First the review, then the skunk story.

We stayed at this hotel twice on both ends of an east coast college scouting trip. We had Room 1011 (Harbor View King) connecting to Room 1009 (Harbor view two doubles). The rooms were modern and comfortable, but the air conditioning definitely makes a lot of noise at night. We chose this hotel specifically to be close to the airport after a long, cross country flight into Boston and to be close to the airport for an early morning return flight. As far as location goes, you can't get much closer to the airport than this, unless you're staying at the Hilton. To some reviewers, the location is a positive but for others it's a negative. It worked perfectly for us. However the hotel's airport shuttle was very ineffective, both arriving and departing. Other reviewers have noted that they waited a long time after arriving for the shuttle to pick them up, and that happened to us, too. The shuttles from the hotel back to the airport are not regularly scheduled either, and we wound up waiting a long time to get out of the hotel and head back for our flight. Scheduling them at regular times would make a lot of sense. Also, you can take the Water Taxi shuttle from the airport instead, it has a stop right next to the hotel. And as a last resort, you can walk. It might seem a little out of the way at first, but it's only about a ten minute walk. (I walked from the Hyatt to the Budget Rental Car lot...instead of taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport and then jumping on the Budget shuttle back to their property. The Hyatt's front desk staff was friendly and efficient. We paid $194 per room, that's the AAA rate and includes breakfast, a pretty good deal. There was a promotional rate advertised in our room of getting a price break if you get a second room, but it wound up being about the same as the AAA rate and didn't include breakfast. We loved the harbor side view, it was beautiful at sunrise, at sunset and at night. We could have saved money on the airport side view, and if you like watching planes takeoff and land, that would have been pretty enjoyable, too. The view from the elevator is stunning as you come up from the lobby level, you are suddenly presented with a view looking right down one of the shorter runways! We took the water taxi across into Boston each night we were there, which was fun. You can buy tickets at the front desk and charge them to your room, or you can buy them onboard. Same price. Sure, it was a little pricey but what the heck, it's an easy way to get around when you don't have much time and/or don't know the area very well. At night, the hotel's "Lighthouse Light" comes on and sweeps across the dark sky, very cool!

The bathrooms were well appointed and quite large but there are no towel racks anywhere at all. So when you're done with a shower and after you've dried off, there's really no place to hang up a towel. Kind of weird.

Now, for the skunks. After arriving in the evening and checking in, we were seated outdoors on the patio. It has a lovely view across the water of downtown Boston. The patio is edged by grass on one side and some landscaping bushes and flowers on the other. Unfortunately, that landscaping area is inhabited by a family of SKUNKS! After about thirty minutes at our table, I noticed some of the bushes moving around and figured there was an animal of some kind in there. That's when I got a glancing peek at Skunk #1. At first, my family thought it was a cat but I said "No, that's a skunk. Watch out!" It wriggled back into the bushes. A short time later, skunks #2 and #3 came out of the bushes and started moving towards our table. Other people had noticed this, too but we were the closest table to the skunks and I was afraid we were about to get sprayed! Other diners seemed entertained by this, but none of the waiters appeared to be bothered. The ditzy hostess just giggled and didn't seem capable of giving us a straight answer about the situation.. The skunks eventually moved away and we eventually got our meal. Postscript: the next morning, I spoke with a couple of staff members of the front desk. They said the hotel certainly knew about the skunks, but that the animals had been "de-skunked" and were harmless. It certainly would have been nice to know that during our meal when we ate nervously.

Speaking of the meal, one quick aside. Getting our food took almost two hours! The restaurant staff seemed completely overwhelmed by a big wedding reception that was happening right next door to the hotel on the same property. When we complained to the manager about the long delay, he took half off the total bill. That was a nice gesture and saved us about $75. Afterwards, I wondered whether the hotel should put up any kind of sign about the skunks or let people know when they checked in what the situation was outside on the patio. I'm undecided about that but I certainly did not appreciate my unexpected meeting at close proximity to a family of skunks during dinner.

I'll be extremely curious if this review gets any response from Hyatt management.

In spite of the skunks and the delays getting to and from the airport, I'd stay here again. It's a nice hotel with a great view.