Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa, the Hotel Review

If you are looking for a family-oriented oceanfront resort in Southern California, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa is one of them. This Spanish-inspired hotel has a great location, just minutes away from the beach, with gorgeous Pacific Ocean views. Spanning across several acres, the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach has various dining options, pools, and a spa, and offers resort activities for kids and adults (including surfing lessons!).

Booking

Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa is a Category 6 Hyatt Hotel that costs 25,000 Hyatt Points per night (21,000 Hyatt Points on off-peak, and 29,000 Hyatt Points on peak nights).

💡Good to know

If you are flexible with your travel dates, don’t forget to check the Points Calendar for the off-peak nights so you can enjoy your stay for fewer points redeemed!

When we learned in early 2022 that Hyatt is going to bump up some of its properties in their categories and that Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa is going to be one of them (moving from Category 5 to Category 6 tier) we decided to book our stay before the significant change and saved ourselves 15,000 Hyatt Points for three nights by paying only 20,000 Hyatt points per night for a Standard 2 Queen Room.

Check-In

It was a long day of driving, and we arrived at the hotel on a Friday evening at around 5 pm. Luckily, the check-in line was almost empty, and we could proceed to the front desk straight ahead.

You would notice a few things right away – a spacious lobby, transitioning into the outdoor area with a fountain, and hotel guests wearing long gowns and suits 😃. Guess what? Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa is a very popular wedding venue! There were two weddings per day on the weekend that we stayed there. You don’t have to worry though about those special events limiting your abilities to move around the hotel or to use the hotel’s amenities since the resort’s property is quite large and there are designated areas to host a wedding.

As Globalists, we always ask the front desk concierge if room upgrades are available for us. As you could have guessed, weekends and wedding days are tougher to get a room upgrade on as the hotel simply doesn’t have the availability, especially suite upgrades. They offered to upgrade us to a Premium Room with a partial ocean view with 1 King and 1 Queen bed, and we gladly accepted it.

Parking

The hotel had valet parking with in-and-out privileges available for its guests for $45 per day. This daily $45 fee was waived for us since we booked an award stay as Globalists.

In order to request your car, you could either call a hotel porter or use one of the automated kiosks scattered throughout the property by simply scanning your valet ticket. This was super convenient as the kiosk would also provide you with the information about your position in the line so you could roughly estimate when your car would be ready.

$25 Resort Voucher

A nice touch on top of all the usual Globalist perks (such as room upgrades, late checkouts, and daily complimentary breakfast) was a $25 Voucher for single use at the on-site market called Surf City Grocers. You could use it to get some snacks or beverages; instead, we got some really cool Huntington Beach-inspired coasters and toys for kids.

The Room — Globalist Room Upgrade

We got a spacious Premium 630 sq. ft. room with 1 King and 1 Queen bed (a very rare combination actually, worked out perfectly for us), a walk-in closet where we could store all of our suitcases (how often do you get one of those at a hotel?), and most importantly – an ocean view balcony.

The bathroom was almost as big as the room itself (kidding, but very roomy) and had a separate tub, a shower cabin, and a double sink counter.

Dining at the Hyatt Huntington Beach Resort and Spa

At the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort, you definitely don’t have to worry about your dining! The hotel has got you covered with various options, from fine dining at the restaurant to poolside cafes. Let’s take a look at the dining options that the resort has to offer.

The Watertable Restaurant

The Watertable Restaurant is located in the main building of the hotel. We decided to check it out on the very first evening of our stay and were pleasantly surprised with the dinner course! That was the only time we had dinner there since we wanted to try out some other restaurants in the area. Looking back now, we can say for sure that the Watertable was the best dinner spot on our stay 🤷🏻‍♀️.

We had grilled lamb chops, marinated mushrooms, grilled sea bass, and a couple of drinks. The girls had their usual pasta (oh, those little Italians, they would choose pasta and pizza over anything else for sure 🤭). Everything was de-li-cious!

Below are some pictures of the restaurant’s interior design if you prefer to sit inside and of an outdoor patio if you like the outside breeze and a beautiful fountain overlook. Note that the restaurant is closed for lunch, so if you want to have lunch on the property, you need to use one of the other on-site restaurants.

Village Courtyard

There was a little courtyard on the hotel grounds with picturesque fountains, a couple of casual restaurants (Pete’s Sunset Grille, Tower 15 Pizzeria), a grocery store, shops, and live music on weekends.

