The Hyatt Regency Sacramento is a perfectly serviceable hotel with a nice lobby, generally good staff, and good rooms that gets very expensive and sells out when the legislature is in session in California’s state capitol, given its proximity.
I stayed there recently at the tail end of my UAE and Maldives trip because a friend was getting married nearby.
The hotel was expensive when I looked into it, showing sold out months in advance, but another friend decided not to use his booking at the Hyatt and stay at the nearby Sheraton instead — and transferred his cheapie reservation to me.
I should have known that showing sold out (only “Diamond Guaranteed Availability” open) months out must mean a conference taking up the bulk of the hotel. In those situations rooms often become available close to the stay when the group’s hold on rooms ends and any unbooked ones return to inventory. In this case that didn’t appear to happen, the hotel really was full with a conference — the California Republican Party state convention.
I checked into the hotel and the lobby was a zoo. The front desk clerk noted that the club lounge was closed, even though he said they’d frequently been keeping it open on weekends. I suspect that California Republicans don’t book club level, so they decided they didn’t need to service the lounge.
That meant I would get free breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and also 2500 Gold Passport points for my trip. Score. (I wasn’t going to be around the hotel for evening cocktails anyway, though I’ve heard the hotel does a nice evening setup.)
It was fascinating to be at the hotel as a bystander. A dominant theme of conversation, at least what I gleamed walking from the front door to the elevators and up to my room, and also around the outside bar area, was how much these folks hated the Tea Party — calling them “stupid” on several occasions — although I suspect to (these) Republicans in California, “stupid” means “people who aren’t helpful to my meeting personal electoral goals and advancing my power base.”
Though I had booked a room with two beds (it’s what was available cheap) I was upgraded to a large King Bed room with separate sitting area and a lovely view out over the park.
What was unsettling was the raucous partying through the night by the conference attendees. These folks were loud, and drunk. And not particularly fond of the family value of picking up after themselves, as I discovered in the morning by the elevators.
Checking out of the hotel, I was asked the obligatory, “So how was your stay?” I mentioned the loud partiers. I wasn’t looking for anything, I’m earnest by nature. She asked and so I offered up the most salient detail. She responded with an apology and a promise to post 3000 points to my Gold Passport account for the trouble.
Now, I really wasn’t looking for compensation, I was just looking forward to heading home after a little over two weeks away. But since she promised the points, I did look out for them. The stay posted, the points did not. So I did follow up to get them.
In total, 6500 bonus points on top of the points for the room rate, an upgrade, free internet, and the option of free breakfast (which I never took them up on, I grabbed something from the adjacent Starbucks on the way to the airport) I do feel like I got the better end of the bargain — even if California Republicans are a bit heavier partiers than some might expect!
Though I’m a Democrat, I wouldn’t hold the loud partying against the Republicans per se…and I’m sure that you don’t either, Gary. Drunk, inconsiderate conduct has no particular political affiliation. Still, I’m sorry you had to put up with that…especially coming off of a long, jet-lagging trip.
Interesting comments you overheard about the Tea Party. That’s consistent with how my Republican friends feel about the TPers. And of course it’s been a big subject of discussion in the national press.
@Southside I have no doubt Democrats party it up at their conventions, too!!
Your photo of the elevator lobby is an example of one of my hotel pet peeves. Why can’t hotels “sweep” each floor periodically to ensure that things such as trash, room service trays, etc are removed. I don’t know why a room service tray that’s in the hall when I check-in needs to be in the same spot the following day at check-out.
This hotel was my home away from home for many months and there are not enough great things to be said about the staff and property. Glad you enjoyed your stay! Those corner king rooms are the best.
Was this the hotel where Arnold lived while governating?
Calling the Tea Party stupid is like calling Joseph McCarthy stupid. That the GOP might be harmed by absurd attacks, outlandish claims, and bizarre conclusions doesn’t matter to them one bit. It’s more about silencing the last remnants of moderation and cooperation.
@Nick Yes it was
Oh, you’re one of those bloggers. Un-sub’d. As if political offliation determines ones character. They’re all screwed-up and they have you right where they want you. Believing one party’s non-sense over the others.
@Jayson. +1
@Jayson what makes you say that I believe political affiliation determines character?
Gary –
You must be mistaken. California got rid of the last remnants of the Republican Party in the election last November… 🙂 (OK, maybe there a re a few left…)
“SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has reached an all-time high of 18.2 million registered voters, while the number of registered Republicans has fallen below 30 percent, signaling a worrisome decline for the state’s minority party, officials said Friday.
In its final update before Tuesday’s general election, the secretary of state’s office said the number of registered voters has increased by 950,000 since the 2008 presidential contest. Officials attribute that surge in part to the state’s new online registration system, which helped many young, Democratic-leaning Californians sign up to vote this fall.
That system was seen as a threat to the California Republican Party, which has struggled to retain members, let alone add them. The secretary of state announced that Republicans now make up 29.3 percent of the state’s electorate, compared with 31.4 percent in 2008.
This appears to be the lowest ebb for the party since records have been available.”
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-registration-dips-below-30-percent-calif-192045495–election.html
@Gary, I want to know why @Jayson says “oh, you’re one of those bloggers” what kind of blogger is that? One that writes about hotels?
Seems like Jayson is one of those types of readers that gets offended at the slightest mention of anything politics.
Sounds like the fact that they were Republicans was a substantiative fact for this blog entry. I’m sure the Democrats would have never had a loud party in a hotel room.
It was interesting, is all — and the “conversations overhead in the lobby” wouldn’t have made any sense if they were Green Party members! And I suppose I wouldn’t have bothered posting about the hotel otherwise, plenty of stays don’t warrant a post, I haven’t posted this year about the Hilton JFK or the hyatt Regency San Francisco (although with likely 3 more stays there in the coming 2 months I just might have something to say about it that I find mildly amusing, so who knows!).
