Kate's on a Plane

We spent one night at the Hyatt Centric Las Olas Fort Lauderdale for a kid-free anniversary getaway. You can read about how I booked that trip here. We had a great experience at the property and I believe it would be an excellent destination for a family trip, too.

The hotel is only a 15 minute drive from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. This airport is serviced by Southwest and was a quick two-hour flight for us coming from Raleigh-Durham. This would be a similarly quick and convenient trip for anyone coming from the South or Mid-Atlantic; notably, Southwest also offers direct flights to FLL from Atlanta, Nashville, and Washington, DC. 

The Hyatt Centric Las Olas is located just a short walk from bustling Las Olas Boulevard, where you’ll find an array of gorgeous restaurants and interesting shops. The walk to Las Olas takes you along the riverwalk, so although it’s a 10- to 15-minute trip on foot, it’s scenic and pleasant. We used the Resy credit on my Amex gold card to fund our dinner at Planta, a plant-based restaurant on Las Olas. Capital One cardholders should note that there’s also a Capitol One Cafe, where I got 50% off of a honey lavender latte by using my Venture X to pay.

The hotel offers Tesla car service for drop off to destinations within a 2-mile radius. However, because the hotel is 15 minutes away from the beach by car, families who want to spend time at the beach will probably want a rental car. Hotel guests can borrow beach chairs, towels, and umbrellas for day use. Valet parking at the hotel was $40 per day as of January 2025. 

The hotel itself features a small rooftop pool, located on the 8th floor, as well as a respectable fitness center. A category 4 Hyatt, standard award nights at this property cost 15,000 points. I feel that this is a great value, given the convenient location and amenities available. 

We booked a standard king room, but were upgraded to the Centric suite. Our suite featured a bedroom, a separate sitting room, and one and a half bathrooms. Our balcony overlooked a construction site, which was suboptimal, but hopefully temporary. The room was impeccably clean and the bathroom in particular seemed recently updated. We were welcomed with a handwritten note wishing us a happy anniversary, which was a nice touch, as well as a welcome gift. 

Breakfast at the on-site restaurant was also quite good and reasonably priced. We saw many families with children at breakfast, and several at the pool as well. 

Overall, this property represents a great value for an award stay and would make for an excellent use of a category 1-4 free night certificate. A stay at the Hyatt Centric Las Olas could make for an ideal warm-weather family retreat for a long weekend to break up the cold winter, without breaking the (points) bank.