The Wildbirch Hotel - JdV by Hyatt

Very expensive for the quality. Poor layout of rooms.

If your room is allocated in the back corner of the hotel, it is a long walk to the lobby area. We also had a slight inconvenience with the TV remote not working, we couldn’t control the volume on the TV while all other buttons worked fine. When we tried to call reception about the issue, we discovered that the room phone was not connected, and we couldn’t access the telephone port because it was behind the built-in bed head.

The facility is very, very large with extremely long walks between main lobby and rooms. I didn't like having to walk that far to my hotel room, or between bar and hotel room, late in the evening esp. when only staying for one night. I also paid extra for a "harbor room" and the view was absolutely nothing - just industrial stuff lining a body of water that you couldn't see.

Desk manager Kia H sharply stated she could not do anything, the hotel was booked solid and nothing else was available. After I showed her the written request for a room, she replied we could have switched rooms if I complained the day before. How would a quieter room be available then but was not offered upon check in? And why should I have to unpack and pack twice for this two nights due stay when I provided written request many months earlier to improve odds of a good stay.

Long corridors

Rooms are on both sides of a seemingly endless corridor. Carpets make it hard to pull or push roller luggage along the long hallway.

The layout of the hotel had you walking a long distance, down many hallways to get to your room. Didn't feel safe walking to car at night by myself due to homeless people on the street behind the building. The pillows were ridiculously high.

Long treks down carpeted hall

I had to pay a lot for the room, way more than it was worth. However, I didn't know anything about Anchorage when I booked so am glad I stayed at the Wildbirch my first night in Anchorage.

For the cost, I would expect our room to be cleaned. It wasn’t. When I asked about it, they told me only if I request it. Why didn’t they tell me that when I checked in? The restaurant wasn’t great. When they brought my husband’s dinner I was to,d they ran out of what I ordered. Why didn’t they tell me earlier so that I could have ordered something else. If I ordered it after they to,d me it would not have arrived in time for me to eat with my husband. So I didn’t order anything.

The layout of the hotel, we were put in the furtherest room away from the lobby. Which meant we had about a150 to 200 yard walk, with luggage. It smelled horrible in the halls of the hotel just past the lobby. The smells ranged from mold/mildew to a very strong chemical paint style smell and the smell of the dumpsters coming through the exit doors. The beds were horrible, i have had worse but not by much. The shower was a joke. From having no pressure to either extremely cold or extremely hot it sucked.

Train horns

room was dark
the street noise was loud at all hours
the buffet breakfast had minimal choices.
dust sitting behind the bathroom door
bit like a motel stay not a hotel

Checking in was chaotic .. so many folk in reception some waiting 2 hrs apparently. I arrived after the allowed check in time of 1500 and even then had to wait ..
No complimentary bottle(s) water on arrival…
It’s a big hotel .. laterally .. so big walks to room ..
Even given a map to get around
Gym bit basic

If you have mobility issues you need to request a room close to reception as some rooms are a LONG way from this. We had a room overlooking the water which was lovely but the railway runs all night so expect train noise and horns all night