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The Hyatt Centric Times Square is an incredibly well-located property less than a block off of Times Square, next door to a theater, and across the street from a cool-looking museum. I booked a one-bedroom suite with World of Hyatt points, which provided ample space by New York City standards. While the furniture showed some typical NYC signs of wear and breakfast was weak, I would probably return if I wanted to be in the neighborhood for a show (especially during cold weather months to avoid a long walk in the cold!). On the other hand, I’d book the Andaz if I wanted a one bedroom suite with more space for the same number of points.
Hyatt Centric Times Square (New York) Bottom Line Review
Overall, I liked the Hyatt Centric Times Square well enough. The location is hard to beat if you want to be near Times Square (and particularly if you want to see the show A Strange Loop or whatever happens to be playing at the Lyceum Theatre during your stay since it is right next door). A cool-looking museum called RiseNY is almost directly across the street. Times Square is literally half a block away. I saved a bundle on parking and breakfast since both were complimentary (parking is free for Globalists on award stays and breakfast is free for Globalists in general).
We didn’t visit what I am sure is the highlight of the property, the rooftop bar that they bill as the highest rooftop bar in Manhattan (on the 54th floor). The bar is 21-and-up only and reservations are required, but they do a quick family tour at 10:30am each morning if you just want to see the view. Unfortunately, we missed that, but I imagine the rooftop bar is really cool.
That said, the sofa in my suite was kind of dirty and although I liked the fact that breakfast was free, it disappointed me a little. The fact that they didn’t have cream cheese for the bagel I ordered was neither indicated when I ordered nor when they delivered. Their response when I asked about it was that they didn’t have any cream cheese and that’s why they included a breakfast bar (though in reality, the breakfast bar was part of the oatmeal breakfast that we ordered for one of my sons…and the nut bar wouldn’t spread well on my toasted bagel). The food wasn’t bad, but the menu was egg-heavy and missing any sort of pancakes / French toast / waffles option.
The 1 King suite at the Hyatt Centric Times Square had a wall and doors that separated the bedroom from the living room. They were pocket doors, but that was good enough for separation between the bedroom and living room, which is what matters to me when I book a suite. Unfortunately, one of the pocket doors kept getting stuck (the other one glided smoothly). That was a minor annoyance when trying to get to the bathroom at night with the kids sleeping in the living room. On the bright side, there was an impressive amount of closet space, with a closet in the living room and wardrobe in the bedroom. We had no problem packing away our bags despite having packed a lot.
I don’t book a hotel in New York to watch TV, but the TV reception was notably horrid — it was almost unwatchable at times because it just kept freezing up and glitching on regular TV channels. Oddly, we had a similar sort of issue at the Andaz one time also.
If you enjoy a hotel lobby with some ambiance, this won’t be the place for you. There was seating for maybe 8 or 9 people max in the lobby and it was just a tiny little area off of the desk. I was also a little annoyed at being kicked out of the lobby late at night. I attended the Bilt x Wells Fargo launch party in Manhattan on Monday night and got home late. Since my family was asleep, I was working on my morning post about Bilt in the lobby. At about 2:30am, the security guard told me that they needed to clean the lobby so I needed to leave. I asked about a business center or another area to work and he told me there was none and I would need to return to my room. I ended up realizing that the gym was likely empty and so I typed the rest of the post from a weight bench. That’s probably not going to be applicable for most readers, but it is worth noting that if you tend to work from the lobby, that may not be possible when the place is busy or late at night.
I will say that the security guy who asked me to leave was professional and friendly and every staff member we interacted with was friendlier than I’ve come to expect at New York hotels (not that staff is usually unfriendly in New York, I just usually find the pace matches what you expect in New York, with the person dealing with you quick to meet your need and move on). Service definitely felt warmer here (and actually I felt that the same was noticeably true at a lot of places in the city these past two weekends).