Pete’s Sunset Grille

We went to Pete’s Sunset Grille for lunch and tried their signature fish tacos and a burger. You could choose between sitting inside or outside on the patio.

Tower 15 Pizzeria

This little pizzeria had pizzas and pasta, and a cozy outdoor setting. We didn’t get a chance to try this place out, but it must have been good on the number of people dining there!

Surf City Grocers

At the grocery store, you could grab some pastries, coffee, snacks, or souvenirs, and water toys for kids. This is the store where you can redeem your $25 Globalist voucher.

Slyder’s Cafe

This poolside cafe is a great option if you want to have a relaxing day by the pool and not worry about getting food. The menu had a few good choices ranging from cheese pizza slices for kids to nachos and sandwiches for adults.

Mankota’s Grill

Another casual dining option with drinks and sandwiches was located by the main pool. You can order right from your lounge chair and enjoy your meal by the pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Breakfast

Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach was served at the onsite Watertable restaurant with either buffet or set menu style.

We opted out of the buffet option and would order from the breakfast menu. As Globalists, we get a complimentary daily breakfast for the 4 of us, and it’s one of our favorite perks of the World of Hyatt program.

Amenities

Pools

Now, to the exciting part – the pool, more like the pools, because you could choose from water activities based on your preferences! Both pools had hot tubs and cabanas for rent with couch seating and TVs inside!

Slyder’s Pool and the water slide

The Slyder’s Pool area is more kids-oriented (although both pools are family-friendly) since not only does it have a cool-looking ribbon-shaped pool (not your regular boring rectangular pool here 😅), a hot tub, but also a baby pool that was only 1.5 ft deep and was perfect for baby Zoe. Most importantly, this pool had a separate water playground with waterslides! You can imagine how many kiddos loved to spend time there.

Sophia was beyond excited to go down the waterslides and spent a good amount of time there!

The hot tub was oversized and could fit more people than a regular hotel hot tub. Zoe loved to sit there on the stairs and watch other kids splashing in the water 😅.

💡Good to know

Slyder’s Pool area holds the following special events:

• Dive-in Movie Night every Wednesday at 8 pm (check out the hotel’s website for a movie schedule)

• Cosmic Sliding with lasers, fog machine, and music every Friday from 8 pm to 9:30 pm

Mankota’s Pool

This was the main ocean view pool with a lagoon-shaped pool and a hot tub.

Adult Only Spa Grotto

There was also an adult-only spa grotto with three hot tubs for a relaxing soak in a little oasis. For obvious reasons, we had to take turns going there.

S’mores by the fire pit

Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach takes roasting marshmallows very seriously and offers all sorts of fire pits to up your s’mores roasting game! You could reserve a Pacific view private fire pit for six people by the Mankota’s pool; you could even reserve a private bonfire on the beach for 10 with chairs, hot cocoa, and s’mores kits (check the hotel’s website for prices and availability). You could simply sit by a large fire pit on the lower deck by the main pool and have your late-evening dessert there.

We got our s’mores kit for free from the front desk and it lasted us 2 evenings. If you need an extra kit the Surf City Grocers sells them for $12 each.

The Beach

Huntington City Beach was just minutes away from the hotel. We really loved the way you could get to the beach through a gorgeous private pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel and the beach parking lot.

You can grab your beach chairs, umbrellas, and towels at the end of the bridge from a hotel staff member from the Beach Hut; it’s free of charge; you only have to put your room number down.

The Huntington City Beach is an 8 mile long beach, so you definitely don’t have to worry about finding a spot to sit.

You can take a stroll along the ocean and check out the famous Huntington Beach Pier. It’s one of the longest public piers on the West Coast and was featured in many TV shows.

Bottom line

We loved our short getaway. This hotel might be in SoCal, but it definitely had some luxury tropical resort vibes. With a rather sizable property, good food, fun water activities, and proximity to the beach – this kid-friendly resort is definitely worth staying at!

It’s also only within the 30-minute drive to Disneyland in Anaheim if you want to combine your stay with a visit there!

Plus, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach was one of the filming locations for the Jane the Virgin pilot; how could you not check this hotel out after that 😅?

On Points With Kids Summary

Three nights spent at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa booked for 60,000 Hyatt Points. The cash rate for three nights was $1,645.07, which equals 2.74 cents per point, a very solid value!

You can apply for the following credit cards to earn Hyatt points that can be redeemed at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa: