For the first time, our annual return to Manchester, England was at a Hyatt property. Our experience was excellent, here’s what we liked.
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Location
For those that visit the city often, the location of the Hyatt House may seem outside of Manchester city centre, but in truth, it really isn’t. A taxi from the Piccadilly train station is about £5-7. With easy access to the city, a walk down Oxford Road has you to the Kimpton Clocktower hotel or Oxford station in ten minutes; continuing a brisk walk over to Market Street won’t take longer than 20 minutes. That said, the hotel is on a quiet street in the heart of the (now) sprawling Manchester University complex, specifically Manchester’s Innovation District.
Address: 55 Booth St W, Manchester M15 6PQ, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 161 359 5556
Property
The high-rise new build home to the Hyatt House Manchester is also home to the Hyatt Regency Manchester. We originally booked the Regency but at the advice of Harry, the excellent Front Desk Manager, we switched to the Hyatt House due to the long stay nature of our visit and the apartment features.
Occupying floors 12-18, the Hyatt House offers a modern take on the chain’s low-rise buildings in the US without sacrificing the incredible lobby, full-service restaurant, and full-service bar.
Staff and Service
I don’t always mention the staff and service levels but on this occasion, it is not only appropriate but necessary. During our extended stay, we really got to know the staff. Whether it was Stephen on night audit, catching up with me about barbeque and his recipes as a former chef, Harry making sure we had selected the right room and making us comfortable for our visit, Erzon at the front desk printing off our numerous documents, or Guiseppe making us yet another set of keys as we extended our stay a third time – everyone was stellar. We felt like they cared, that they knew us, and that we were valued guests. That’s hard to replicate.
Fitness Center
On the second floor, overlooking a Manchester University courtyard, the fitness center offers guests a number of pieces of equipment. My daughter (who may not have been old enough to use the equipment officially though we were always there to supervise and no one else joined us in the gym) loved the rowing machine and stair steppers.
Free weights and other equipment like elliptical machines, treadmills, and many others are available for those interested. A note on the decor, famous autographed jerseys from world-class football clubs adorn the walls. Water and small towels are stocked daily.
Globalist Suite Upgrade
Despite our very long stay over the holidays, we were able to secure an upgrade to a one-bedroom suite in the Hyatt House. In most situations, an upgrade at a Hyatt House is not something that I would herald as a significant improvement on my stay – the rooms aren’t as extravagant as a suite at the Park Hyatt or even many Regency properties.
However, due to our extended stay and the benefits of separated but stylish living and working spaces as well as our fully-equipped kitchen, our Globalist Suite Upgrade really couldn’t have come at a better time.
Globalist Breakfast Benefit
The reason we initially chose the Regency was a chance at a luxury suite and to retain our Globalist breakfast benefit which we could access daily during our stay. But there’s good news: the same benefit is available for those in the Hyatt House with an excellent breakfast offered in the hotel restaurant, The Laureate. During COVID restrictions, breakfast can also be taken in the room daily instead.
Both buffet, as well as menu items, are available, though guests may need to ask about the menu as the buffet is overwhelmingly selected.
Suite
I’ve stayed in plenty of Hyatt House hotels before, this Hyatt Oxford Road location combined an elegance I haven’t seen before with the apartment-like setting that made it a perfect spot for us. Specifically, the bedroom decor, lighting, wardrobes, and bathroom are really much more akin to a Grand Hyatt or the Hyatt Regency below than a select-service property.
Truly, this suite was the space of two full rooms which gave my family of three enough space to spread out and settle in.
Kitchenette
Entering the room, you arrive at the kitchenette. I will call it that, the hotel does, but my wife and I lived in Manchester in three apartments across the city and this was barely smaller than some we encountered and included a dishwasher which most of our full apartments did not.
The kitchenette features a dual induction hob (stove) but no oven. I was shocked at how much real food we were able to cook in this kitchen. Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese from scratch, brown butter chicken, garlic broccoli, chorizo and roasted brussel sprouts – in a hotel room? Absolutely. But there was more that we had opened up by this kitchen. We were able to hold snacks in the fridge and make charcuterie boards, ice cubes and Magnum ice cream bars, we had fresh milk, toast, grilled cheese.
This is how you make it like home when you’re in the same city for 16 days over the holidays.
The room also featured a Nespresso coffee maker with pods refreshed as needed.
Living Room
For those not traveling with a very independent seven (almost eight-year-old), a couch, table, and TV will round out the space. Knowing our daughter would be traveling with us, the hotel had the couch made into a bed. It was plenty comfortable, but our daughter preferred to make a “fort” of the pillows and blanket, opting for sleeping on top of the city, next to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
On a personal level, Manchester is our second home so my wife and I have an affection for the city that my daughter hasn’t really known as our time in England’s northwest was before she was born. Seeing her falling in love with the city as we do was really special for us. The views helped.
Who wouldn’t love this view?
It might not look like much to you, but it’s home to us.
