Intro 

As part of our trip to Portugal, we spent four nights at the Hyatt Regency Lisbon in August 2024. This five-star property, which opened its doors in 2022, is located in the Belém area of Lisbon.

I was genuinely impressed with the overall quality of the rooms and service. While the hotel lacks a dedicated Regency Club Lounge, they offer a Globalist Happy Hour in their restaurant from 4 to 6 PM, which was a nice touch.

Although the hotel isn’t within walking distance of the main city center, it’s just a short Uber ride away. Given the exceptional quality and value for points, this will undoubtedly be my go-to place if I ever return to Lisbon!

Award Booking 

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Lisbon for four nights in August 2024. As a Category 4 Hyatt property, award nights here cost 12,000 points per night for off-peak dates, 15,000 points per night for standard dates, and 18,000 points per night for peak dates. One of my favorite things about Category 4 properties is the ability to use free night certificates earned from credit cards, milestone rewards, and Hyatt’s Brand Explorer award.

To cover our stay, I transferred 57,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to my Hyatt account. The breakdown was 15,000 points each for the first three nights and 12,000 points for the fourth night.

The cash rate for a standard queen bed room for these four nights was approximately $1,500, giving me a redemption value of about 2.6 cents per point (CPP). However, we were upgraded to a massive one-bedroom suite, which would have cost over $2,500—a fantastic value!

Award availability for standard rooms with points was excellent, and I booked this stay about two months in advance.

Location

The Hyatt Regency Lisbon is located in the Belém area of Lisbon. It’s about a 10-minute drive from the Belém Tower and a 20-minute drive from Lisbon’s city center. The location is probably the only downside of this hotel. If you prefer staying within walking distance of attractions, this hotel might not meet your expectations.

We had rented a car to explore places like Sintra, so getting around wasn’t an issue for us. However, if you’re heading into the city center, I’d recommend using Uber, as the streets are narrow and parking is limited.

Right across the street is a fantastic riverwalk area with restaurants and food trucks. We rented Lime bikes to explore this spot and enjoyed stopping for drinks along the way!

Vibe 

The overall ambiance of the hotel lobby was very calming. The combination of white floors and light wood walls made it feel spacious and airy. In contrast, the carpeted floors and corridors created a cozier atmosphere.

From the moment I walked in, I felt like I had arrived at a truly upscale hotel. The staff was friendly and helpful, the atmosphere was relaxing, and there was plenty of space to move around or lounge in the lobby.

Check-in 

We arrived at the hotel at 1:30 PM and were greeted by staff who assisted us with our luggage. The check-in area was spacious, with multiple staff members available at the desks. Despite several guests checking in at the same time, we didn’t have to wait to be attended to.

The lobby itself was open and airy, with plenty of seating areas to relax and hang out. This is likely one advantage of the hotel’s location away from the city center—it feels less cramped, with generous space in both the lobby and the rooms.

Shortly after we arrived, we noticed Etihad Airways flight attendants and pilots checking in, which reassured us that this was indeed a high-quality hotel.

Our room was ready immediately, but the front desk staff informed us that they could upgrade us to a one-bedroom suite if we were willing to wait about an hour and a half. Since we planned to grab lunch anyway, we agreed to the upgrade and headed to their restaurant, Vice Versa, while the room was prepared.

Room(Non – Bathroom)

We got our room around 3 PM and were absolutely blown away by its size. It was a full 750-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment complete with a fully equipped kitchen—including a stove, full-size fridge, dishwasher, and even a washer-dryer. A washer-dryer in the unit is something I’ve never seen at a Hyatt Regency! The kitchen also came with all the utensils and cookware needed to prepare a complete meal.

The living room featured a comfortable sofa, a chair for watching TV, and a six-seater dining table. The sofa also converted into a bed, allowing up to four adults to sleep in the apartment.

The bedroom had a bed and a cozy reading chair. While the room was advertised as having a queen-size bed, I’m fairly confident it was larger than a standard queen.

The apartment included two 55-inch TVs, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Unfortunately, these TVs lacked any smart connectivity. There was no option to stream from apps or cast from your device, which was disappointing. The only alternative was to connect via HDMI, which felt outdated.

For families traveling with babies or toddlers, the hotel also offers rollaway cribs, which is a fantastic convenience.

Room( Bathroom ) 

The bathroom featured a soaking tub and a shower cabinet equipped with my personal favorite—a rainfall showerhead. While the bathroom was spacious, it had a single vanity and lacked sufficient counter space for essentials, which was a bit inconvenient.

Additionally, the shower cabinet didn’t close completely, leaving a small gap at the base. This caused water to flow onto the main bathroom floor. I had to place a towel at the edge of the gap to prevent the entire floor from getting wet. However, this seemed to be an issue with our room only, as my brother and sister-in-law’s bathroom did not have the same problem.

Amenities / Facilities (including Resort Fee) 

The hotel offers a variety of amenities, including a luxury spa and a well-equipped gym. While I didn’t personally use the spa, my wife did, and she described it as fantastic, albeit on the pricier side—something expected given the hotel’s status and the independently operated luxury spa & wellness center.

