We went to visit my mom in Florida last weekend and yes, it was cold! Anyway, as it was just two of us this time, we decided to stay in a nicer hotel than the usual Hyatt Place in Plantation, which was so rundown last time, I got most of the points for the stay refunded.

I had a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Certificate expiring in March so I decided to use it at the Category 4 Hyatt Centric Las Olas Fort Lauderdale. I booked for three nights, one with the certificate and two more at 18,000 points per night. The cash rate was around $350 per night plus the destination fee and parking charge, which were both waived as a Hyatt Globalist staying on an award stay. The hotel was only about 5-10 minutes further from my mom’s house than the Hyatt Place in Plantation (depending on the time of day).

I texted about an upgrade the day before and on the morning of check-in, I was told we had been upgraded to a King ADA room with a balcony. While I appreciated the gesture (and it appeared that standard suites were sold out). I let them know we’d rather just have a regular room as the balcony was not necessary on a chilly weekend. In the end, they contacted me around noon to say the room was ready, but we were hanging out at my mom’s anyway.

We got to the hotel around 3pm and check-in was quick and efficient. We were given a personalized welcome letter (although I forgot to grab a picture of that) and a couple of drink tickets for the bar. As it turned out, the drink tickets were quite limited so we didn’t use them. There was a champagne vending machine by the elevator.

The room was clean and well laid-out. There were some local touches to mark this as a Hyatt Centric vs. a standard Hyatt Regency.

There was a small fridge, iron, coffee machine, robes and a safe. There were also plenty of charging outlets near the nightstands. There was no actual desk, just that weird chair with a small table, so if you plan to work, it could be a bit annoying.

The view out of our ninth floor room was of the pool one floor below. At check-in, the front desk agent told us he was putting us on the quiet rear side of the hotel as there would be lots of loud cars going by the front side at night. I appreciated that he proactively did this.

Breakfast was served in the main casual restaurant adjacent to the lobby. We were told we could order an entree, coffee, and juice although I think we probably could have ordered a couple of extra things and it would have been included. Here’s the menu (sorry it’s a bit blurry):

Over the two mornings we had breakfast (we left too early the last morning), we tried the shakshuka, French toast, pancakes and oatmeal. All of it was fresh and tasty. The espresso-based coffee drinks were good as well.

The hotel gym is on the eighth floor, near the pool and conference center. It had a good selection of equipment and weights.

The location of the hotel is at the western edge of Las Olas Boulevard, an historic shopping and dining street in Fort Lauderdale about two or three miles west of the beach. Its also about 10-15 minutes to Fort Lauderdale Airport. You could walk all the way to the beach if you were so inclined, but there’s a house Tesla that will drop you within two miles of the hotel. You can then get a free local rideshare service to bring you back. We ate at a couple of the restaurants near the hotel and enjoyed a stroll down Las Olas on Saturday (when it was still warm enough).

Valet parking is normally $45 per day, but of course, it was waived for us on a Globalist award stay. The valet service was very quick and responsive. I tipped them a few dollars each time they brought our rental vehicle. The destination fee (which was also waived for us) includes a few add-ons, but I still hate when hotels charge these fees.

Overall, we enjoyed this hotel. As Hyatt raises categories on some hotels every year, more and more of what were previously good properties to use the Category 1-4 certificate are no longer available. Hopefully, this property stays in Category 4 for a while as I expect we will stay there again. It provided good value for the points and certificate, the service and staff were great and the location, while not close to the beach, is close to great dining and shopping.

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