I recently stayed at the Hyatt Centric Montevideo for 9 nights. Today is day 5. It was October, so mid-spring in Uruguay. The temperate ranged from the high 60s to mid 70s and wavers between cloudy and sunny.
When I write blog post reviews about accommodations I tend to be very detailed and specific. And I tend to write about details I’d like to know but are hard to find on most other publications. So for anyone planning a trip to Montevideo or thinking about staying here I hope it is helpful.
I was a little wary about staying there before we arrived. Though the hotel has very good ratings on TripAdvisor, when I dove deeper and read reviews a lot of people wrote that the staff here is pretty apathetic and service isn’t good.
{Other Upscale Hotels in Montevideo}
Some other hotels I looked at were the Sheraton and the Wyndham Grand. The Sheraton and the Wyndham Grand are in Punta Carretas. The Sheraton sits further away from the Rambla compared to the Hyatt and the Wyndham. The Hyatt is adjacent to Pocitos Beach. All 3 hotels are upscale and if I visit again I’d consider staying at either of those. I found the Hyatt Centric excellent value.
My experience completely the opposite. From the moment we walked in, I found the staff at the front desk, concierge, deli, housekeeping and restaurant, completely welcoming, helpful, and overall fantastic.
{About the Hyatt Centric, Montevideo}
The hotel is modern, but not ultra-modern like a W. The lobby is large with a couches, sofas, a few stairs that lead to an elevated nook that faces the Rambla with comfortable, plush chairs, a table and an outlet. As well as a library full of what appears to every Nat Geo publication — ever. Very cool! I sat in the lobby, working for a few hours everyday I was there.
There’s a large, swanky bar that makes great cocktails. Plantado restaurant is not great for vegetarians and vegans so I’ve only been having breakfast there and one lunch. But it’s a nice, spacious restaurant, with lots of seating including, booths.
{Good, Free Wifi in the Lobby and Hotel Rooms}
Perhaps one of the most important features that everyone wants is access to while staying at a hotel is good and free Wifi. The Hyatt Centric’s got it on lock. I spent most of my stay in Montevideo working at the hotel and I had no internet issues throughout – morning, day, and night. FYI, the hotel was pretty packed on some days and slower on others.
{The Gym}
I didn’t use the gym to work out at the hotel as I opted to go for walks on the Rambla instead. But I did use it to shower before my flight out of Uruguay. My flight was at 1am on Sunday and I did a full day tour to Colonia del Sacramento that returned to Montevideo around 6pm. We checked out and left our luggage with the front desk and after we returned were able to use the shower facilities in the gym to freshen up before our flight.
We REALLY appreciated that as our travels back to San Francisco would total 24 hours and it was nice to depart nice and fresh.
The gym level also has a heated swimming pool for guests. I didn’t use it.
{Breakfast at the Hyatt Centric, Montevideo, Uruguay}
The breakfast is a wide selection of fresh fruit like watermelon, honeydew, grapes, grab n go apples and pears, and papaya. A selection of sliced cheeses and freshly based breads. They have a row of toasters where guests can warm up bread. What I really liked is that they have several toasters so guests aren’t waiting in line.
Being here for several days you notice the changes. On day 1 they didn’t have any spoons out for guests to stir their coffee. On day 2 they put a cup of spoons near the coffee machine and on day 3 they placed spoons on the place settings at every table. On day 4, there was a different manager and they were back to putting spoons in a cup near the coffee machine.
Putting a spoon at each place setting is a lot more work in terms of setup as well as clean up. But what I am guessing influenced their decision t do that was that on day 2 a really big group of Americans arrived and I am guessing several of them probably asked about stirring spoons, like I did, which led to the change on day 3.
To drink they have a selection fruit juices, coffee, and tea.
{Guest Rooms Design That Is Thought Through, Hyatt Centric Montevideo}
My favorite thing about the rooms there is that they are really thought through in terms of the customer experience. I stayed in a king, riverview room.
The light fixtures on either side of the bed, don’t just turn on the side lamp, but a light near the door as well.
The outlets on either side of the bed are regular outlets as well as 1 USB.
They provide two 20.3oz. bottles of water everyday, in your room.
Both sides of the bed have a night stand.
The tv is positioned central with respect to the bed which is how you want it in any hotel room.
The hair dryer in the room was really good – 2000 watts. I didn’t need to bring mine with me. Plus hair dryers use a lot of energy and sometimes not compatible in foreign countries or where the outlets are different.
There’s a large, full length mirror.
The wall decoration, near the front door doubles as a full length mirror, so you can grab one last glance a yourself before leaving.