Overall, I would return to the Hyatt Centric Times Square if I wanted to be in the area (particularly in the winter, when a late-night walk from a theater back to the hotel could be downright cold and so a shorter walk is better). That said, if I wanted a Hyatt suite and I didn’t mind being a few blocks away, I would choose the Andaz 5th Ave over the Hyatt Centric Times Square since points prices are the same but the suites I’ve had at the Andaz were all much bigger. Further, the breakfast at the Andaz, though not what is used to be, features a more elaborate menu (and the option for eating in the restaurant if you prefer). I don’t love the Andaz either — I can’t write something positive about the Andaz 5th Ave without recognizing the absolute and preposterous ridiculousness of the design of the bathrooms — but in my opinion either the Andaz 5th Ave or the Hyatt Centric Times Square are worth the points premium over the nearby Category 5 properties, the Hyatt Grand Central or Hyatt Place Times Square.
- Points Price: Category 6, 21-29K points per night for a standard room, 36-44K for a standard suite (which is what I booked and received). During my stay, awards were “standard” priced (25K for a standard 1 King room or 40K for a 1 King suite).
- Cash Price: Varies quite a bit. Dates I spot checked in spring and summer were about $320 for a standard room and $420 for the 1 King suite (which matches rates during my stay), but in December rates started at $522 for a standard room and $679 for a 1 King suite (note that during my dates, awards were priced at “standard” rates, but in December Hyatt is charging “peak” rates).
- Points Value: During my dates, the value wasn’t particularly good for a suite against the nightly cash rate of the suite before taxes and fees (40K points versus a cash rate of about $420), but since Hyatt includes free parking on award stays for Globalists or Guest of Honor reservations and Hyatt does not charge a destination or resort fee on an award stay for anyone, I saved about $200 per night beyond the cash rate between taxes, destination fee, and parking fee, which made it a decent value to me.
- Room: The 1 bedroom suite was reasonably large by New York City standards. The bathroom was off of the living room, which could be a plus or minus depending on your situation (it was a minus for us since we needed to use it after our kids were asleep in the living room, but I could just as easily see it being a plus if our kids were night owl teenagers). It was listed at 595 square feet but was significantly smaller than standard suites I’ve had at the Andaz 5th Ave (which says that their standard suites range from 486 to 800 sq feet).
- Resort Fee: $34.42 per night. Waived on award stays for all members. There are some inclusions in the digital compendium, but they weren’t mentioned otherwise.
- Parking: Valet only. $80++ for a standard car or $90++ for an SUV, no in-out privileges. The parking fees are waived on award stays for Globalists or on Guest of Honor stays. According to the digital compendium, one of the benefits of the destination fee is a $15 discount on valet parking, so I guess this costs less than $80 or $90? In reality, that probably handles the “++” part at best.
- Housekeeping: Daily. They came while we were in the room and had no problem when we asked them to come back later.
- Internet: Fine, but I didn’t use it very much because I mostly use my phone as a hotspot.
- Dining
- Breakfast: Meh. Room service only, delivered to your room in to-go containers bagged up. If you like eggs, the menu might be a home run. If you don’t, options were limited. While I recognize that supply chain issues are affecting everyone and this wasn’t a big deal in the scheme of things, they were out of cream cheese for the bagel and cream cheese included with the menu item I chose for breakfast. In the bagel and cream cheese capital of the world, I didn’t find a single bagel shop that was out of cream cheese (and yes, I visited a few :-). The food otherwise wasn’t bad, but I was surprised not to find basic staples like pancakes or French Toast on the menu and the coffee was so-so. There is a Starbucks directly across the street and we got our second cup of the day there.
- Lunch & Dinner: No lunch (the main restaurant is still closed). The rooftop bar (on the 54th floor!) is open 4pm-12am weekdays or 4pm-1am weekends. They serve light bites like flatbread or chicken sliders. Menu is around ~$20 per small plate. This is only open to those 21+, though they do a family tour at 10:30am each day. They bill this as the highest rooftop bar in Manhattan and it is probably the highlight of the property. Unfortunately, since the weather was quite cold during our stay, I didn’t check this out.
