I stayed for two nights on a weekend trip to see an old friend who lives in the area. Self parking was convenient, but the parking garage is VERY dank, with dripping water (from the pool above, maybe?) and very tight spaces for my larger sedan. Also, there weren't many spaces for self parking - I had to park once in the area marked "Hyatt Employees" because there was nothing else. But the entry to the hotel took you directly to the lobby and was extremely convenient.
Check in was easy and the staff were professional and nice. The room was a good size, with nice enough furniture, but it does seem a little dated. There was a sofa and coffee table in addition to all the usual furnishings and a separate dressing area with padded bench and built-in make up table (but with no make-up lighting!). There was a single-serving coffee maker hidden in the closet with a single packet of coffee (I don't know what they expect couples to do . . . maybe this is to drive business for the Starbuck's in the lobby).
The odd thing about the room was that the desk was placed next to the bed in place of a bed stand. This meant that when one sits at the desk to check email, one cannot also watch Wimbledon on the television, which was what I wanted to do. So I repositioned the desk chair and perched on the end of the desk to do both. Also, there were no outlets within reach of the desk. The closest outlet was easily 12 feet from the desk, so my laptop couldn't charge. There was one behind the bed, but the bed support was a big metal box and I didn't want to try to move it. So I called the front desk and asked for engineering to bring an outlet strip or extension cord. Four hours later, it hadn't arrived, so I called again - this time the desk clerk argued with me - she told me, in a very cross tone of voice, that the desklamp had outlets in it. Mine did not, and it took some convincing before she would agree to send engineering up. The engineer knocked about 30 minutes later and tried to just hand me an extension cord. I told him that he needed to plug it in - I'm glad I did, because it took him a good ten minutes of moving the big metal box of a bed back and forth to get it properly situated.
The lobby lounge was a great place to get caught up with my long-time friend - friendly and unobtrusive service and a lounge singer who was talented. And the bed was comfortable and I slept very well both nights.
After my first day in Coral Gables, I got back to my room at 4 PM and it hadn't been made up - housekeeping knocked and I told them I was about to shower and change and that they could skip my room that day. But before I left I saw that they offered turn down service and a room refresh if you requested it, so I called housekeeping - the telephone rang quite a bit and I finally got their voicemail. So I left a message requesting a room refresh as I left for dinner at 6:30 (requests had to be made by 8:00). When I returned at 1:00 AM, I saw that the room had not been refreshed - so I called the front desk and asked for replacement coffee for the maker at least. The desk clerk offered towels if I needed them and apologized for housekeeping's error. She then delivered two coffee services (accompanied by a security guard, which I can understand) within about ten minutes.
I agree with other comments that the room is a slightly worn, but everything was in decent shape and it is a nicely appointed hotel. A little updating will go a long way. It's a shame about the complete lack of thought in the arrangement of the room furniture - I would think a lot of business travelers would like to sit at the desk and watch television at the same time. And I cannot believe that I'm the first person to complain about the lack of outlets anywhere near the desk - really it feels as if they didn't consider HOW people would use the room when they arranged it.
All in all very nice. A decent three- to four-star hotel.