Gary, the definition of the word stupid that you attribute to CA Republicans could probably be attributed to ANY politician with a high degree of accuracy.
@Dax – +1!
@Brian L – correct, it was only attributed to the Republicans speaking, in context. They described something as stupid but what they really meant was inconvenient for them personally.
Any organized political party is basically a tribe banding together seeking wealth and power thru their group. Republican politicians hate the Tea Party because they don’t want “ordinary” people interfering with their process of seeking wealth and power. Actually, I’d guess all political parties in the country hate the TP folks, since the TP wants to restrict the regulatory power and spending by politicians. The less government regulation and spending, the less opportunity for graft and corruption.
@Robert Hanson
Um…no. the TP doesn’t really know what it wants…”get your gubmint hands off my medicare, moran!” – they have no substantive policy agenda.
It is simply :
1. I’m pissed off about the black guy in office
2. Only good govt help is the help I get
@Dax +10
@robert Hanson that’s a good one. Tell us another joke.
I stay in this hotel nearly every week (and have for quite a few months). In my opinion the Sheraton gives a better sleep (quieter) but the Hyatt has better facilities (bar, restaurants, Starbucks, gym).
The gym at the Hyatt is not accessible from the hotel interior, even though it’s in the same building (as is the parking garage). It’s out and around the corner instead. As hotel gyms go, it’s quite nice – ample free weights up to 50 lb. dumbbells, multiple treadmills, bikes and ellipticals, two free weight benches (adjustable), and a suite of machines.
The lobby bar is well stocked and serves food from its own menu and from Dawson’s, the on premises steakhouse/bar. Starbucks is next to the gym – it’s a full fledged Starbucks though it closes at 6 or 6:30p.
Capital view rooms are the best, in my opinion, for a quiet night. Though that’s no guarantee. The building is shaped like a ‘T’ with three wings. The ‘point’ of the T faces the Capital, but the left side has clear views. The right side overlooks the pool and the seating area (with fireplaces) outside of the lobby bar. So it can be noisy if people are outside being raucous.
I find the staff to be quite excellent, but the place can get overrun by organizations. The Sheraton is no different. The Sheraton is one block north of the Hyatt. There’s an Embassy Suites out towards Old Sac, which has some excellent places to eat, but for my money the Hyatt wins out for comfort and access.
I like the Sheraton Grand, behind the Hyatt, better, for just this reason. The Hyatt seems to draw partiers and the management don’t moderate it. And this IS the place where Arnold lived (when he was actually in Sacramento, maybe three nights a week, half the weeks of the year), and the Republicans seem to plan everything there (it’s non-union).
I thought Republicans like Marriott. It’s something about the blandness and lack of variety that soothes and comforts them.
@smitty06 – They (some of them, at least) also like the lack of porn at Marriott.
It’s just a sign from above, Gary, at how misguided your politics are and how ridiculous it is that you constantly infuse them in this blog when it is absolutely misguided or irrelevant or non-sensical or laughable.
Wait, repub-tp-“stupid”? Ummm, pot-kettle-black?
@Brian L.: Ah, yes, the “family-value”-ers.. as they are off with their mistresses or boi-friends or… Today, is Sanford “visiting his kids” again..? Sheesh
@Robert Hanson
No surprise that you favor the tea-baggers:
Ah, less regulation/laws on the corporations who buy off the politions to write the laws in their favor yet still can’t help committing crime after crime after crime…
Teabaggers: “Fewer laws against the criminals!!!”
Chase. B of A. Citi. AIG…. You and your bedfellows..
Perhaps, Enron, Merrill, Halliburton… fit your umm, “timeframe” better? Crime after crime after crime. Let’s have fewer laws so they don’t commit so many crimes!!! :))))
Umm: “politicians” My crime? Apparently, typing? :))
@J – huh?
@Brian L – Marriott only decided to do away with in-room porn (through a phase out over time) when people stopped paying for it and started getting it free online. Marriott’s carrying porn was the deciding factor in a court case in favor of a Salt Lake City sex shop…
@smitty06 there’s no full service Marriott in Sacramento
@Gary – The fact that people stopped paying may have been the deciding factor, but I think they were looking for any excuse they could to get rid of it.
I thought the post was about what you got after making an opiniong of your stay.
The same happened to me on Dec2012 at Grand Hyatt Dubai, booked on points with airport pick up included. Pick-up car didn’t showed up, and came 10 min after I mentioned to the Hyatt desk at Dubai Airport.
Once at the hotel, I mentioned the incidet with the intention to hear “what I had to do so the delay doesn’t happen again”. They were very sorry and comped my entire stay, giving me back 18K points for the stay.
We lived for months barricaded in our homes, surrounded by squalor brought on by democrats aka Occupy Wall Street. We live right next to Zuccotti Park. We had to pass those people every day. They were insulting us, calling our children names, unashamed of using obscenities in front of them. They threw fecal matters at us and our neighbors. They vandalized our shops and vehicles. The list goes on. So stop whining, you big baby. “Those mean Republicans woke me up”. Pathetic/
@Julianne Cohen – I never called them mean or suggested the problem was that they were Republicans. Thanks for commenting!
Obviously both parties have their useful idiots. While the mainstream Republicans try to run from the Tea Party ever notice how fast the Democrats and the mainstream media ran from Cindy Sheehan once she started protesting against Obama?
As for the racism angle often hurled at the Tea Party, it seems Democrats have forgotten the vile racist and misogynist attacks on Hillary and Bill Clinton when Hillary was running against Obama.
Gary, I am very grateful for your efforts to share this story! Definitely worth reading!