We visited D.C. earlier this month and Chris insisted that we stay at the Park Hyatt. He's been a huge fan of the brand for a while now and really couldn't resist the idea of staying here during our quick weekend trip (aren't they all?). It was in a great location in the heart of D.C. - we were walking distance to Georgetown and a quick bike ride away from all of the monuments. What more could you want?

When we arrived at the hotel, it was way too early for any rooms to be available, which unfortunately always happens due to our penchant for red-eye flights, so we stored our bags and went for a walk around the area. I love D.C. and always enjoy walking around whatever neighborhood I find myself in and this time was no different. There were quite a few other high-end hotels on the same street (Fairmont, Westin, etc) and lots of cute, colorful homes just a few streets away. We got a call from reception not long after we left saying that they had a room available, so we headed back.

The hotel is gorgeous from the outside and is home to The Blue Duck Tavern, which is their amazing in-house restaurant (more on that later).

The lobby is quite unique with large glass walls on either side of the entrance decorated with cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, the chairs the Park Hyatt seems to fancy are absolutely awful. You'll find these same slip-covered chairs throughout their properties and I'm really at a loss as to why.

The front desk was rarely unattended, but I managed to catch it that way since it was pretty early in the morning. The agent who checked us in was extremely friendly and helpful and we really appreciated being able to shower prior to meeting friends for breakfast. Unfortunately, we ended up with the curse of the early check-in - our room was one of the smallest in the hotel according to the floorplan, which was a bit disappointing.

The weekend after we checked out the Andaz West Hollywood, we returned to SoCal for Memorial Day weekend. Much like the Andaz West Hollywood, the Andaz San Diego had a previous life outside of the Hyatt family. The Andaz San Diego was formerly known as The Ivy Hotel and aimed to offer a "sexy" boutique experience. In some cases, your room came complete with a stripper pole! I'm not quite sure if Hyatt retained those or not, but the hotel vibe was definitely very party-like. The rooftop pool and restaurant turns into a club on the weekends and it was definitely poppin' (more to come on the roof later on).

We upgraded our booking to a one bedroom suite and checked in on Friday night to a room that was sans stripper pole but definitely very chic. The room was very nice and I loved how it was decorated, but I honestly wouldn't call it a "one bedroom" at all. All that separated the bedroom from the rest of the room was a wooden wall in the middle of the room and open on either side. 

The living room had two couches, a desk and chair, a coffee table, a TV mounted on the wall (with another TV mounted on the opposite side of the wall facing the bed), and a small bar area complete with refrigerator, coffee maker, and wine and spirits for purchase. 

Basically the entire right wall of the suite was windows, but disappointingly, our room faced an interior "courtyard" of sorts and if you had the window coverings open, you could see straight in to other rooms and vice versa. In fact, there was actually quite the bachelor party going on in the multi-level suite across the way from us. Cue the first time during our weekend stay that we felt old and boring!

The bathroom had a very interesting design as well. The sink area was only partially enclosed by a glass wall which offered absolutely no privacy at all, but looked cool at least. Luckily, the shower and toilet were enclosed, but only by a frosted glass door. 

The toiletries were a nicer looking version of Hyatt's typical LATHER toiletries.

One of my best friends had a graduation party in May in LA, so Chris and I booked a room at the Andaz West Hollywood for the trip. Chris was in the middle of a Hyatt Diamond Challenge, so he wanted the chance to check out one of Hyatt's more unique properties. Hyatt's Andaz properties are designed as boutique hotels and there are currently only 12 of them located around the world. According to Hyatt's website: 

The Andaz West Hollywood had an awesome location right on Sunset Boulevard and was previously known as the Continental Hyatt House and the Hyatt on Sunset during its heyday, which, according to Wikipedia:

The property was transformed into the Andaz West Hollywood in 2009. It was definitely a unique hotel and a lot of the renovation was tastefully done. However, it was also obvious that the hotel was older and that it had been repurposed from its previous iterations.

Since we drove down from San Francisco on a Friday night (terrible idea), it took ages and we didn't arrive until very late at night. You can look forward to paying $36/night for valet parking if you drive! 

One unique aspect of the Andaz properties is the lack of a traditional front desk. There's an iPad that the staff uses at check-in and that's really it. 

We were upgraded to a one bedroom suite after Chris used one of his Hyatt upgrade certificates from the Diamond Challenge and headed immediately upstairs since it was about 2 AM.