Staying at the Renovated Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Hotel

a building with many floors and tables and chairs

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport was my go-to airport hotel for several years when wine tasting trips and mileage runs had me flying out of SFO frequently. I liked it because it was close to the airport with a free shuttle and, when I had a car or was willing to Uber, close to an In N Out and one of the best dim sum restaurants in the Bay Area.

The Bay Area is back to being a frequent destination (you might have noticed), so when I was offered the chance to come check out their renovated rooms and new restaurant before my redeye flight, I jumped at the chance.

Because, let’s face it, how much can you renovate an atrium hotel?

an escalator in a mall
Hyatt Regency SFO Atrium pre-renovation (photo courtesy of View from the Wing)

Quite a bit it seems! The refresh got rid of the fussy atrium landscaping and pink tint, replaced with clean modern designs and art. The new color scheme throughout is rather soothing gray blue tones.

an escalator in a building

an aerial view of a mall

a building with many windows and a large building with many tables and chairs
New atrium layout at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport

a room with a large building and a large window

What hasn’t changed is that it is still a conference hotel — there will still be large groups in all the public spaces, including the restaurant and even the club lounge, so be prepared. During my stay it was adolescent dance troupes everywhere.a group of people in a building

That said, check in at 4PM on a Friday was quite quick. I’d arrived in an electric car and asked about charging. They do have two charging spots at no additional cost, two power outlets in the valet area that have been repurposed. Not ideal, but definitely better than nothing! If you need to use them, just go to the valet area, they’ll show you where to park and take down the information for your car. a lobby with a few people standing in front of the counter

a car parked in a parking garage
Two electric car charging areas at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport

But back to check in. I was given the choice of two rooms on the 9th floor, one an interior facing the atrium, the other facing the interstate. Hoping for a quieter stay before my flight I chose the exterior. If you’re wanting to get sleep early or are sensitive to noise, you’ll want an outward facing room, preferably one without a connecting door.

a door with a mirror and a suitcase
The entry foyer provides additional privacy for the bathroom

a room with a bed and a couch

a room with a desk and a tv

a bedroom with a bed and a table

a bathroom with a mirror and sink

a shower with a glass door

The room looked great, though there were signs that the renovation was still in progress.

a metal object with a sign on it

It also appeared that they kept some of the original furniture, which explained the worn edges in an otherwise brand new feeling room.  I never had a problem with the previous decor, I found I did prefer the blue gray color scheme and minimalist decor to the earlier brown tones.

a bed with white sheets and a lamp
Pre-renovation room at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport (photo courtesy of View from the Wing)

One criticism with the new rooms? Hyatt is usually great about making rooms work-friendly, but this desk only had one outlet and one USB port on the lamp and the outlets on the wall (which still had their original plates) were already full.

a black rectangular object with a black pole and a black power outlet

a black plug in a wall outlet

The club has also been upgraded with fresh decor, though it still has the same layout and the same great views of the San Francisco Airport runway.

a room with a long table and chairs

a room with a table and chairs

a kitchen with a counter top and bowls of fruit
Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Club Lounge between services
a refrigerator with drinks in it
Beverages available throughout the day
a body of water with buildings and trees
Great view of the SFO runway from the terrace

The staff were very friendly and the evening hors d’oeuvres were generous, better than the oft-seen cheese platter and obligatory cut veggies with dip. We skipped in favor of dinner, but went back up for the evening drinks. Not much variety in desserts, but a large supply. Which was good, because the lounge was a bit crowded with some dozen pre-teen dance troupe members.

a paper with text on ita pan of food on a counter

a group of bowls of food

a blue pot with food in it

a plate of desserts on a counter

Evening drinks are not free, but much cheaper than downstairs and the staff gave pretty hefty pours.

a bowl of beer and bread on a table

But the biggest improvements were to the conference space, the dining space, and the gym. Oh the gym! This one made me want to work out. Awesome new machines that even include rep counters. The one downside is that the gym still requires walking through the conference space to access. Nothing like going for an evening work out and then walking through a hallway reception. 🙂

a room with a mirror and a bar

a gym with exercise equipment

a row of treadmills in a gym

a close up of a machine
Brand new machines that count your sets!

a pool with chairs and trees

That’s why I’m super excited about the 9th floor gym they created! It’s small, but has great views and one of all the new machines.

a black desk with a mirror and a black shelf with a black board and a black board with a white board and a black board with a black frame and a black board with a white board and

a room with exercise machines and windows
The 9th floor now has its own mini-gym!

The Hyatt Recency used to have a dark, authentic looking sports bar called Knuckles in addition to the main restaurant. I have memories of sitting in a dim surroundings munching a mediocre salad. Now all the dining has been combined into a central area in the atrium and now includes offerings from local providers.

a group of people in a building

a white paper with black text
Some of the local products available on the menu

The seating is attractive and geared for productivity with power outlets at many of the seats.

a marble table next to a couch

The new space also offers a grab-and-go option with a pretty wide variety of edibles, affordably priced for a hotel. This is a huge improvement as the hotel is in rather a food wasteland unless you want to drive or Uber somewhere.

a man standing behind a counter in a store
Extensive, healthy food-to-go options

a store with shelves of food and drinks

a counter with food in it
And the not-so-healthy options

a display of food items on shelves

The new 3SIXTY Bistro is great, better than I expected, with some rather daring offerings for an airport hotel menu. Fortunately they delivered. The seared Ahi tuna was well prepared.

a plate of food with sauce

The clam chowder was loaded with clams, including whole clams, and I only encountered an occasional potato chunk.a plate of soup with bread and green onions

The fried chicken was impressively plated, more tempura than southern-style. The chicken was cooked perfectly, but wound up being a little greasy for me pre-flight. The onion and bacon element was divine.a plate of food on a table

So instead I chowed down on my friend’s mac and cheese. They’d opted to add crab and once again, there was no skimping by the chef. Amazing!a bowl of food with cheese and parsley

Since it is now the only dining space, eating in the restaurant is even interesting than the usual hotel restaurant as you wind up seeing everyone. Weary travelers, celebrating couples, and conference attendees in various forms of attire, in our case, dance costumes.

The bar has also had a huge upgrade. Not only is the 3SIXTY bar much larger than the previous option, it has a great selection of local beers, wine, and even liquors. Super friendly bartenders and “decent†prices. Its the kind of place as a solo traveler I would opt to eat at the bar vs taking something up to my room.a man standing next to a bar

a group of people sitting at tables in a restaurant

I also loved that they offer nicer wines by the glass. And if you’re willing to order wine by the bottle, its an even better deal as you can skip the usual mass distributed wines at a huge mark up and taste some local finds. Also note, the menu between restaurant and bar is the same, so if you’d rather dine by the big TV screens you can still get all the same options.

a bar with bottles of alcohol

a menu with black and red text
Local wine and beer list

I grabbed a few hours sleep before catching the hotel shuttle to the airport. I’d worried that all the dance troupe traffic in the hallways would be too loud, but the entry foyer in the room helped block the noise. The shuttle runs every 15 minutes, and that late at night it arrived on time. In under 10 minutes I was at the airport ready for my flight!

a shuttle schedule on a black surface
Hyatt Regency SFO shuttle schedule

Many thanks to the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport for the chance to experience their new offerings!

Full Disclosure: I may receive affiliate credit from links in this post or on this site which will help fund my travels. Thank you for your support!

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4 Comments

  1. Hey,

    9th floor gym isn’t new, but it looks nicely updated.

    Aren’t the glass doors in the interior rooms double paned now, like the outside ones?

    1. The renovations (including guest rooms) started last year but the final touches were just completed a month or so ago.

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