There’s an ottoman by the front door. We take our shoes off by the front door so it’s nice to have that to sit comfortably and put your shoes back on when leaving.
There’s another ottoman in the bathroom – great for ladies to sit comfortably to do hair and makeup.
It’s very large and like the rest of the hotel modern. The shower has glass doors, a rain shower head as well as a handheld.
The toilet is a separate closet/ little room. I personally really like bathrooms where the toilet is separate – more functional, cleaner, user-friendly.
The bathroom is designed like a hallway. I really liked that it has a door, even though the toilet room is already separate and so is the shower. This might not seem like a big deal and even common sense but I have found common sense to often not be all that common.
Click the photos below to enlarge and read the captions with more details.
Customer Care. In the afternoon someone from housekeeping stops by just to check in and ask if everything with servicing the room was satisfactory. It’s a nice touch.
{Room Doors Don’t Automatically Close}
Important To Know: the main room doors do not automatically shut. Tug on the door to make sure it is closed. I almost walked out of my room for the day and it would have been left open. I walked away towards the elevator and realized I didn’t hear that “click” sound so I doubled back and sure enough the door was open.
Not a reason not to stay there, but definitely good to know.
{Other Room Features and Amenities}
The bathroom has two counters – 1 sink. Two sinks would be nice but then you get less counter space. I prefer more counter space.
There’s a stack of drawers as well as a closet to hang coats/jackets etc.
There’s an easy to use safe to store your valuables. Large enough for 2 computers + a camera and other items.
In terms of toiletries they provide shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. In addition our room had body lotion, a shower cap, a few q-tips, tissue (kleenex), and hand soap along with plenty of hand, body and face towels.
And you don’t have to ask in order for them to replenish your shampoo/conditioner/shower gel. Ours weren’t even half way empty as we brought our own, but they still gave us a new set a few days into our stay.
It was nice that there was a vanity mirror too.
The rooms don’t have an iron and ironing board but if you ask they’ll bring it for you and they let us keep ours for the duration of our stay.
Room service is available 24/7. Sometimes freshly made, hot fries at midnight really hit the spot!
Most of the tv channels are in Spanish…and so are the subtitles. They had a lot of channels and I get that everything was in Spanish but then so were the subtitles. I watched an Avengers movie in Spanish and I have to say for anyone trying to improve their Spanish skills, this is a good way to practice. I definitely increased my Spanish vocabulary from active-listening-watching and of course through actual conversations too.
But also bring your computer/iPad etc. and make sure you’ve paid your Netflix bill.
{South American Coffee}
I learned something about how South Americans drink coffee – black. Our hotel room has a machine to warm up water, coffee packets and sugar but no creamer. I asked about this and they told me that South Americans don’t drink coffee the way we do in the United States.
If you go to the deli behind the bar, they’ll be happy to give you fresh cream.
{Electricity in the Hyatt Centric}
The rooms come with plenty of outlets. Uruguay is on 230V and appliances that are 220V compatible are fine. These days most US appliances are compatible 110-220V but make sure yours are before plugging them in. It usually says on the tag of your appliance.
You will need adapters as the outlets in Uruguay are different than the USA. They use the C, F, I and L. This is a good article I found to navigate through electricity in Uruguay.
The Hyatt has mostly Type L outlets (3 prongs). In the bathroom there were two outlets wit two prongs which according to my understanding are C,E,F compatible. The water heating machine, hair dryer, and iron were all 2 prong (C,E,F) compatible so I’m assuming the difference is that appliances that require more energy, use the two prong and lower energy appliances such as phone, computer, and camera charges can be plugged into the 3 prong.
I bought 3 prong power adapters for my trip as my universal power adapter that I already had was not compatible. I also bought a converter as one of my appliances is 110V. I didn’t buy any two prong power adapters. And fortunately I didn’t need them as the Hyatt provided a hair dryer, iron, and the water heater already in the room.
{Sensitive Room Alarm System}
One thing I found interesting at the Hyatt Centric Montevideo was that the seemingly sensitive alarm system. I have very long hair and so I blow dry it. And apparently that kept setting off the fire alarm for our room. I say “apparently” because the alarm is silent. We had no idea it was going off until they ringed our room to make sure everything was ok.
Had the alarm not been a silent one that would have been a problem.
{Lunch at Plantado Restaurant}
Plantado restaurant is a nice, spacious place for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We ate breakfast there every morning and one day I decided to have lunch there as well.
You can go for the salad buffet which has lots of fresh vegetables, order from the menu, plus dessert or any combo of these three offerings.
The lunch menu doesn’t have any vegetarian nor vegan mains, on the menu, but they can usually customize something for you. I had lunch there on a Friday afternoon at the beginning of November. The restaurant was only about 1/3 full so the chef was able to customize a vegetarian pasta with sautéed vegetables.
