Hi All, Here is our trip report from our Labor Day weekend at this resort. We usually go down here once a year because we like the combination of pool with water slide/lazy river at sister property and best of all, a natural state beach on the barrier island which the Hyatt uses. I've written glowing reviews in the past but this time, we were very disappointed. Upon arrival(at 11am), we were told that they were full and we couldn't have have our guaranteed on paper, oceanview room with balcony. We were told to take a streetfront room that was handicapped accessible or nothing. This room had a king bed(we had 2 doubles, guaranteed) and we were traveling with 2 small children. No amount of discussion(or platinum status at Hyatt) was changing the offer. We took it with the promise of a rollaway bed and decided to put our 9 y/o son in the big bed with us. Ugh! By 11:30pm, still no cot for our 11 y/o daughter and after several calls to the front desk, we were told that they were out of rollaways and a truck was bringing more from Miami but we might not get one all weekend. The hotel was clearly jammed this weekend and if you were not by the pool at 8am, you could claim a patch of grass as your own to put your towel and bag on. The breakfast restaurant had a wait of 45 min. at 8:30 am which we had never experienced before with many irritated families including one mother who hollered that she was going to "beat your _____" if the kids didn't settle down. Lovely. We decided to forgo our included breakfast and head off to the beach. The beach shuttle boat runs once an hour and so you must be there about 15 min. early to secure a spot. On Saturday, after giving up the possibility of a beach chair and rushing down to the first boat shuttle, we were told that the island would be closed all day due to red tide and red algae. Okay, not the resort's fault. Two hours at the pool and then the rain. Game room was out of tokens for the games and the front desk had no solution for this. Watched TV. That evening ate a poor meal at Tarpon Springs for $245(2 apps, 3 adult dinners,2 wines, 1 kid's, 2 desserts, 1 bottle of sping water for $8-$3 at home). Sunday, repeat of Saturday's non-beach trip but with waterfront manager saying that the guests were up in arms there there is no central way to announce beach closings. Highlight of this day was lightening just outside of the pool area but no pool attendants asking people to get out of the water. Dinner at Roy's in Bonita Springs was excellent. Monday, our last day- Finally got out to the island and was shocked by the change from one year ago. The boat captain told me that the red tide was still present but the red algae covering the now tiny beach was a bigger problem. Again, not the resort's fault but it is completely misleading not to change the online description of the beach. You can no longer wander down the beach due to the massive amount of debris that is blocking the path. The beach is now so narrow as to be unenjoyable and people were fighting over a spot to put their things. After wading through a large amount of the red algae covering the shore, the water was nice and warm but full of silt due to recent storms. I love that this island is a nature preserve and we are not concerned with seaweed and all but the beach experience has declined tremendously and guests of the Hyatt should know it. Upon checkout, the line of people at the front desk complaining was considerable. I'm still hoping to get my bill adjusted to reflect our involuntary downgrade. We just couldn't wait any longer for assistance. It's such a shame that this property disappointed us as we just loved it in the past. Perhaps things will turn around and we'll be back. Threehearts

Sounds like the weather and the crowds just weren't your thing.

One tip, if the front desk will not help you with a room you've clearly reserved, call the hotel's customer service 800 hotline.

I can promise you no hotel manager wants a call from corporate concerning a guest who is standing at his/her check in in the lobby of the hotel.

Yuck. Lightning. Red tide. Seaweed. Bonita Springs used to be nothing but garbage and biker bars. It was the butt of jokes to residents of Lee county. Sounds like they need to upgrade some facilities to keep the visitors from going crazy during hurricane season. Waiting for breakfast is inexcusable. I suggest you move your next trip to Naples at La Playa or the very nice and modest Vanderbilt Beach hotel.

We will be looking at alternative resorts that have both beach and a nice pool. We truly loved the Hyatt, in the past and actually we're okay with crowds if the resort is up to the challenge(i.e- can deliver on room guarantees, 50+ guests NOT sitting on grassy patches due to limited facilities at pool). As far as weather goes, we've been away during hurricanes before and no issue there either. It's not the resort's fault but it is the resort's responsibilty to make sure that their indoor activities are fully functioning. The game room, pool table etc. should be available for those not able to be outdoors. The "classic DVDs" advertised were non-existent but we knew this from previous visits and brought our own. I'm in hopes that the resort will turn around and that my $500/night room rate will actually be priceworthy in the future. Threehearts

Did you ever get your rollaway? YIKES!

Hi Threehearts. So sorry to hear that this trip was a disappointment. We stayed there last year and really liked the hotel (especially the lazy river pool). I must admit there was barely anyone at the resort then which made us quite happy. We never made it to the their beach. Hope your next trip is much better.

Sorry you had a bad trip!
We used to travel with 3-5 kids at a time. 5 or so years ago we had a confirmed double room with a sofabed and ended up with a king room with no sofabed. No Rollaways! Yikes!
We had 3 kids with us, so we went to a store and bought 2 Aerobeds with sleeping bags attached. They were 129.00 each.
The hotel reduced our bill by 100 per night and we got to keep the aerobeds.
They have paid themselves off 1000x!
We take them everywhere!

Thank you for sticking to the facts. It makes your report believable. Sorry you didn't have such a great time.

Such a resort can be fabulous but risky during Hurricaine Season. Hopefully they have learned from the experience and it won't happen again.

