City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Accommodations

Telephone: (404) 577-1234, (800) 233-1234

Address: 265 Peachtree St. NE

Description: In l967 the Hyatt Regency set the world’s hotel industry on its ear. Atlanta architect John Portman designed the hotel with a soaring 22-floor atrium lobby and glass elevators that transported guests to their rooms and to Polaris, a flying saucer–shaped restaurant and bar that crowned the city’s downtown skyline. Hotel moguls considering management were openly critical of the revolutionary design, which most considered a waste of space that could be better used for profit-making guest rooms and restaurants. Conrad Hilton scoffed, “That concrete monster will never fly.” But fly it has, all over the world. Hyatt Hotels, then a small West Coast chain, took it over, and the rest is history. Hyatt Hotels and atrium lobbies now cover the earth. By 2004, much taller buildings blocked the views from Polaris and it was closed. But the hotel has thrived in the center of the downtown convention and leisure district. Three additions have raised its guest room total to 1,260, second in the city only to the nearby Atlanta Marriot Marquis, which has more than 1,600 rooms. It also has 180,000 square feet of meeting space and several restaurants. Other restaurants, a food court, shops, and MARTA’s Peachtree Center rail station are in the adjoining Peachtree Center complex.