Hyatt’s newest property in Switzerland is a beautiful and comfortable hotel just steps from Zurich Airport. The Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport The Circle is not just a hotel, but part of a new district that epitomizes the creative use of space, beautifully juxtaposing natural beauty with ingenuity.
Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport The Circle Review
Rather proceed directly to my in-laws, after landing in Zurich from San Francisco, we opted to spend our first night acclimating at the new hotel, which opened earlier this year. Our rate was 169CHF and booked a few weeks in advance.
Location
The hotel is located in “The Circle” a new “district” across the street from Zurich Airport. It’s really a mini-city and an incredible use of space that includes a new circle convention center, two Hyatt hotels (the Regency plus a Hyatt Place), restaurants, stores, and a park.
From the airport, follow signs for “The Circle.” From baggage claim in Terminal 1, we took an elevator downstairs, walked through the concourse, then entered a tunnel surrounded by lights which connected the airport to The Circle.
You can also enter across the street from the airport without going underground.
Inside, we found restaurants and shops and followed signs to the Hyatt Regency, which led to a lower entrance to the hotel.
Upstairs was a beautiful lobby with check-in desks:
But before I get back to the hotel, let me encourage you to walk outside the front entrance if you stay here. Outside is a beautiful park overlooking the airport. Take the funicular up and enjoy a bit of nature right in the heart of a new city. It’s an amazing feature of this property and a testament to how future development in cities around the world can effectively incorporate green space.
Check-In
We were checked in by Lea, who was kind and professional. She welcomed us to the new hotel and apologized that there were no suites available, mentioning not all the floors were open yet and consequently the hotel currently has only four suites available.
Room
Our room, 926 on the ninth floor, was small (and appeared to be the smallest room type at the hotel), but just fine for our one-night stay.
The Swiss-inspired room smelled new and featured light wood accents and an eye-catching green velvet couch at the foot of the bed with a green rug underneath. Power outlets were strategically placed, though I think the hotel will regret not placing USB C outlets (in addition to the USB A outlets present).
A coffee machine, bottled water (still and sparkling) and (empty) refrigerator were present next to the desk, as well as a narrow closet with ironing board and iron.
The crib fit neatly in the corner:
Our bathroom was small and square-shaped featuring a stone vanity with sink and shower, but no bathtub. The water closet was in a separate room to the side.
The view from the room made us feel like we were in prison, the one downside to the room. Some rooms do offer park views.
A note was present on our coffee table welcoming us to the hotel along with a box of chocolate-dipped Basler Läckerli (how did the hotel know how much I love this?!).
We thought Augustine would just sleep with us in the bed, but he chose to sleep on the couch. High marks for the bedding, though. It was soft and light.
Regency Club Lounge
The Regency Club was open and right down the hall from our room, but service was limited due to the pandemic. Indeed, the lounge was unmanned and offered only self-service coffee, tea, water, and soft drinks as well as delicious Swiss chocolate.
Eventually, evening hors d’oeuvres and breakfast will be served here.
The space is beautiful, featuring contemporary furniture and a lovely terrace that was closed due to the rainy weather.
Happy Hour + Breakfast In Restaurant Babel
The biggest surprise of our stay was the delicious food in Restaurant Babel, the hotel’s Lebanese restaurant.
Since the Regency Club was not offering evening cocktails, we were invited to enjoy appetizers and drinks in Babel. My wife and kids were very tired and went to bed at 7:00pm, so I went down myself and enjoyed a wonderful treat. Globalists and other guests with lounge access received a three-tiered plate with Lebanese mezze, including the best falafel I’ve ever had. Paired with a glass of Riesling, it made for a perfect light meal. Had I actually been hungry, I would have eaten dinner here…the food was so tasty.
We returned to Babel for breakfast in the morning. Orange juice was freshly squeezed and the coffee was machine-dispensed. As a Globalist, we could order whatever we wanted from the menu and were not presented a bill. We tried several dishes and appreciated the fresh fruit and salmon.
Sure, the omelet and waffles were tasty for breakfast, but the best part of breakfast was fattet hummus (pita, chickpeas, tahina yogurt, pine nuts, and brown butter) and shakshuka (eggs, tomatoes, peppers, spices).
Breakfast is truly a treat at Restaurant Babel and the evening mezze was also fabulous.
Market
Directly adjacent to Babel is a take-away market with sandwiches, drinks, coffee, and other snacks.
Bar Iris
The hotel bar, called Bar Iris, is beautiful…I love the blue stone-style bar. It features a large seating area with couches and chairs on either side of the bar as well as an outdoor terrace overlooking The Circle. Smoking is only permitted outdoors.
Coffee
On the subject of coffee, I highly recommend you head to Bar Iris if you appreciate well-made, high-quality coffee. Ask for Anne-Charlotte. While the cappuccino is 7CHF (oh Switzerland…), it is simply delicious. The bar features a beautiful La Marzocco coffee machine and I loved the blue and white checkered cups. Most importantly, through, the coffee is delicious.
That’s not to say the coffee in the market, restaurant, or lounge are bad…but automatic machines simply cannot produce coffee of the same caliber.
Service
I mentioned Lea, but also want to mention Derya and Anne-Charlotte in Bar Iris. Derya is the bar manager and was tending the bar when I went in to take pictures. When I noticed the coffee machine, I asked for a cappuccino and he very humbly told me that he would be delighted to make me coffee, but that if possible, I should wait until his colleague Anne-Charlotte arrived, who was a maestro at making great coffee. Indeed, it was wroth the wait, but I appreciated that he recognized my love for coffee and gave me the option to wait a bit for even better coffee (though I am sure Derya would have made a delicious cappuccino as well).
