Hyatt Place Old Port – A Quick Review

During the last stop of the 7 Days of Coastal Maine trip, I stayed at the Hyatt Place Old Port in Portland, Maine. This is a quick review of this hotel located in the prime Old Port neighborhood of Portland.

Location

One of the primary reasons to book this hotel is the great location. The Hyatt Place Old Port is located in the Old Port neighborhood as the name suggests. The hotel faces Fore Street which is a major street for restaurants, cafes, bars, and other entertainment venues. Because of this, Hyatt Place is an excellent location from which to explore Portland, especially the waterfront and entertainment areas. The prime location means you will be able to park your car upon arrival and leave it in the parking deck for the entire duration of your Portland stay.

Guest Rooms

The Hyatt Place offers one King Bed and two Queen Bed guest rooms. The hotel also offers King suites that have separate bedrooms and living room areas; however, these represent a small proportion of the available rooms. On my recent trip in June 2021, I stayed in a standard King Bed guest room.

The King room is a good size. A king bed and L-shaped sofa anchor the room. Along the opposite wall are a desk, chair, concealed mini-fridge, and wardrobe. If you have stayed at a Hyatt Place hotel before, this is a layout that should be familiar.

Each side of the bed had a bedside table and reading lamp. The reading lamps had built-in plugs that were conveniently placed for charging. Unfortunately, some of the plugs built into the reading lamps were loose so the charger always fell out of them.

One side of the bed had an alarm clock while the opposite side of the bed provided a sound machine. The sound machine is more of a unique find; however, the hotel is located on Fore Street which is a prime dining and nightlife location. The rooms that front Fore Street picked up some street noise. During prime tourist seasons and on the weekend, this is could be a welcome addition if you are a light sleeper.

Similar to the bedroom, the bathroom layout follows the Hyatt Place standards. The bathroom was nicely functional and fulfilled our needs during the trip. One end of the bathroom features a large shower spanning the width of the bathroom. The vanity provides a large amount of countertop space conducive to dop kits and all the toiletries you brought along. Finally, a full-length mirror provides more light and an open feeling to the bathroom.

Breakfast

The Hyatt Place featured a standard continental breakfast. If you have been to a Hyatt Place before, the breakfast will be familiar to you. The breakfast featured a few warm items: sausage, egg, and cheese or bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits and English muffins.

The other breakfast items included bread (toast and bagels), yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, fruit, and yogurt parfait.

Milk, apple juice, orange juice, and water were available to complement breakfast.

Parking

Let’s just get it out there: parking is expensive here. This hotel is located in a downtown area, so there is almost no easy way to avoid the high cost of parking. The hotel arranged parking is located in a public parking deck (the Fore Street parking garage) behind the hotel. The entrance to the parking deck is easily missed as it is set back from the road.

During my stay, there was significant construction going on in the deck. From other reviews that I read of the hotel prior to my arrival, it appears that the construction has been ongoing for some time. Even though the construction gives the deck a bad appearance, the deck is easily navigable and not far to walk to the hotel.

Parking costs $25/night and is charged on arrival/check-in. The normal daily rate in the garage is $45/day so this represents a saving off the public rate. After paying for parking, you are provided a hang tag with a barcode to put in your car. The barcode is scanned at the entrance to the garage and provides unlimited entry and exit during your stay.

If you are exploring downtown Portland (specifically the Old Port area), the entry and exit privileges won’t be very useful. I parked up on arrival and only exited when I left the hotel for the airport. As a quick tip, the garage is open from 6 AM – 9 PM daily. I didn’t see a way to close the garage outside of those hours, but if you need to access your car before or after those times, make sure you inquire with the front desk about the ability to do so.

Cost

Hotels in the Old Port area can be very expensive during the main tourist season. During the high season (summer) on random dates through July 2021, the price ranged from $345 – almost $700. Most other comparable hotels in the area are similarly priced.

However, a great way to save money on the high seasonal rate is to take advantage of Hyatt points or Free Night Awards. This is what I did in my recent stay in June 2021. For more details on how to take advantage of Free Night Awards, see this post: Outsized Value of Hyatt Free Night Awards

Bottom Line

The upside to staying with a national brand hotel like Hyatt Place is that you know exactly what to expect. However, that is also a downside to these types of hotels. So much of travel is about having new experiences and finding the unexpected. Therefore, I always hesitate to recommend cookie-cutter, national-brand hotels, but these types of hotels seem to make up a large portion of the options in cities. Overall, the Hyatt Place is a great way to stay in the Old Port area of Portland (especially if you can get it under normal price during a sale or via points/free night).