fairly predictable...a little below typical Hyatt Regency standards (no robe, no mini-bar, no complimetary shoe-shine). I think this is because the city of Denver subsidized the development of the hotel and perhaps there has been some cost cutting for the services. . But overall it was very nice...loved the bar on the top floor. Real shortage of cabs one night when it unfortunately snowing. You might have thought the management would have figured they would have a lot of conventioneers needing to go somewhere. But perhaps there are not so many cabs in Denver anyway. For style I would opt for the nearby Monaco, but the Hyatt was perfectly adequate and reasonably priced.

I recently stayed at the Hyatt Regency Denver for 8 nights while working on a Convention at the Colorado Convention Center.

I entered the lobby and walked up to the self check-in kiosks. I was a little apprehensive. There was a nice girl there to reassure you that using the kiosks would be painless and she was right. In about 3 minutes it spit out a key and directions to my room.

Once inside my room I opened up the drapes and found one of the most beautiful views of any downtown area that I have seen. And best of all, I could see the Convention Center (where I would be working) right across the street. The room was very nice with a 32" LCD TV and one of the most comfortable pillow top beds I have ever slept in with enough feather pillows to keep anyone from getting a stiff neck.

My next taste of Hyatt customer service is when I was getting ready to get some sleep that first night. I wasn't sure if I set the clock radio alarm correctly so just to be safe I pushed the wake-up call button on the cordless phone and asked for a wake-up call for 5:15am. The polite fellow said sure and then asked me if I would like him to call back again at 5:30am just to be sure I actually got up after the first call. I had never had a hotel offer to be a snooze button for me.

From that point on I was very happy with everything the hotel had to offer. I must confess that I never did eat at the Altitude Restaurant nor did I ever get the opportunity to have a drink at the Peaks lounge which is on the 27th floor and claims to have some of the best views of the city and I believe them.

To sum it all up, without a doubt, I would return to this Hotel when visiting Denver. It is a first class hotel all the way.

My young daughter and I spend the weekend at the hotel booking the Mile High Football package. The check in was quick and easy and the staff professional and friendly.

Our room was on the 23rd floor with a great view of downtown Denver. Our room was very nice with great ammenities. My daughter who is a swimmer loved the lap pool.

The 16th Street Mall is a block away which provides you access to the 16th Street Mall shuttle. The shuttle is free and transports passenger to all portions of the mall.

One reviewer wrote that they felt somewhat unsafe. We felt very safe, there is a strong police presence on the mall and with the exception of very late night, there are usually always people walking around the area.

The self parking was easy to use and convenient.

We did not use the resturants or lounge in the hotel, we went to the 16th Street Mall.

We will absolutely stay at thid hotel again