A new boutique Hyatt with a rooftop pool just opened near the Santa Monica Airport
Culver City, California, has a sleek new hotel where locals are invited to chill and travelers can rest their heads near the Santa Monica Airport.
The Shay, a 148-room Destination by Hyatt hotel, opened this week and is the portfolio's first urban hotel in Southern California and the only new hotel on the books in the Culver City area of Los Angeles.
More importantly for travelers, it could be a fun option for those times when you can't venture too far from the airport. While Culver City might not be the first place you think of to make your home base on a trip to sunny Los Angeles, The Shay is located right near the Metro E Line and is about a 12-minute drive to the Santa Monica Airport and roughly 20-minutes (depending on, sigh, LA traffic) to LAX.
Drawing inspiration from the neighborhood's industrial past and emerging creative community, the hotel has large, open spaces that allow for a sense of camaraderie between people just passing through and those hunkered down to work.
There are also intimate nooks tucked away throughout the lobby, courtyard and roof deck for folks taking Zoom calls, having intimate conversations or simply looking to relax.
In the rooms, guests should expect that same creative energy to spill over with oversized windows, curated artwork and a modern, gray-and-yellow color palette that reflects the neighborhood. A handful of suites have large living rooms, a separate work area, soaking tubs, wet bars and even patios.
As a Category 5 hotel with World of Hyatt, standard rooms will set you back 20,000 points per night, while at the time of publication standard cash rates start around $359 per night — not including about $82 in taxes and fees, including a $30 per night "destination fee" (read: resort fee).
TPG currently values World of Hyatt points at 1.7 cents a piece, so using points could be a reasonable way to pay for a room here if you don't want to use cash (20,000 Hyatt points is valued at roughly $340), even though you won't earn points on an award night.
Plus, one of the perks of using World of Hyatt points is that you don't have to pay the resort or destination fee, regardless of status. And Globalist members never have to pay that fee, even when booking with cash.
Outside of the room, guests will have plenty of food and drink options to choose from, including a "Mexican-inspired restaurant," Celestina, on the rooftop and the wood-fired eatery Etta, which has indoor and outdoor seating on the ground level. Both restaurants were created by chef Danny Grant's What If Syndicate group. And if that's not enough, the LA outpost of Roberta's, the beloved Brooklyn pizza spot, is around the corner.
The hotel also offers the area's first rooftop pool, with plans to have live music and comedy shows for visitors.
"The Shay is the first hotel in Culver City to celebrate the area's growing creative community while fully embracing its rich history," the hotel's general manager, Ryan Parker, said in a statement.
Featured image courtesy of Hyatt
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