The Holiday Spirit at Hyatt Regency San Francisco

Trisha Ventker

The holiday spirit is gently flowing throughout the city on rumbling cable cars and with a basket of good thoughts for the New Year brightly decorated with red ribbons. The city’s night lights are starting to sparkle and a raw wind with slight streaks of warmth is rustling my hair, while a crescent shaped moon is fighting its way through a light haze of San Francisco fog. It’s a wonderful time to cozy up with a hot cup of tea, listen to a string quartet and enjoy the hotel’s ambience.

Standing in front of the Hyatt Regency’s towering 20 floors that seemingly reach into the clouds, I enter the hotel with the world’s largest hotel lobby where a Rose Parade marching band could rehearse without stumbling. A Guinness World Record for a hotel lobby, the 42,000 square foot space stretching vertically 17 stories in an enormous atrium with glass elevators moving up and down in a rhythmic cadence, and for a moment while looking upwards I became lightheaded, it was like the wedge-shaped hotel was ready to set flight into the night sky. It must be like traveling through hyperspace, the enchanting dimensions seamlessly blending.

Everything here seems to be bigger than life with a lobby that is nicely decorated for the season with joyful Snow Village, a gorgeous 100-footlong holiday creation skillfully constructed around the lobby fountain. An enchanting train chugs through the Village giving us a delightful tour and setting a mood of good cheer. Snow Village was sending me brilliant thoughts – to put aside the ills of life and enjoy the moment.

With the images of Snow Village still vivid, I find my room has a view that could be on the cover of a local marketing publication. After a quick walkthrough I find the accommodation is urban modern, comfortable and efficient with all the amenities, and spacious, as is the bathroom and even the doors, and not a surprise that the Hyatt Regency is the city’s largest luxury waterfront hotel. Opened in 1973 and designed by John Portman and Associates, the hotel has 821 rooms and suites, and a prime location in the Financial District, across the street from the Ferry Building Marketplace, 1899, and at the start of the famed Cable Car line. However, a favorite for me is the splendid cityscape views of the Embarcadero waterfront, San Francisco Bay, the busy Bay Bridge, and the bustling Ferry Building, which is home to the San Francisco and Golden Gate Ferries. The seemingly endless vistas are keeping my camera humming, and for me, the hotel’s location is clearly incredible with the powerful Pacific Ocean bestowing a special feeling of strength and size to the hotel.

I’m here with Peter, my Sales and Marketing Director VP, both of us familiar with the city but not the property. The hotel has been beautifully renovated excluding a swimming pool, but for those in need of exercise the fully equipped and expansive 24-hour fitness center will do the job. Cleverly, it seems as if the hotel has been designed for both leisure travelers, and those carrying a briefcase, complete with a business center, a 72,000 square-foot event space embracing a 17,000 square-foot exhibit hall, 39 inventive sites, an elaborate ballroom ideal for weddings or the entire staff of IBM.