I haven't been up to the Hyatt for a while, but I do know they've been building a lot. They were adding more and more "condo" or time share type units. Are all these places sharing the general facilities? Is this part of the problem?

I'm not sure what I'd have done when the guaranteed room didn't exist, but I love the idea of calling corporate. What on earth does guarantee mean? Usually it means money back -- so I would think that if the guarantee falls apart your room should be free.

I'm sorry for your rotten experience, threehearts, but I have never heard of a room type being guaranteed, ever. You do what you can to accommodate requests, but they are that requests, whether it be for bed type (double-double or king) or smoking/non-smoking, or location. The earlier you arrive, the better the odds of getting your preference, especially during peak periods such as Labor Day weekend, when half of FL is taking off to other parts of FL and resorts are full to the brim! Too much can go wrong, from people not leaving when expected, on down to rooms being put in DNR!

Your bill certainly should have been adjusted to reflect the fact that you no longer had bay view, but city view. Call and or write the GM...I will unequivocally guarantee they will want to make it right. (LOL guarantee and you've got it on paper.)

That complex is actually two separate entities....Hyatt Regency Coconut Point being part of Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and Hyatt Coconut Plantation being part of Hyatt Vacation Club (time share and a different company from the hotel division, right down to different presidents, although under the same family umbrella). Quite often they build close to each other (San Antonio they have as well) and the two share facilities, which, on weekends like the past one, I would imagine could make for a zoo-like atmosphere! That might be something they need to look at differently for future heavy occupancy weekends, limiting usage only to registered guests of one facility or the other during that time frame.

At any rate, I am sorry for such a punk weekend when you have had such wonderful experiences previously. It was a collision of unfortunately events, sadly.

We stayed at this property last year in January (off season, too cold to swim)and the rooms are really nice, but the hotel was "dead" so we had no problem getting a nice room. But I wasn't that impressed with the pool areas. Room rate wasn't too cheap either, even in January. In all my travels, I've always found Hyatt resorts to be a hit or miss. The resorts are usually layed out nicely, but the service at the front desks can tend to be a little "cold". I would certainly write a letter to HYATT and complain about your stay. Maybe they can offer you a credit for a future stay at another Hyatt. I'm sure they would rather keep the customer happy than have all this "negative" advertising. On the plus side, we enjoyed Roy's very much too in Bonita Springs...

Well, the rollaway bed arrived on day two at 11:45 PM. Yes, that was PM when we got the knock on the door, not a call. We were very glad to see the cot. As far as the room category guarantee, I have always taken $500 for an ocean-view balcony room to mean that we would get one. I never thought that hotels just had to make their best effort but could give you the lowest category available if they chose. Certainly, that scenario is not what I've experienced in the past. We did check in at 11am which I felt was early enough to secure the room but I guess it wasn't. The below quote is direct from the Hyatt's Gold Passport Platinum Membership page-
"Platinum Membership

Receive a 15% point bonus when you choose points for your stay.
Private Platinum Reservation and Account Information Line.
Passport Plus Awards: For additional points, Platinum and Diamond members can redeem free nights when award inventory is sold out.
Receive a Platinum Extras Certificate after every third stay providing you with a selection of benefits from which to choose.
Check-in for your Hyatt stay prior to arrival with Hyatt Web Check-In. Hyatt Web Check-In is available beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET at participating Hyatt locations
The bed type you request at time of reservation will be guaranteed."
Note the bedding guarantee. I did speak to the manager about the issues as they happened and got courteous treatment but it seemed that the resort was just too full for the staff to rectify any problems. We've stayed at this hotel many times and I would consider giving it another shot but not until I have read a consistent number of positive reviews. Thanks for all of the helpful suggestions from the posters on this thread. It it is always beneficial to "hear" the viewpoints of others. Threehearts

threehearts...My apologies. I'm not up on the different levels of Gold Passport and didn't realize they actually made that guarantee for platinum and diamond levels. How they do, and can fulfill it, is beyond me, but it's clearly there.

I'm trying to get a clearer picture of the situation. Did you arrive to check in at 11 AM on Friday?? If so, it seems incredible that both your room choice and bed choice would not be available that early in the day. I am curious...did you book this stay conventionally through the hotel or through a 3rd party site, such as Orbitz, Travelocity etc? If conventionally, and if you arrived that early in the day, something just isn't adding up, they clearly owe you, and it won't take any haggling to be compensated.

Was talking about this with my DH last night who said that he knows the periods he will be inundated with families, and here for instance, closed out his double doubles in January for June and July, but that 3rd parties blithely book away--"want a double double? Fine, here it is."

Please do call the hotel to discuss this. Although nothing really fixes the lost weekend, they will do their utmost to make it as right for you as they can.

Hi All, Sorry if I left our dates in confusion. We arrived at the front desk on Saturday morning at 11am which may account for the packed hotel. I'm sure that Friday would have been a better choice. Also, I was asked how I booked the reservation. I booked it via the internet on Hyatt's website. In all fairness to hotel management, the check out and complaining lines were huge, I didn't see a dedicated Hyatt Gold Card line(is there one?) and we just could not wait another minuite. I will write to the hotel manager this week but I will hold off on corporate, for the hotel's response. I like to start with those directly responsible before reporting incidents to higher management. Hope this answers your questions and have a good day. Threehearts