Staff in the restaurant were also fabulous.
Fitness Center + Pool + Sauna
The hotel has no pool. The fitness center is located on the eighth floor and is quite large, with an excellent selection of Italian-made Technogym equipment as well as kettlebells, medicine balls, and a room for yoga or dance.
There’s even a terrace if you prefer to workout or stretch outdoors.
Inside the locker room is a lovely Finnish sauna, which I used in 15-minute increments at three different points during our stay.
Reservations were required to use the gym and sauna, though I once went down to the gym and sauna late and it was empty. In fact, we saw very few other guests at the hotel and did not run into any other guests on our floor or in the Regency Club.
CONCLUSION
Other than our lack of suite upgrade or view from the room, the 24 hour stay was flawless. I love this airport hotel and will make it a point to acclimate here for one night after arriving in Zurich on future trips. While I also look forward to the opening of the Hyatt Place just a few paces away, it would be tough to choose that over a hotel with such great food, amenities, and service.
Fantastic review, looking forward to get rid of Marriott and use Hyatt more on my next trip to Zurich.
I stayed here in early April for an overnight and had a similarly fantastic stay! I believe they have some staff from the Park Hyatt if I understood correctly. Although I didn’t try out the coffee at the bar, you hit the nail on the head with the hotel’s X-Factor: truly great staff. The front desk, restaurant servers, and housekeeping were all the embodiment of hospitality, sincere but not over the top.
Great location and the park outside reminded me of Singapore in terms of urban-garden integration. It’s a model I hope other locations follow.
Man!! You do travel in style!!
Just booked for next month on a layover on my way to Montenegro — looking forward to it!
Thanks for the review. The hotel looks fantastic. My family is hoping to fly out of Zurich next summer, so this might be a good option for us.
Simply stunning. Your ability to capture wonderful pics at just the right angles is really something you should be proud of. And your hotel reviews are very complete and focused.
One of the major brands should grab you!
Thanks for what you do.
I’m betting the wood-grain acrylic aesthetic becomes passé before USB A. And you should know that the integration of wilderness and civilization is part of what makes Switzerland special, more than just this hotel. I mean, if you stay at the GVA Ibis, you can take the shuttle to the airport. Or you can drag your bags through the forest and over the freeway to the terminal, in about eight minutes. City-country-transit, it’s all that close.
That said, cool hotel. I’ll have to check it out next time I have an early check-in. The Circle logo, alas screams “CONSUME”
Looks like a soulless hipster joint that’s been furnished from an IKEA clearance sale…
Do any of these remote, airport-adjacent developments succeed? This is nothing like the Jewel and ZRH is is no SIN. The DS-600 sectional sofa you see in the lobby costs tens of thousands of dollars. I challenge you to find it at any sort of clearance sale. That being said, the style of the decor is very “on trend,” or even past trend. It probably won’t age well. Why is it that I don’t mind the decor at the Park Hyatt Tokyo? I feel like a renovation would ruin its feel.
Agreed, Park Hyatt Tokyo is dated but somehow untouchable. I love it.
It’s a shame that we can’t visit it. I’ve also been itching to try the new ANA first and business class products.
I’m holding out hope I’ll still be able to do so in November.
Inshallah!
It’s all made in Thailand rubbish, badged as Scandinavian or Italian. Hipsters love it. Yes, 1/2 price sales all the time. Personally I prefer nice, traditional library chairs, like wingbacks, rather than this trendy stuff. I don’t like those ice-cold, sterile marble interiors . It’s typical Hyatt style.
Park Hyatt Tokyo a case in point. It amazes me that people pay a huge premium there when the Regency ( if Hyatt is desired) is 3 miles down the road, far better located, rooms 50% larger, at 1/2 the price ( and without all the hipster palaver)
The DS-600 is made in Switzerland. It’s been around since you were still young, Boomer.
https://www.desede.ch/en/ds-600
Wingback chairs? You want to stay in an old school gentlemen’s club? That’s fine. If you don’t like Hyatt’s typical style, you don’t have to patronize it. The Regency is perfectly nice, but it’s hardly as nice as the Park Hyatt. The Park Hyatt is hipster? I don’t think you understand the term.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/memepediadankmemes/images/0/01/297.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180908193511
I don’t mind the sofa: it has a bit of style. The rest of it? Of course it’s hipster ( at the safe and dull end of the range, but hipster nonetheless, at least in my definition. ( as is the tediously safe, sterile and boring PH Tokyo…as opposed to the wonderful PHs in Milan and Vienna)
No, I don’t want a club for old geezers: but rather something with a bit of style, colour, warmth, atmosphere, art, eg the Istanbul property recently reviewed by Matthew.
I stated earlier that I didn’t care for the decor and thought it wouldn’t age well. I disagree with calling the Park Hyatt Tokyo “hipster,” however. There is nothing hip about it. I do love the Park Hyatt Vienna. It and Tokyo are probably my favorite properties in the system. The Four Seasons Istanbul is too traditional for my taste. I prefer more contemporary and minimalist decor. Park Hyatt generally has a much more minimalist aesthetic than other luxury brands at Hilton and Marriott.