Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
The Grand Hyatt New York, located next door to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, is a World of Hyatt category 5 hotel. I stayed here this past weekend on a Hyatt Prive rate. I checked in early and spent more time in the room than usual though still failed to take shots of the bedroom itself. Go figure. Still, here are my thoughts on the Grand Hyatt.
The Grand Hyatt New York Bottom Line Review
This hotel is the largest in New York and is known to feel somewhat impersonal. It was announced in 2019 that the hotel will be torn down and rebuilt in smaller form, but there is no date set for that project as of yet. The hotel is right in the heart of everything literally next door to Grand Central Station.
- Points Price: Category 5, 20K points per night.
- Value for the Points: Poor. Cash rates, particularly during the off-season, can be found in the $125-$175 range. I booked a cash rate through Hyatt Prive which is a solid value.
- Location: Very good. Middle of Midtown Manhattan
- Breakfast: Good. I booked through Hyatt Prive and thus got restaurant breakfast for 2 people, which consisted of coffee or tea, juice, and the entree of our choice.I also dropped by the club lounge during breakfast and they had a good range of bread / pastries if that’s your thing.
- Room: While the decor and functionality was fine, the first room I had was kind of dirty (a clear sticky substance on a chair and some dirty bits left in the toilet). We asked to change rooms. The new room had remnants of toothpaste and stubble shavings in the corner of the sink. Definitely not the cleanest Hyatt property ever.
- Parking: $80 per night. Instead, we used ParkWhiz to find a place about 6 blocks away for $52 total for two nights.
- Service: Good. Front desk quickly agreed to change our room when the first one wasn’t clean enough. Another agent proactively fixed a billing issue on my folio. Despite being a huge hotel, service was welcoming.
- Turndown service: None? I never received any mints anyway.
- Hyatt Elite Benefits: Good. I was offered late check out during the check-in process. I declined but later decided I needed it on the morning of departure. I requested the late check out via the chat feature in the World of Hyatt app and it was easily granted. I also applied a Club Lounge Access Award and enjoyed club lounge access. The lounge was the highlight with surprisingly decent food for a domestic club lounge. They had coffee machines with to-go cups operating throughout the day and even had to-go trays for multiple coffee cups and bags for chocolate chip cookies despite the policy that food and drink is meant to be enjoyed in the lounge.
- Would I stay again? At a rate of $129 per night plus Hyatt benefits, I’d probably consider this again for a stay where the room didn’t matter much to me. That said, I’d more likely book another hotel next time because of the cleanliness issues with both rooms I had. The public spaces were fine and the club lounge was decent, so I might consider it if I anticipated being out of the room most of the time anyway.
Photos and captions follow…
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This disgusting Grand Hyatt has been under mismanagement for a very long time. I never consider to stay there. Financial District has more reasonable priced and cleaner hotels.
Besides, Grand Hyatt is next to Grand Central terminal where the first New York community spreading case working and taking Metro North trains. He probably infected many people on the train.
Largest hotel in city that’s dirty during a coronavirus outbreak? No thanks!
Front desk TOAD me don’t look down and you will be OK . That’s the Mayor’s fault go fire someone .
CHEERs
“Parking: $80 per night.” Holy cow. And yeah, I don’t visit NYC so I guess I’m out of touch with parking fees. That makes resort fees or $4 for a pastry seem like a bargain.
Free parking for Globalists on free/award stays if the charge can be billed to the room. One of the best Hyatt perks if you drive in cities.
Thanks for letting us know about the title typo. Fixed.
With the COVID-19, that food doesn’t look to appetizing.
By this weekend, there maybe no more flights and empty hotels? This craziness is occurring in leaps and bounds such that it changes by the minute and not by the week or months.
Nicky, is Greggy going to cover this historic COVID-19 soon?
I had the same thought since the pastries were self-serve. And that was before I saw the news that the law firm of the NY lawyer hospitalized with it is across the street.
Why would you drive to/in Manhattan?
Because I live 3 hours away in the mountains where there are no trains and we barely (but thankfully do) have roads.
Thanks for the review. Hyatt guys on Flyertalk steered me away from this hotel for my wife and son. But at some price point it’s gotta be worth it.
Did you happen to learn if the Prive breakfast is better then what Globalists get?
According to Nick, “Free breakfast for 2 each day (which consists of restaurant breakfast rather than just club lounge breakfast.”
I understand that. I am asking if Globalists get something better, having never been there.
First word in the title is slightly misspelled. Sounds like the service were pretty good with the exception of the cleanliness if the rooms.
R you missing something?
I ran it through spellcheck definitely the “r” that is missing.