I just have to give a shout-out to the Hyatt Regency Mainz for again taking such good care of me and my family. This remains one of my favorite hotels in Germany.
Hyatt Regency Mainz Review [2022]
We decided to spend the last two nights of the year in Mainz and of course chose the Hyatt. It was great to be back and I was elated how the hotel went the extra mile to really take care of my family.
Vaccination + Testing Requirement
We departed from the Basel area in the mid-afternoon, arriving around 6:30pm at the hotel. Mainz is in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which requires all hotel guests over age 12 to be fully vaccinated and boosted or fully vaccinated and tested. If you are not boosted, there are free testing sites all over town, including a pair right outside the hotel, that can get you a rapid antigen result in 15 minutes or less.
Upon checking in, a green sticker is placed on the back of your room key holder, which indicates you are geprüft (checked) and you can use that to enter the hotel restaurant, bar, or Regency Club.
Rhine River Guest Room
As (almost) always, we were upgraded from a standard room to a river view room on the sixth floor with a great view of the Rhine river. The room is not huge, but it was large enough for our young family of four, with the baby sleeping in a crib and Augustine sleeping on the easy chair. We would have preferred two double beds, but the hotel was running on the full side due to the holiday and had we needed two beds, we would not have had the view.
Do note, suite upgrades are not a thing at this hotel (the hotel, to my knowledge, has no standard suites and only has three suites and all are often booked). I’ve stayed in two of the three suites, but never the presidential suite. I joke with the staff every time I check-in that they should let me know the moment that opens and I’ll fly all the way from Los Angeles just for a night there!
There was a bottle of wine and a chocolate bar waiting in the room, which was a nice touch. Even better, there was a Nespresso machine. I don’t know if these are new, but this is the first time I’ve had one in a non-suite guest room and my wife (in particular) greatly appreciated it.
Regency Club Lounge
Right down the hall was the Regency Club lounge, where we had dinner both nights. Going out to eat with two young kids is still not ideal when there is an extended wait for food and the lounge worked perfectly, with a very nice selection of soup, salad, and nightly specialties like capriccio, salmon, eggplant, calamari (thankfully not fried), plus cheese, fruit, and a dessert speciality like cheesecake or tiramisu.
There’s a coffee machine in the lounge, but it has no decaffeinated coffee. However, when we requested decaf coffee the kind lounge attendant offered to go downstairs and get us one from the big machine in the lobby bar. Not only was that a kind gesture, but it was also better coffee!
I had lunch with a friend in the lobby the following day and find the coffee there so much better than in the lounge or restaurant.
Breakfast at Bellpepper Restaurant
While my wife and I do intermittent fasting at home, it’s too difficult to do it on the road. Still, we try to eat breakfast as late as possible and made a miscalculation the first day. We thought breakfast went till 11:00am, but it actually only went until 10:00am. So when we showed up downstairs at 10:23am, we found we had missed breakfast.
But (speaking generally, of course) while most rules-oriented Germans would shake their head and simply say it is too late, the lovely Teresa, who has greeted me as a hostess for years at the hotel’s Bellpepper Restaurant, smiled, said “Good morning Mr. Klint! Welcome back. So good to see you.” and let us sit for a few minutes and eat something. That’s what I mean when I say we were treated like family. She really remembered my name! What a kind gesture. We were late: we missed breakfast, but she still did not send us away hungry. That’s why I have been so loyal to this hotel over the years.
The following morning was New Year’s Day and breakfast went until 2:00pm. Expecting a large crowd, the hotel had set up two portable dining rooms in the terrace area (the weather was too cold and rainy to sit outside). We had one room all to ourselves, which was pretty fun to have a private dining room.
Breakfast itself is back to a modified buffet, with some elements of self-service and others still behind a plexiglas enclosure.
Swimming + Fitness + Wellness
I took Augustine swimming shortly after arrival, the following day, and then on our last day before leaving…he loves the pool and we enjoyed a great time swimming. I also took him into the sauna and steam room with me after, which he did well in. The sauna and steam room are still limited to one-person or family at a time and require an advance sign-up.
Meanwhile, the gym and pool can accommodate more people at once, but you also must sign up in advance on the Club Olympus website. The gym has a nice selection of LifeFitness and TechnoGym equipment, more than enough for a great workout.
