Ok, I’ll be honest. One of the biggest reasons we stayed here was so that Toasty, the dog, could come along and hang out while I did Ironman Maryland. She loved it, by the way. Because I know everyone wants to know what my dog thinks of a hotel…
But she looks so happy, right? If you follow me on Instagram (which you should, I don’t neglect that as much as my blog, @travelingsaurus), you will know that they did bring her a dog bed. Which she sniffed and looked at like, “Are one of you going to sleep on this?” before leaping back onto the king size pillowtop. Yep, that pretty much sums up our dog. I did appreciate the gesture, though.
*Side note: It is $150 to have a dog at the Hyatt for up to 6 nights. Yep, I’m sure this seems like a fortune to some of you, but when you think of going kennel rates or a dogsitter ($55/day on up + taxes and extra walks), this actually saved us some money over the long weekend since we arrived on Thursday and left on Sunday.
The hotel is about 3.5 miles from the race site, and a very easy drive. We did not have issues parking in downtown Cambridge, with only short walks to get to the Ironman Race Village.
Check in: Totally easy. Even though I had called and mentioned I had a dog, I don’t think it got put in my reservation, however. And they had to do some moving around of rooms to get us a dog-friendly one. Which actually turned out spectacularly, as we had a corner room with two sliding glass doors which was not only dog friendly, it was beautiful looking out to the river/bay!
Room: As mentioned, it was quite nice. I think the corner room may have been a touch smaller, but it made up for it with the two doors. All dog-friendly rooms are on the ground floor (which, if you travel with a pup, you know that sometimes that is just more convenient), which made me think the view would be bad, but it wasn’t at all. We looked straight out at the river and the 18th hole on the golf course. It was pretty much gorgeous. I felt like I was on vacation. Which I sort of was…an Ironman can be considered a vacation, right?
The room itself was pretty standard, free coffee and tee in addition to the routine bathroom amenities and a pretty darn large mini-fridge which we used frequently. And yes, the Hyatt does offer shampoo AND conditioner. Not 2-in-1. Any girl with long hair will tell you that 2-in-1 is pretty much does not do sh*t in 1. If you read a forthcoming post on Panama, you’ll know why I bring this up!
Just for the race: I’d just like to note that the Hyatt is beyond welcoming to triathletes. Some hotels get very annoyed about bikes coming in and out, and as the host hotel for the Ironman, the Hyatt not only didn’t care about the bikes, they did some little extra things that were pretty awesome, like offering a shuttle to the race site for athletes and also putting a toaster and microwave out for use at any hour. They also offered a pasta dinner on Friday, as well as a celebratory dinner on Saturday (for those that really finished early?!). I didn’t partake in either, but it was nice to know.
Parking: Valet parking is $20/day and the self-park lot is literally a five minute walk. No big deal.
Amenities: Now, I do wish I had a little more time to spend enjoying and lounging at the hotel. Because the pools looked amazing, the spa would have been nice, and I definitely would have done a little bit more exploring if my legs weren’t either preparing to be dead or dead. The property is really pretty and well manicured. The dog and I did get to do a bit of exploring Friday morning. If you are a golfer, the golf course looked lovely (according to my mother and husband, who both golf).
Food: We only ate at BluePoint (well, I did eat breakfast at the athlete breakfast), but it was really good! Like, I’d go back there even if I wasn’t staying at the Hyatt good. Their crab mac and cheese was huggeeee and delicious. I also had some ginormous peel an eat shrimp and some of a very good cobb salad. Two thumbs up.
Would I Stay Here Again: Yes. The Hyatt was not cheap (probably the most I’ve ever spent for a hotel room and definitely the most in the continental United States), but it was pretty convenient to the race site, was super accommodating for a dog, and the property is just lovely. I would consider going back there for a quick weekend away from DC, in fact. Particularly when the rates are more reasonable than on Ironman Maryland weekend. For Eagleman or Ironman Maryland races, if I didn’t stay at the Hyatt, I would consider looking at AirBnB in the future. I’m personally not a huge fan of AirBnB or VRBO (maybe I should discuss this in a future post), but having a house within blocks of the finish line certainly has its merits. But the Hyatt was very, very nice.