- Spa: None. No pool, either.
- Fitness Room: Looked pretty good to me. Open 24hrs a day, no reservation required. See photos below.
- Hyatt Globalist Elite Benefits:
- Suite Upgrade: I used points to directly book a suite. I did this rather than using a suite upgrade because my stay was only 2 nights and I didn’t want to waste an upgrade on such a short stay. I got the standard suite I booked (which was exactly what I wanted).
- Club Lounge: None.
- Free Breakfast: Room service only. Menu can be found here. Officially per Hyatt terms you are entitled to breakfast for two adults and 2 kids registered to the room and breakfast was indeed completely taken off the bill (there was no bill to sign when it came, so I don’t know whether they included a gratuity).
- 4PM Late Checkout: Yes. I was asked if I needed it at check-in (I did) and it was extended without any pushback.
- Free Parking: Only Globalists on award stays (and Guest of Honor stays booked by Globalists) get free parking. Overnight parking is downright expensive at hotel rates, though Parkwhiz had nearby places for $30-$75 per night. No in-out privileges (which I believe is common with all of the NYC Hyatt stays I’ve had).
- Would I stay again? Yes if I needed to be near Times Square. I could see this being awesome if I were planning to attend a show during the winter as the walk back to the hotel could be quite short. On the other hand, if I didn’t mind being a few blocks away, I’d take the Andaz 5th Ave for larger suites and better breakfast for the same number of points.
- Hyatt Centric Times Square Pros:
- Half a block off of Times Square
- Breakfast is done via room service (which is a pro to me since eating in the room is easier than bringing the kids to the restaurant in the morning, especially when one finishes earlier than the other)
- Notably friendly staff
- Globalist benefits handled perfectly
- Rooftop bar is probably awesome
- Plenty of power outlets. I am a stickler for being able to easily plug everything in and this place had plenty of outlets
- Lots of closet space
- Hyatt Centric Times Square Cons:
- Sofa in my suite was kind of dirty (common in NYC, but kind of disappointing anyway)
- Lobby is tiny (only an issue if you need a place to sit outside of your room)
- No restaurant (just light bites at the bar)
- TV reception was really poor
- Suite wasn’t the highest value for points
Pictures:
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Nick, curious about how you usually have the sleeping arrangements with the kids in a one bedroom suite hotel situation. My two year old still usually goes into the crib/pack n play, and five year goes to the sofa bed or roll away bed. But I suspect the two year old will need to graduate out of the crib situation relatively soon, but I don’t think they should be sharing the sofa bed when the time comes (because those toddlers sure move a lot when asleep).
Currently the almost-19-month-old is in a pack n play and the 4yr old toddler is on the sofa bed when we have a 1 bdrm suite. Moving forward, two adjoining rooms would probably be even better with two doubles in the second room, but my limited experiences so far indicate that it isn’t always easy to secure that for sure. Maybe a second roll-away?
When my 4yr old was routinely rolling out of his (very low to the ground) bed in the middle of the night at home, we didn’t trust putting him in a regular double bed for fear he’d roll off of it in his sleep, so we often brought an air mattress for him and I guess that’s what we’ll do moving forward (bring an air mattress for at least one of them or possibly both of them when practical). My parents had found one where the air mattress sits inside something like a rocket ship or something, so it has walls of a couple of inches that kept him inside of it (we bought one of our own for trips taken by car and leave one at my parents’ house). He really likes it actually and refers to it as his “raft”. I guess that’s the solution, but that’s not practical for trips by air (unless I order one at the destination I guess and donate it after the trip? I think it wasn’t very expensive).
Thanks for the response. I don’t personally follow any family travel type of blog, so haven’t read many pieces on this. As your children grow older, I do think this is something worth addressing once in a while in your posts. Also particularly relevant for European occupancy rules, which can be challenging. Selfishly, this would help me out since our kids are in similar in age.