One thing to note: the hotel advertises a swimming pool, but it’s located inside the luxury spa and requires a EUR 15 fee per day to access. Additionally, a shower cap is mandatory, and if you don’t have one, you’ll need to purchase one for an extra EUR 5. The pool is indoors and restricted to guests aged 16 and above.

On the plus side, since the pool requires an additional fee, the hotel doesn’t charge a resort fee for all rooms.

Unlike many Hyatt Regency properties, this hotel does not have a dedicated Regency Club lounge, which was slightly disappointing. However, they make up for it with a Globalist Happy Hour in their restaurant from 4–6 PM. The happy hour includes complimentary drinks such as tea, coffee, juice, soda, beer, and wine. Food-wise, they offer a single made-to-order dish each day. While the items are simple, they were absolutely delicious. During our stay, we enjoyed a variety of dishes like carrot hummus with pita chips, meat croquettes, and veggies with dip.

While these dishes were enjoyable, I still would have preferred a dedicated lounge offering a wider selection of appetizers and snacks.

Breakfast 

The buffet-style breakfast served daily at the Vice Versa restaurant was fantastic. In addition to the buffet, guests could also order eggs made to their liking and specialty coffees.

The buffet spread included a great variety of options, from American-style pancakes, eggs, and bacon to smoked salmon, roasted mushrooms, and a wonderful selection of cheeses. While there wasn’t anything particularly outstanding about any one item, everything was delicious, and nothing disappointed. The service was excellent, and the coffee was particularly impressive.

As a Globalist, breakfast was complimentary, but if you were to pay for it, it costs around EUR 25 per person. Personally, I’m not a big breakfast eater, so I don’t find it worth paying that much for a meal.

Globalists also have the option of having breakfast delivered to their room, but we always preferred heading down to the restaurant instead of creating a mess in our room.

Dining 

The hotel offers two main dining options: Vice Versa, the main restaurant, and the Icon Rooftop Bar. We had two meals (excluding breakfast) at Vice Versa and thoroughly enjoyed both.

The restaurant serves a mix of traditional Portuguese dishes and Italian classics. I tried the shrimp açorda, a Portuguese bread pudding dish, and absolutely loved it. I also sampled the linguini, which was equally great.

Although the menu doesn’t offer a vast selection, there is still something for everyone. During lunch hours, they offered a set menu for EUR 25, which included an appetizer, soup, main course, dessert, and coffee. I thought this was excellent value for a five-star hotel, and each course had a couple of options, which was a nice touch. The food arrived quickly and was made fresh.

The second dining option is the Icon Rooftop Bar. While it has a great atmosphere and offers spectacular views of the Tagus River and the 25 de Abril Bridge, there is a cover charge of EUR 18, and kids aren’t allowed in the evening. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to visit the bar as the timing didn’t work out for us.

Fortunately, our room faced the river, so we had the same amazing view right from our balcony.

Staff & Service 

Overall, the staff and service were great, though nothing particularly extraordinary stood out. The front desk had plenty of staff available to assist guests, so there was no long wait to be attended to. We also had staff quickly take care of our luggage and bring it up to our room within just a few minutes of checking in.

Upon entering our room, we were pleasantly surprised to find a personalized greeting card and a box of chocolates on the dining table, which was a nice touch, although this may have been due to my status. We also called the front desk for a few items like dental kits and extra towels, which arrived in less than 10 minutes.

One thing to note is that there is a EUR 10 delivery fee for room service, which felt a bit absurd but seems to be common practice at many hotels now. We ordered a glass of milk for our son, which cost EUR 4, but the total came to EUR 14 after adding the delivery fee. I would have appreciated a heads-up about this fee before placing the order. Had I known, I would have simply gone down to the restaurant and picked it up myself.

As for the service at the restaurant, I found the breakfast staff to be really attentive. They constantly checked in on us, asking if we wanted anything else, such as coffee or made-to-order eggs.

Status Benefits and Recognition

We were thrilled to be upgraded to a 1-bedroom suite, which is technically a premium suite and not included as part of the Globalist “standard suite” upgrade benefit. However, I’m giving this an 8 rather than a 10 because I had to ask for the upgrade instead of being proactively offered it. Had I not requested the upgrade, I would have been given the standard queen room that I initially booked with points.

Parking was included in the underground garage as part of my Globalist benefits, and I had no trouble getting it comped, as this was an award booking. The daily cash rate for parking is about EUR 30, so this saved me EUR 120 over our 4-night stay.

As mentioned earlier, the hotel doesn’t have a dedicated Regency Club, but I appreciated the Globalist happy hour offered at the restaurant. Given the size of this property, it would be great to see a dedicated lounge introduced at some point.

Breakfast was complimentary for everyone in my party, including my brother and sister-in-law, who had a separate room. I love that Hyatt extends this benefit to all members of your party, unlike some other brands that limit it to just two adults in the primary status holders  room.