Hotel Review: The Sarasota Hyatt

When my husband and I decided to go away for a few days to celebrate our anniversary I went into high gear looking for a good deal in Sarasota Florida. It had been a while since we had been there and we wanted to see a few of the many interesting sights the city has to offer.

The first thing I did was call the hotel chains we are members of and I found a deal that was incredible, called the "Weekend Romance Package" at the Sarasota Hyatt. The price was really reasonable too at $149.00 a night which included a full breakfast each morning and, as an additional bonus, a bottle of Champagne and a box of chocolates in our room upon arrival. This hotel was also rated one of the best in Sarasota. The only problem was that it wasn't located on the beach but in the city. To tell you the truth that didn't bother me at all because a beach vacation was not what we were looking for.

Check in was a breeze and after we went to our room that welcomed bottle of champagne was delivered as well as a box of Godiva chocolates. We had a lovely room with a small balcony overlooking the odd shaped pool below and the Marina where we saw a few manatees swimming around the boats that were docked there on occasion. That was a special treat for us, to see those friendly sea giants.

The room was a good size...when entering, the dressing area and bathroom was on one side of the hallway. There was a single sink, granite topped with a nice brand of shampoo, conditioner and soap, one thing I wasn't happy with was the lack of space to put our own toiletries since there was a coffee pot taking up most of the space and no hook to hang our travel kits, there were plenty of towels, a good size, nice and thick.

The bedroom was decorated with basic hotel room colors that seem to be popular with many hotel chains, dark woods, shades of green and a bit of gold. With the wall to wall glass balcony doorway, the room felt nice and airy.

There was a King bed, made up with extremely soft linens and a whole bunch of fluffy pillows. A chest of drawers opposite the bed served as a dresser and TV stand. End tables, on each side of the bed, were all in that same matching wood as the dresser and headboard. One contained a clock radio and phones. Above the tables were lights on the wall for each side of the bed. But I would have like them to be a bit brighter for reading at night. The room was quite quiet and we slept well with no interruptions of noise from the nearby elevators.

The room also contained a big easy chair with ottoman along with a standing floor lamp and table. On the other side of the sliding doors was a desk and chair, with internet connection should you need it. I don't know if there was a charge for that service. I was disappointed that there wasn't a safe or mini bar, which I usually like to have, but alas you can't have everything. Cable TV with HBO and pay for view movies rounded out the amenities in the room.

At night there was turn down service and chocolates left on the pillows. In the morning a newspaper was delivered and it was nice to relax on the balcony with a cup of coffee and the paper in the mornings. We really enjoyed looking out over the harbor as the fishing boats came and went while watching the activity in the large strange shaped pool. Which by the way, was a pleasure to swim in as it wasn't crowded and I loved to sit under the mini waterfall on one end. For the kiddies there was a beach entry but, like I said, we didn't see too many children during our visit. That might be quite different during high tourist season or Spring break.

There were two restaurants in the hotel, Scalini's and The Boathouse. We had a nice breakfast the first morning in Scalini's but it was closed for dinner one night due to a power outage, so we had dinner in The Boathouse which was fairly decent. The following morning we had a very nice buffet breakfast back at the Boathouse. Both restaurants offer buffet breakfasts every day.

The rest of our vacation we dined in the nearby restaurants on the famous St. Armonds Circle.

Speaking of which, the location of this hotel is really perfect, it's in the downtown area but a nice downtown, with multi-million dollar condos going up right and left. The causeway to the beaches, Ringling Museum and the Mote Aquarium, was just a few minutes away and the new Performing Arts center was very close-by. As I mentioned, Armond's Circle was also just a few blocks away where there are a slew of fine restaurants as well as some affordable places to eat. The circle is famous for all its fancy and expensive boutique shops and antique stores.

We were very happy with this location since all of the places I just mentioned were on our agenda so the Sarasota Hyatt, really filled the bill for us and so was the price of our "Romance Package". The staff of the hotel was friendly and very accommodating, which is always a plus in my book.

My special bonus was seeing those manatees in the harbor, swimming free and hopefully safely, I just hoped those boats knew of their presence when they made their way out to sea.

Oh, and parking was no problem, as a hotel guest you could valet park for $10.00 a night or use the nearby self parking lot for free. Non-guests could Self Park for $6.00.

Even though this hotel is not located on the beach it is very popular with families on Spring Break. It would important to make your reservations early.