I successfully booked an adjoining room at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, and the second room was half price of the standard rate. I believe that is the general Hyatt policy when the occupants of the second room would be minors. Would also be interested to read a post about all such policies across the different chains.
I’d spend an extra 10,000 points and stay at the Park Hyatt.
It would have been an extra 20,000 points per night if they had a standard suite, but they only had a premium suite at an extra 40,000 points per night over the cost of a standard suite at the Hyatt Centric (or Andaz). The Park Hyatt is definitely on an entirely different level (I’ve stayed in a suite there and it was as awesome as it should be), I just couldn’t justify 160K points for 2 nights in New York City. I felt like 80K points for two nights was already a stretch as to how much I was willing to do. I should note that I did try booking a Marriott and applying a suite upgrade — it didn’t clear.
What a waste of points man. Many many hotels could be BRGed in NYC. I stayed at the JW Marquee smack in the middle on Times Square for $125 after PM. Many Hiltons and Hyatts are also super easy to be matched. NYC is not a good deal for points in all programs.
Awesome. I enjoy a good BRG when I can get it.
My problem with that for NYC is two-fold.
First of all, most suites cost far more cash than I want to lay out even after a best rate guarantee (and I definitely want a suite these days — I did get two adjoining standard rooms at a different hotel recently, but they couldn’t guarantee anything in advance and even at check-in they made it sound more difficult than I’d have expected, so confirming a suite in advance matters to me.
Second, if I pay a cash rate, I’m on the hook for a destination fee and parking fee at most properties in NYC. Yes, I could use ParkWhiz to find some other place to park and if I didn’t have a 4yr old and 1.5yr old and all of the associated stuff to unpack from the car, that’s what I’d do, but the ability to park at the hotel is a nice convenience. I did find another property with a standard suite and a standard rate below $200, so I considered paying the cash rate plus 6,000 points per night for a suite, but then it would have cost me almost another $200 per night between the destination fee, parking fee, and taxes. I can replace the points cheaply enough that it didn’t make sense to spend hundreds more.
However, I definitely have gotten off my BRG game and should get back on it. I appreciate the motivation to do so.
Stains on the couch or stains on the carpet ruins my experience. I hate it. One of the reasons for a suite is a nice couch. Having to put towels over everything ruins the experience. I’ll just pay more pointd and stay at Park Hyatt. Maybe it will come out close to the same if I use suite upgrade instead of points?
Was driving me crazy since it looked so familiar but I don’t remember actually staying in a Hyatt Centric. Found the answer–we stayed there in February 2016 when it was known as just as “Hyatt Times Square”. Used a Diamond Suite Upgrade (as they were then called) to get a suite that was (based on my pix) on a higher floor than yours and at the end on the Times Square side of the building, so our views of Times Square and the streets below were incredible! The restaurant also served a really good breakfast. The furniture was the same as yours and was in very good condition, so I’m betting it hasn’t been changed out in six years. We had a great stay.
Nice! Yeah, I was kind of surprised not to be put on a higher floor (I was on the 17th of 54), but it didn’t matter much. The room was certainly not in bad shape overall, just always disappointing when you sit down and feel like you’ve got to wash your hands right away. But that seems to happen to me often enough in New York that it’s either just me or just more common in NY than elsewhere.
I believe this violates at least three distinct local ordinances!
I’m glad to hear that from a local because I figured that if people are submitting videos of idling trucks, there must be something about this.
Hmm… Sorry to hear that the main floor restaurant / coffee shop is not up and running. Stayed in this place several times, last time a few weeks before pandemic hit. Breakfast at the restaurant / coffee shop was always one of the high points of the place… pancakes in particular. Have a great recollection of a room service (including pancakes!) in summer 2019. Which reminds me that in 2-3 years, there sure seems to have been a lot of deterioration (condition of your room). Cash rates could be pretty low, too … seems like price and quality are moving in opposite directions, and not in a good way.