It was ok, not great. I appreciated the presentation most.
{Deli at Hyatt Centric, Montevideo}
I really enjoyed going to the Deli at Hyatt Centric Montevideo to grab a coffee or something sweet. They have a number of delicious treats to get your sweet fix. I particularly enjoyed the flour-less carrot cake and the chocolate mousse. The staff is super-friendly and even helped me as I tried to practice my Spanish by ordering in Spanish and they were fun and supportive.
{Uruguayans are Partying Night Owls}
Uruguayans eat dinner late — compared to Americans. Many restaurants open for dinner at 7:30pm or 8pm; and they stay open until midnight or later. Even the malls are open until 10pm. The Plantando restaurant at the Hyatt opens at 7:30pm – 11:30pm nightly for dinner.
I found this difficult to get used to and ended up eating earlier most days.
{Location of the Hyatt Centric, Montevideo}
The hotel is in a fabulous location! Pocitos is a modern, fun part of town. The hotel is on the Rambla and right behind the famous Montevideo sign. Literally, walk out of the hotel, cross the street and you’re at the sign and adjacent to Pocitos beach where you can engage in a soccer match, go sailing, for a swim or just enjoy laying out on the white sand.
I visited Montevideo in October, so I found it chilly to be out on the beach but there were lots of people swimming, laying out and playing on the beaches along the Rambla. I’d love to come when it’s warmer!
You can walk to the Pocitos mall from the hotel – about 10 minutes. And in my opinion, that’s the better mall in Montevideo, compared to the mall in Punta Carretas. There are better stores including Merrell, Starbucks, H&M (though H&M is opening in Punta Carretas next year too).
They have a store called Indian Emporium which even has an Om symbol as part of its branding. But that’s just a name because there’s literally nothing Indian about it. I felt like I was inside a Wet Seal…remember that store?
The best part of the Hyatt Centric’s location is being on the Rambla and the proximity to everything – the mall, restaurants and a super short Uber to old town and Plaza Independencia. If you’ve got time you could walk to Punta Carretas (two hours round trip walking leisurely) and old town (2.5-3 hours round trip walking leisurely) but that would be a good walk. Wear sneakers, not sandals.
I did a lot of Uber Eats during my stay and having it delivered to the front of the hotel was super easy and convenient.
{Choosing Where to Stay in Montevideo:
Pocitos vs. Punta Carretas}
Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either. They’re both modern, beautiful, and tourist friendly locations. More of the vegetarian and vegan friendly restaurants are closer to Pocitos, which is one of the reasons we decided to stay in that area. Also, Montevideo is a small city very tourist and walking friendly and there are abundant Uber that are very affordable.
{Ordering Room Service}
The room service menu is pretty small in itself and has 3 vegetarian options. But I found the staff happy to customize dishes like salad and pasta. Also they make really good, freshly made, hot french fries which I enjoyed a couple times during my stay.
Like room service at any high end hotel, it’s expensive. The soup of the day is $14 (not including delivery fee)!
{Montevideo Weather}
I visited from the end of October through the first week of November, which is mid-spring in Uruguay. The temperature ranged from mid 60’s-mid 70’s, varied from cloudy to sunny. And one day it rained pretty much all day and was VERY windy. I found it too cold to hang out on the beach, though it was enticing with soft, white sand.
I packed jeans and long sleeve sweater shirts. I could have taken a couple of dresses and worn them with tights. Thank goodness I brought my workout clothes and sneakers – the Rambla is an awesome place to go for a walk, which I did everyday during my visit.
I was glad I packed a rain jacket and jeans as well as warm weather hat to wear during my walk on the rainy day. Note, when it’s windy and you’re walking on the Rambla sand from the sweeps up and can burn if it hits your face momentarily.
{Conclusion}
Overall I really enjoyed my stay at the Hyatt Centric, Montevideo. It’s considered one of the nicest hotels in the city and it lived up to its reputation. The hotel is swanky and modern. I was comfortable working in the lobby as well as overlooking the Rambla in my riverview king room. The breakfast was good everyday. The location really couldn’t be better, walking distance to restaurants and shops or just a short Uber away. The staff was very helpful and nice. They helped us arrange tours and suggested places to go.
I’m really glad I stayed here as it directly impacted how much I enjoyed Montevideo.
Enjoy your trip to Montevideo! I hope this article helps you decide where to stay. If you decide to stay at the Hyatt Centric, let is know what you thought! And keep adding those stamps to your PassportPages!
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wow!! such a nice review on the hotel.
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