Hyatt Regency does it again. We veered outside of California to explore the Cleveland rock scene last week. I couldn’t have been happier than the value I received in booking a room at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade. The bed was so amazing, the air conditioning worked well, and the location offered everything one could want. Starbucks Coffee Kiosk in the shopping mall withing the Arcade was open in the mornings, but just a block away was a full service Starbucks. House of Blues, a comedy club, easy walk to Jacobs Field ball park for the Cleveland Indians game and public transportation to get around were just a few advantages to staying at the Hyatt. Was it worth the 4.5 hour flight from L.A.? Definitely! If you’ve not checked out Cleveland recently, definitely go. You won’t be sorry, folks!
My new-found friend, Terry, is a hoot. I say that tongue-in-cheek, because she’s from Pendleton, Oregon, and writes books on cowboys and rodeos. At a writers conference in Arkansas where we met not long ago, we needed to drive from one side of the state to the other and found time passed quickly as we talked about our worst hotel stories. I said that a place can charge $350/night, and I’ll be sitting in my room and will get a flea bite. “Is this a pet hotel,” I suddenly think to ask…and sure enough, it usually is. Terry smiled, discovering how easy it was going to be to beat me in this contest. She stayed in a name hotel in Albuquerque and found a few things less than satisfactory, but she’d get by, she told me. As people do so many times, she reached under the bed to feel for her shoes, and touched something furry. Pulling back quickly, she flipped open the bed skirt to see a dead rat in a trap. She’d slept all night with that under her bed, but touching it was worse. The hotel never acknowledged her complaint. She’s so freaked out now, she looks under the bed at every hotel she stays at.
I just returned from a visit with my parents in Santa Maria, California where I slept on a foam cushion on the floor for three days. It was a bit hard, but better than the soft, soft bed they offered me. I could have gone to a hotel, but the truth is, I’ve found only a few hotels that consistently offer firm beds. A chain that has never let me down to date is Hyatt Regency hotels, but I can’t think of any Hyatt’s in the area where they live. One place not far from Santa Maria has fantastic beds…but the rates are a bit high for a 3 night stay. Dolphin Bay Resort suites are luxury condos with granite countertops, living rooms, nice bath, full kitchen, ocean views, beach access, great restaurant on site, etc. Last year I looked at a suite there and couldn’t resist. I pulled out my checkbook and decided to give it a try, if only for a night. The bed was perfect, as was my stay. I really didn’t want to go home. It’s kind of hard to tell my parents I’m staying up the road in Pismo Beach at a luxury resort, paying anywhere from $299 upwards per night. So I toughed it out at their house and survived. Dolphin Bay is one of those places that you don’t forget. I’d go back in a heartbeat and may do so after the summer is over.