Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay
Here’s a fun fact: did you know that most Japanese dog hotels, AKA kennels, don’t accept dogs over 13 years old? That’s a problem for us, since Ricky turns 14 in December. We recently found a place that’s willing to watch him for a night, but no longer (he’s a very picky eater and it takes a skilled hand to get him to take his medicine).
Because of this, we are unable to take lengthy vacations for the time being. But we had a free night at a Hyatt hotel (category 1-4) that was expiring in November, so we decided to have ourselves a little staycation. We left Ricky at the dog hotel and headed down to Tokyo Bay to relax at a nice people hotel.
Location and lobby at Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay
The Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay is located way, way down at the tip of Urayasu, just a block from the water. This is the same basic area as Tokyo Disney, but far enough from the park to escape the mayhem of the family hotels most guests stay at. That said, judging by the souvenir t-shirts we saw in the lobby, pretty much everyone else staying there was doing so as part of a Disney trip. The hotel has a free shuttle to the park, making this a potentially cheaper and quieter option to staying at the Disney hotels.
Regency is Hyatt’s second-tier brand, and prices reflect that: a room for a random day in March 2027 is 48,700 yen ($300) for non-members and 38,000 ($240) for members. Compare that to the famous Park Hyatt Tokyo, which is $900 a night for members, and your expectations should be sufficiently lowered. But looking at the hotels close to the Disney parks, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is more than twice as much as the Regency for our random March night. There are some other hotels near the parks that could be as cheap, but they’re generally lesser brands and are probably way noisier than the Hyatt, which was quiet and never had a line more than a couple people deep.
I’m harping on the Disney thing because there’s really no other reason to come to Urayasu. It’s too far to stay here and take the train up to Tokyo every day, and everything is so spaced out, there isn’t the infrastructure to support a seaside vacation here, especially if you don’t have a car. We would never have gone down there if it weren’t for our desire for a staycation. We took the train to Urayasu Station and then grabbed a bus to the hotel, which was easy, but the busses were a bit strange: you had to tell the driver where you were going as you got on the bus, and they were militant about when you were allowed to tap your card.
On the ride in, I kept remaking how exactly like Florida it was: palm trees, shopping centers, large swaths of suburban nothing. Of course Disney is down here. This is not a great place to walk around, but at least there are busses. The hotel is not on the beach: there is a park between, and I guess you could visit it, but we didn’t.
Check-in was relatively painless, as there was no one else around. As Discoverist members, we were given a 2pm checkout. The hotel advertises a sort of convenience store that’s really nothing more than a counter where you can buy drinks and sandwiches that have possibly been sitting there since the hotel opened. There’s also a small boutique filled with Disney souvenirs.
The Garden restaurant is dog-friendly, which I wish we’d known before we left our sweet little doggy behind. They can apparently fix up doggy meals upon request. Breakfast was not included in our rate, so we didn’t eat it. The lounge (if you can call it that) is just a room off the restaurant. There is in-room dining, but it doesn’t have the full menu and doesn’t go all night, so it’s not super useful.
In terms of what our status got us, it was limited to a room upgrade, late checkout, and two bottles of water, which was okay, but meant we had no desire to try the breakfast and weren’t granted access to the minimal lounge. All in all, a decent lobby experience, but I wish their shop had a little more stuff since there’s no konbini nearby.
Guest room at Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay
Our status got us an upgrade from a King room to a Deluxe King room on the 8th floor. It was absolutely spacious, with a chair and deeeeeep sofa on one end. I don’t like sofas like this, but Eriko said she wished we had space for one like that in our house. The view was of the parking lot, not the ocean, which was a bit disappointing, and the decor was lacking on the walls. All in all, it was a nicer room than I’d expected, and I’d say this hotel’s rooms and general atmosphere were a step above the Hyatt Regency in Shinjuku when we visited back in… wow, when was that? 2021? I don’t even remember.
The coffee maker is a pod type with a strange water tank that seems like it’s not secured when it is. The pods are also unusual, and you have to select the right brewing amount to avoid overflowing the cups, but there’s no indication of what the right amount is. You also have to remember to turn it off, and can’t plug the coffee machine and kettle in at the same time. The safe is also strange, a horizontal one that fits in a drawer.
One thing that struck me was that the WI-Fi password contained the numbers “2022,” which could make one think that they haven’t updated it in a while. The TV had a Googlecast option, so we could watch The Office on Netflix before we fell asleep. The bed was a bit soft for our taste, but it was definitely big.
Bathrooms at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay
The bathroom was a decent size: not gigantic, and small compared to an American hotel, but practically cavernous for a Japanese hotel. There was a bathtub that Eriko used, and a stool that she said was quite expensive if it was in fact a genuine article. The products were all eco-friendly, and I was impressed by how many of them were given, since many hotels are moving away from providing so many bathroom products.
The shower head was set on “Murder,” and I had to twist it a bunch to get a softer and more spread out stream. The towels were soft, and I had no issues with anything else in the bathroom. Overall, the room was quite nice.
Verdict: is the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay a good choice for your Tokyo Disney vacation?
Remember when I said the bed was too soft? That became apparent during the night. Every time I got up to pee, Eriko was woken up. The one thing that was lacking in this room was the bed. Everything else lived up to and in some cases exceeded expectation.
In the morning, we walked to Laumelia for some Hawaiian breakfast, and again remarked at how Florida everything looked with palm trees and space and prefab homes. We tried to go up to the rooftop bar because it was a nice day, but it doesn’t open until 3pm, so all we could do was take a few pictures from a distance.
We took the same bus we’d arrived on back to the station, but we saw a bus to Narita Airport parked at the hotel, so if you’re flying out, you could avoid the public busses. The shuttles to Disney and Shin-Urayasu (where there’s a mall, convenience stores, and places to eat) make this hotel more convenient than it may appear at first.
There’s really no reason to stay here other than for a Disney trip, and to me, this is an ideal hotel for that purpose. It’s relatively cheap, not crowded, and away from all the commotion. They have a couple restaurants and breakfast if you need it, and provide big rooms that are quiet in the nighttime. I can’t imagine we would ever stay here again because we live in Tokyo, and if you’re visiting the city, you wouldn’t want to stay in this barren area. But if your family wants to see Mickey and you want to rest well at night, I’d say you should absolutely consider the Hyatt Regency, as it’s the perfect middle ground between commuting from Tokyo and staying at the park hotels.
Where to find the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay
Address: 5 Chome-8-23 Akemi, Urayasu, Chiba 279-0014
Phone: +81 04-7305-1234
Website: Hyatt Hotels
Because of the shuttles from Narita Airpot and Shin-Urayasu Station, the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay is actually pretty easy to get to. We weren’t coming from either of those places, but it was only a single bus from Urayasu Station, and the same bus took us back and forth to Porky’s Kitchen that night. However, this bus only goes that far once an hour and ceases operation at night, so you’ll have to take two busses if you stay out late. Either way, the bus stop is just around the corner, so while we had to wait, it at least wasn’t hard to find or a tough walk.
We got this free night by spending $15,000 in a calendar year with the Chase World of Hyatt credit card. You also get a free night every year on your account anniversary, so that’s potentially two free nights per year, which could make it worth it to keep this card long-term. However, the free nights are only Category 1-4, which leaves out most hotels in Tokyo (which are category 5-8), making Hyatt cards not quite as useful as the ones from Hilton, where free nights can be used anywhere. If you’re deciding between the two, I’d stick with the Hilton Surpass card. But, as the meme says, why not both?