Of course no visit to Mainz is complete without heading to Da Vito for Spaghettieis. It was great to introduce my one-year-old daughter to my favorite German ice cream delicacy…she was a huge fan.
Fireworks On New Years
Finally, there was a very muted fireworks display this year due to corona restrictions, but I was happy to see so many people out launching their own fireworks and celebrating the new year. With all the noise, we took the kid downstairs at midnight and had a walk by the river to the ring in the new year. We all hope 2022 will be a return to normal. It’s time.
I can’t help but to recall spending New Year’s here three years prior and how much has changed in our world (and how much my son has grown).
From January 2019:
From January 2022:
CONCLUSION
This is a World of Hyatt category three hotel, meaning it costs 9,000-15,000 points per night. I paid about 150EUR/night, which is a bit higher than normal, but not too bad for New Years. I always love returning to this hotel and find it my home away from home in Mainz. Thanks in particular to Teresa for her kindness and warm greeting every morning in the restaurant, but everyone at this hotel treats me kindly and I cannot wait to return.
I love a good German hotel. So many good memories in so many of them.
Hotel is great.. BUT. I found the rooms to be very low quality in comparison to other Hyatts. Food, lounge and service was good. There is no 24 hour room service though…
Rooms are a bit dreary and the bedding is not cotton (difficult to breathe through), but I love the view and everything else about the hotel.
After trying a couple of dummy bookings on the Hyatt app, it seems like the Hyatt Regency Mainz does not allow guests to book rooms with two adults and two children ages 3 and under. How does one get around that, just reduce the number of guests in the booking? I thought European hotels were strict about the number of guests per room. Did you contact the hotel directly for advance permission/dispensation from the max. guest rule?
No, I just booked for three and then wrote them about the baby.
I’m dying to stay here… Primarily because of your reviews. I was in the area in the late summer, and of course the property was sold out!
Also, a Club Lounge? What’s that. Haven’t seen one of those in a while.
I have stayed at this hotel a couple of times when I had a layover in Frankfurt. I also love the hotel, the river views, and don’t forget the City of Mainz itself – easily walkable.
I stayed here on my first trip to Germany in 2008. I loved it, great location and atmosphere. The bar was also where my then 18 year old daughter had her first legal beer!!!
I haven’t been back, but I did pass by it on my Christmas Markets cruise a few years ago while sailing on the Rhine.
After reading your article about making kids fly economy until they can “earn” business class themselves, I’m surprised you didn’t make your kids sleep in a garbage bin in the adjacent alley. What did they do to EARN a stay in this hotel??? #daddydoesntflyeconomy
Foolish analogy. They need a place to sleep…they can do that in economy class just fine. They sleep anywhere. I can’t. Plus, it doesn’t cost extra to have kids in your hotel room. We can’t share first class suites. Is that so hard to understand?
He should list which miles he used and how much it cost .
I am humbled, absolutely honored and profoundly grateful for your kind words, Mr Klint. We look forward to welcoming you and your beautiful family back at the Hyatt Regency Mainz soonest. Until then, be well and safe.
I, literally, have no idea about the love of this hotel.
Based on your “recommendation” I spent four days on a Hyatt Prive rate.
It’s a hotel, that’s all. Absolutely nothing special about it. Not sure if you’re getting some sort of kickback from them, but this was very disappointing.
3 days in, no welcome amenity, though it’s been promised for 3 days.
The rooms a room.
A LOT of love spent if you’re a SQ employee (or maybe a blogger), but if not, nope.
Some friends and I stayed at the hotel for five nights on a guy’s trip last month – largely because of Matthew’s reviews – and really had a great time. Breakfast was lovely, nice welcome amenity, the club lounge always had good food, drink, and service, the rooms were quite pleasant. I’m a Globalist who stayed on a Prive rate and got a nice corner room overlooking the river with a balcony. The old town is a fairly easy walk and there’s a supermarket in the mall next door. My only gripes were that housekeeping was rather perfunctory, the elevators were very slow, and you had to lower the toilet seat lid to flush the toilet. We liked it so much that we’re considering doing Xmas there.