Yes, there are better hotels in St. Louis, but I thought the Hyatt Regency St. Louis At The Arch served its purpose well and was quite convenient with friendly service and a nice gym.
Hyatt Regency St. Louis At The Arch Review
Since this was the last stop on our trip before our Chicago destination, I thought about splurging for the Four Seasons hotel..the rooms looked nice and it had a nice spa and pool…but I knew we’d arrive very late and so it seemed foolish to spend 4x as much on a hotel we’d just be laying our heads down in. That was a very wise choice considering our late arrival.
Parking
We arrived at just after 2:00 am after a long drive from Bentonville, Arkansas. I’m not going to lie…I was going to park on the street for free outside the hotel, but there were so many homeless folks out wandering that I pulled into the hotel garage and paid $40 to park there….I hate paying for parking!
The garage has such a low ceiling I could not fully open the trunk of my car…I had to open it halfway and then hold it from going up further, but then at the same time prevent it from retracting (I sometimes think automatic trunks are more trouble than they are worth).
We did manage to get our bags inside…
Even though I had checked in on the app, I was marked as a no-show and it took the front desk some time to “fix” the reservation.
I was upgraded to an executive suite using an expiring suite upgrade. I figured, why not…though I somewhat regretted that.
Room (Executive Sutie)
The suite, room 1250, was very spacious, though all one big room. There was a guest bathroom, wet bar, living room, bedroom, and main bathroom.
The kids slept well on the foldout couch bed (though my daughter was so tired at 2:00 am she fell asleep on the floor before we even could make the bed…)
But you know something? I would have traded this suite for a standard room with a view of The Arch…I feel like I really missed out on that, even though the room was large.
Keurig Coffee and botled water, but no mini-bar.
Fitness Center
With 910 rooms, I figured this hotel would have a decent gym and it did…it was spacious with an excellent selection of equipment (and even from LifeFitness, my favorite brand).
Dining
The Hyatt Regency St. Louis has two restaurants, two bars, and a coffee shop.
RED Kitchen
We dined at RED Kitchen for breakfast, open until 10:30 am for breakfast on weekdays or 11:00 am on weekends.
Due to the low occupancy at the hotel, there was no buffet and the one item that really caught my eye on the a la carte menu–the smoked tri-trip sandwich–was not available.
We tried a couple of omelets, a chia seed pudding, an acai bowl, nad a seasonal fruit plate and split it…decent, but not anything I would pay close to $110 for if breakfast was not included.
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
The venerable steakhouse chain is open daily (hours vary) and located in the lobby.
Starbucks
Much to my wife’s delight (we don’t see eye to eye on coffee…), there was a Starbucks in the lobby open from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm.
RED Bar
Lobby bar open from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm daily.
Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar
Sports bar open from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm daily.
Regency Club
The Regency Club was shuttered during the pandemic and never reopened.
CVS Mini-Pharmacy
We did not need anything, but I appreciated the gigantic CVS vending machine in the lobby level…it’s nice to be able to pick up over-the-counter medicine if needed without having to go out.
Fed-Ex Office
A full-service Fed-Ex Office (formerly Kinko’s) store is located on the second floor.
Location
I’m not familiar with St. Louis (the last time I was here–in 2005–I stayed at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, now part of the Curio Collection by Hilton but then a Hyatt Regency), but I thought the location worked out quite well for our purposes. I wanted to see The Arch and you cannot get much closer than walking across the street…
I suspect St. Louis is the type of city that has a lot of great restaurants and cafés and I would like to return again.
CONCLUSION
On the one hand, this is a rather sterile hotel in a rough part of town. But it is cheap! And as a Globalist, I enjoyed a free breakfast (that cost more than the room itself) and a nice suite upgrade. But even for the traveler with no status, the rooms were clean, price reasonable, and location ideal for seeing The Arch, the Old Courthouse, and City Hall.
I’d certainly be willing to return, especially as a Hyatt loyalist since this is now the only Hyatt in town.
On your next trip, if you like Italian food, head to The Hill. It has a wide variety of Italian cafes, markets, and restaurants. It’s a few miles west of downtown and is bisected by I-44.
If you included the price of parking in the room price, would you have used points? Because with free parking on points bookings, it might have been worth it.
It would have been close. 40+81=121 and this would have been a category 2 low so I still would have paid cash.
Lifetime St Louis resident here. Do NOT park on the streets of downtown STL – EVER. About a 90% chance you’ll come out to a busted windshield. Parking garages aren’t much better with multiple shootings and robberies – including the shooting of garage security guards. Next visit to Murder City, I’d suggest Hyatt Place in Chesterfield for WOH members
Yeah, whatever, Sammy. You live out in St Charles, middle of suburban meth country, not St Louis. Maybe Chesterfield and the suburban wasteland.
You don’t have a “90% chance” of having your windows busted out and getting shot in a parking garage. Get real. Seems like you’ve never been to St Louis or “certain types” of people make you nervous
I stayed at this hotel last spring in a room with a fantastic view of the Arch. (It was on a higher floor, but I don’t remember which one.) It was very spacious with big windows on the north and east sides. But there was a big downside…the room was also above a very busy road or highway, and the traffic noise was quite loud. Obviously the hotel wasn’t built with very good sound proofing. Everything else was nice, but I would not stay in the Arch view room again.
Wow. How has Hyatt not forced an update? The hotel still has the pre-2013 Hyatt logo. It’s been 12 years. Update the logo!
“On the one hand, this is a rather sterile hotel in a rough part of town.”
All of St. Louis is rough. St. Louis is the most dangerous city or second-most dangerous city, depending on metrics. It’s also a tragic example of a city that is a fragment of its former self.
I don’t think I would drive downtown St. Louis at 2 a.m. That seems like a recipe for disaster.
While managed by Hyatt and not a franchise, this hotel looks like a case study in what’s wrong with Hyatt. They have way too many late 1970s and early 1980s hotels that really need to be gutted.
I imagine outside government business or conventions, there’s few business travelers anymore. Many business travelers in St. Louis are staying in Clayton.