I was admittedly nervous, after reading the reviews here. I had gone to Priceline and bid $125 for a 4-star hotel in the beach area of Ft. Lauderdale and guess what I got? The Hyatt Pier 66. I knew from reading the reviews here that I would be in the dreaded “motel” area and not in the towers. I reread the reviews and sincerely thought about calling American Express and Priceline and telling them there was no way I was going to pay to stay in a smelly motel at any price especially one that was advertised as 4-star. My wife told me to calm down and we would deal with it when we got there. I took some “insurance” and became a Hyatt Gold Passport member and sent an email to the hotel requesting a tower room and non-smoking room. I received no response…

I am an airline pilot (US Air) and I can honestly say I spend more time in hotels than probably any traveler. I’ve stayed in 5-star hotels and I’ve stayed in 1-star hotels. Most of the time, the airline puts us up in 2 or 3-star hotels. And most of the time, the rooms are next to the elevator, ice machine and generally are the “worst” rooms of the building since they contract out with management for a bulk rate. Point is, I think I am an expert at hotels rooms; I know what adds real comfort and expect a level of service consistent with the class of hotel.

I’ll start by saying that many of the reviews on this site contain accurate assessment of this property. I did not get to stay in the tower and I did not get to see one of those rooms so I’ll restrict the review to only the “motel” part, the Lanai and the Marina Rooms and I’ll going to keep it short.

This is not a 4-star property. It is outdated and worn. The lobby and main tower reception areas is fine, with outdated luxury that is a 3-1/2 star quality. Staff is pleasant and friendly, but they are not 4-star. They lack a polish and finesse of a 4-star hotel. The grounds of the Lanai and Marina Rooms are very nice and well maintained. There are some beautiful plants and all the gardens are well groomed. What detracts from this is old concrete, slightly dirty hallways and again, dated architecture. The pools are nice and they are kept clean but again they are old.

My room was in the east Lanai on the 2nd floor. Walking into my room I was ready for the worst and I’m happy to say I did not find it. They did not smell musty, they were not dirty and the carpet was not so scary I could not walk on it. It was worn, as were the sheets and towels but not to the level of being scary. This is a solid 3-star property (again, I am reviewing only the Lanai and Marina Rooms). The problems with these ratings is that there is slack in them whereby a marginal 4-star is exceeded by an exceptional 3-star. But clearly this is a 3-star property. The rooms are decent size and appointed nicely with updated furniture

As others have said, it is a hefty walk to the beach, parking will cost you $14 to $18 per night depending on if you self-park or use the valet. We were given free breakfast coupons for some reason, maybe the Gold Passport signup, and that saved us $35 a morning ($15.95 per person for the buffet). The breakfast was good with excellent OJ and plenty of nice fruit. I found the property to be noisy. The doors are heavy and they slam loudly (people, take it from your flight crew: please do not let your hotel doors slam. You do not want us flying your airplane at 6:00 in the morning having been woken up from a good slumber by a slamming door the night before). The rooms are a distance from the street but the sound seems to collect in the garden area and you can hear loud cars and motorcycles. If your neighbors are noisy, you’ll here them along with anybody out in the pool area at night. You are not too far from the airport either and can hear some of the larger airplanes too. When the cruise ships leave dock you can hear the horns but I found that a pleasant sound. The boats in the marina are wonderful to look at and we would walk along the docks and just marvel at these big yachts. The glass doors open onto the balconies that have a couple of chairs on them and it is a nice place to have a drink in the evening.

All in all, not bad especially at Spring Break and for the price. If I had paid full price, I would be pissed staying in these rooms. But not the horror other reviewers had posted.

Stayed here before - before Hyatt took over, still a great place. Had a very nice room in the 2 story unit (gov't rate @$150) - steps away from hot tub and pool. Dined at Grille 66 - wonderful. A great one night pre-cruise stand.

You stay at this hotel if you love boats! Amazing yachts are parked at Pier 66, just take a stroll around the pier. These are not the type of boats I see every day so for this experience alone it is worth staying. Sitting outside at the Grill 66 and watching the boats go by is just so relaxing, the restaurant has the perfect outside atmosphere. The food is fine and if you want the same view and outside experience you can go to the casual Pelican bar for lunch. It is cheap, casual and the food is good but the view is amazing. If you are attending the convention center, the walk over the bridge is a perfect way to get some exercise every day. I stayed on the 3rd floor of the Tower, the room was very nice but I would have been interested to have a room on the pier with a small deck to sit outside. I requested the Tower after the reading the reviews about dampness and mold. I highly recommend this hotel, I found it very relaxing. The staff could be better, they forgot my wake-up call the first day and the room service operator did not know the menu at all.

My wife and I booked a one night post cruise stay at the Pier 66 Hyatt on Feb 5th, 2005.

The lobby and reception staff we pleasant, the check in went well.

We arrived at out room (2024) expecting it to be of the same quality we have seen from Marriotts, and Delta Hotels. We were sadly dissapointed. This room is more of a cave. Upon entering we noticed right away the musty/moldy smell that permeated the room. The carpeting in this room is a disaster. It is stained and damp, overall filthy. It should have been replaced years ago.

We made the decision to move rooms, and went back to the desk. We we told no rooms were currently available, but we could be moved to another room in the afternoon, which we agreed too.

We came back in the afternoon and got keys to our new room (2237). This room was on the second floor and did not have the musty smell of the other room. However the carpet was just as filthy, and needed replacing.

The carpet was so bad my wife would not remove her shoes in the room. the bathroom area also need moderization, along with the air conditionong, as the rooms were both damp.

We have read reviews of the tower rooms, and they sound fine, but I expected more form a Hyatt. Do Not Stay in the two story building rooms.

We were very dissapointed with this hotel.