Downtown / Peachtree Center

Hyatt Regency Atlanta

★★★★★

The Hyatt Regency Atlanta is the big downtown hotel with a place in architectural history. When it opened on Peachtree Street in 1967, the architect and developer John Portman gave it a twenty-two-story open atrium, glass elevators gliding up the walls and corridors ringing the void, and the design was so new and so dramatic that it changed how hotels were built around the world. The atrium still makes an impression, and the blue flying-saucer dome on the roof, home to the Polaris revolving restaurant and lounge, is one of the city's best-known landmarks. Polaris turns slowly to show the whole skyline, keeps its own rooftop bee garden, and recommends reservations, with walk-ins limited. The hotel is very large and convention-oriented, with standard rooms, rooms with balconies overlooking the atrium or the city, and suites, plus several restaurants and bars, a seasonal outdoor pool open roughly May through October, a fitness center and extensive meeting space. Practical points are mostly positive for visitors: there is no daily resort or destination fee, check-in is in the afternoon, and you can ride MARTA from the airport to Peachtree Center station and follow signs to the lobby without stepping outside. The drawbacks are typical of big downtown hotels: valet parking is expensive (cheaper off-site self-parking is offered), pets are not allowed except service animals, conventions can make the lobby busy, and downtown streets are quieter at night than Midtown. Fit: first-timers on a budget-conscious trip, MARTA users and fans of mid-century architecture.

Portman's atrium was a deliberate rejection of the cramped hotel lobbies of the time: he wanted guests to feel the excitement of a city square indoors, and the Hyatt Regency Atlanta became the prototype for the brand's atrium hotels and many others. The hotel anchors Peachtree Center, the complex of towers, walkways and shopping that Portman built downtown, and it has been renovated many times while keeping the atrium and the Polaris dome. Polaris itself closed for years and reopened in the 2010s, and it is now as much a cocktail bar as a restaurant, with a menu that uses honey from the rooftop hives. For architecture enthusiasts, staying here is a way to sleep inside one of the most influential buildings of 1960s America.

Room craft: request a balcony room to look into the atrium or out over the city, and ask for a higher floor in the main tower for the best views and the least noise from the lobby. Book Polaris for a drink or dinner on your first night, ideally at sunset. Check whether a large convention is in town when you book, as rates and crowds jump. In summer, the outdoor pool is a welcome break after a day of sightseeing.

Location logic: the hotel is a short walk from Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola and the College Football Hall of Fame, and the Atlanta Streetcar and MARTA connect it to the King historic sites, Midtown and the airport. Downtown restaurants are fewer than in Midtown, so plan dinners at Polaris, at nearby hotels or a short ride away. Fit: first-time visitors and families who want to walk to the downtown attractions, travelers arriving by MARTA, and anyone who appreciates a hotel with a story.