Bedroom
A king-size bed with heavy linens made it easy to sleep in. The decor of the room was certainly elevated and had more in common with the Hyatt Regency on the floors below. Wardrobes featured wooden hangers, a safe, and plenty of space despite our long trip and extensive laundry. On that note, the room even featured a hamper which was just one more way we felt at home.
Laundry facilities are available for free on the 17th floor. Washing tablets are available at the front desk, or you can buy some around the corner at the nearby Co-Op.
Bathroom
I’m not usually a fan of the shower over tub design, but in this case, it worked. We spoiled Lucy a bit with some bath bombs from Lush Cosmetics. It was clean and modern, the toilet was tucked away in an alcove opposite. The only drawbacks of the bathroom were that the heated towel racks common in the UK were not present, and storage for towels was limited for our family of three.
As a bonus, a door on the toilet would have been a possible and welcome added touch but was not necessarily expected.
Lounge Benefit
During COVID, the executive lounge is closed (as most are throughout the world.) During our stay, evening drinks and snacks were offered in the Graduate Bar.
The lounge service featured a hot fried platter (shrimp tempura, bacon-wrapped sausages, and vegetarian falafel) as well as a cheese and cracker plate with a chutney. We would have liked to have seen a little variety in the menu, but the snacks were more expansive than most lounges.
We had full access to the bar as well. Our daughter who joined us didn’t lose out on the experience, the bartenders made sure to make her apple juice “fancy.” She fell in love with British lemonade (closer to Sprite than American lemonade.)
Value
The hotel is priced between £140-200/night well below most markets for a business hotel. While most Hyatt House locations, I couldn’t spend that kind of money (even with access to a car park), this one was well worth it.
For those spending World of Hyatt points, the property is the second lowest level, a Category 2 for a cost of 8,000 points.
Conclusion
It’s tough to find the right spot in a place where you’d really just rather have a pied-a-terre, but I think we have finally found our hotel in Manchester. Our globalist benefits like breakfast, evening snacks, free wi fi, and an upgrade added to our experience but making it feel like home made all of the difference. Whether you’re in town visiting friends as we were or for meetings and events, the Hyatt House is perfect for a long-term stay.
What do you think? Have you stayed at the Hyatt House Manchester? How was your experience?
@Kyle, nice review.
I didn’t know that Hyatt House properties offered an executive lounge.
Are you location independent or obliged to stay in a physical location?
There are plenty of Great Relocate deals (Hyatt Regency, Andaz…) offering nightly rates of 100 pounds for a minimum of 29 nights stay in Europe
looks nice! recipe for that hotel room chicken?????
HAh!
Your daughter is always great! And so a chic girl!
Nice review with a good atmosphere.
Thanks.
Haven’t had a chance to stay there since they re-flagged. Looks very similar to when it was a dual-brand IHG (HH was a Staybridge, HR a Crowne Plaza).
I’m actually Spire with IHG and Globalist with Hyatt and regret the change. The Crowne Plaza was excellent in elite recognition, so you did get lounge access even though it’s not a IHG-guaranteed benefit.
However, IHG has much better coverage in Manchester so prices were low. With the re-flag, prices shot up. Obviously not an issue if staying on company dime but not great for self-payers.
This looks very good indeed- I may decide to splash out on it if I find myself in Manchester for leisure.
On the other hand- and we have had this discussion before- comparing different markets doesn’t make much sense. These prices might be quite attractive for a London hotel, but, outside of some specific days of really high demand, £175 (to take the mid-point if the range) is well above what you’d expect to pay for a business hotel in central Manchester. The rate for a room at the Novotel (super central location) will rarely exceed £100. For my last visit (just a quick overnight prior to a morning flight), I stayed in a superior room at the Mercure Piccadilly for a whopping £63.
[Incidentally, the Mercure can still be considered a business hotel (as it is a full service property), and I was perfectly happy with it as my room offered plenty of space, decent views, and the all-important espresso machine, but the place does need a bit of a refresh, so I wouldn’t recommend it for longer stays.]
For comparable city centre hotels, I wouldn’t include the Novotel nor Mercure but rather the Kimpton Clocktower, Gotham, the Brooklyn, or the Dakota.
I agree the Hyatts are a notch better than the Novotel or the Macdonald (and certainly more than a notch better than the Mercure), but I am struggling to justify paying double the price in order to go to a 4.5 star hotel instead of a 4 star one (of course, the maths are very different if you are chasing status and/or are confident of huge elite upgrades).
Is this the only combination Hyatt Regency / Hyatt House in the world? These brands seem too far apart to combine.
I know that there are a few Place & House combs that make sense.
[redacted by admin], this blow the [redacted by admin] of many Asian Hyatt Houses, and that’s not something you normally see.
Nitpick: Category 2 is not the lowest Hyatt category. That would be category 1.
Absolutely. Will correct.
Upon further inspection, I can’t find where I called it a Category 1 – what did I miss, I’d prefer to correct it if I did so.