Boise Idaho Hotels: Hyatt Place Boise Downtown Review
For my Memorial Day trip to Idaho I wound up spending all four nights at the Boise Hyatt Place Downtown. Since there were not any affordable Airbnb rentals out in wine country available by the time I started looking, the hotel’s location wound up being ideal.
The Boise Hyatt Place downtown is very downtown — two blocks from many great restaurants, breweries, and wine bars. And it is only an hour drive to Sunnyslope, the heart of Idaho’s wine country, in one direction and an hour drive north to Idaho City and more mountainous terrain.
The location and the price wound up being the biggest draw. It was going for $105-$126 a night with the AAA rate, or a mere $50 + 2,500 points with the cash and points option. Of course that made the decision of whether using points or only cash was the better value.
Anyway, the Hyatt Boise is very new and the staff are friendly. My flight didn’t get in until midnight, but check in was quick. I was a little disappointed Globalist status didn’t merit more recognition than bottles of water and a thank you, but that could have been because the hotel was completely full for the Memorial Day weekend. Still, I was hoping for at least a slightly larger room or a view of the capitol or mountains.
Instead I had a standard King. Perfectly fine with almost no wear and tear.
Like many Hyatt Places, the bathroom has the sliding door, which I’m not a big fan of as it limits privacy and also floods the room with light if anyone gets up in the middle of the night to use it. The housekeeping service was fantastic though — I was never without plenty of fresh towels and the toiletries were replaced almost daily.
The mini fridge was nice for storing leftovers and chilling wine. The closet could have used a few more hangers.
The walls were thick and the hallways pretty quiet. I don’t think I ever heard more than a faint muffled noise from any of the neighbors.
I did appreciate the 24/7 food options. I didn’t wind up taking advantage of the salad and flatbread options, but coming in on late flights it’s often a challenge to find anywhere nearby open for a quick bite. And unless you have a car, the Hyatt Boise doesn’t have early morning or evening grab and go options nearby.
The outdoor pool was small but got decent sun most of the day. The gym was spacious and I appreciated the updated Life Fitness machines. There were a couple of treadmills, two ellipticals, and a stationary bike.
The breakfast was a bit of a disaster area. Because I worked out first in the mornings, I wasn’t able to get down there on the early side they recommend to avoid lines. By the time I arrived the first two mornings, most of the food was picked over, the coffee urns were empty, and there was a general feeling of chaos with children running around. The first morning a fire had even started in the toasting machine.
Perhaps this experience made a me a little less unhappy about news of Hyatt’s experiment to eliminate free breakfast for everyone, even elites.
A note about parking. The hotel parking lot fills up quickly in the evenings, so you might wind up at the designated lot across the street. A quick walk, but something to consider if you have a lot to carry in/out. The website states parking is $12 a day, but third party websites were saying parking was free. Checking out at 4AM the last morning, no parking charge was on the bill. I was pleased to see it and was too tired to question whether it was because I was on an award stay or because it’s actually free. So might be worth asking at the desk when you check in, as there are a decent number of metered spots surrounding the hotel that are only enforced Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
