Last year, my wife and I bookended a trip to India with two stays in the massive Hyatt Regency Delhi. The hotel first opened in 1983 and still bills itself as “the largest 5-star hotel in India.” While the ~500-room behemoth is undoubtedly showing its age in some places, it made for an appealing respite in the midst of the non-stop clamor of India’s biggest city.
Hyatt Regency Delhi Bottom Line Review
When we first arrived at the Hyatt Regency New Delhi at ~3am local, we weren’t terribly impressed. The internet was out, the room seemed dark and the a little worn. However, over the course of four nights through two different stays, it grew on us. The grounds and pool areas are expansive and well-kept, there’s a great club lounge with terrific service, the food and beverage options are plentiful with good breakfast options. Like many locations in Delhi, it’s unfortunate that most of what you want to visit needs a motor and wheels in order to access it from here, but this is a quality property with excellent elite recognition that’s almost always a superb value on points as a Hyatt Category 1. Thumbs Up
- Price: The hotel is a Hyatt Category 1 and we booked using 5,000 Hyatt points for each night that we stayed. Cash prices were ~21K INR/US$240/night. The hotel often dips closer to 10-15K INR.
- Value: The value on our award booking was exceptional at ~4.8 cents per point, nearly triple our value for the average redemption of Hyatt points at 1.7 cents each. Even at more “normal” prices of US$120-$150 it’s still a very good deal on points.
- Location: The hotel is located more or less in central New Delhi, in the midst of a commercial hub called Bhikaji Cama Place. It’s about a 20-minute drive to Indira Gandhi International Airport, a 15-minute drive to Connaught Place and an easy taxi or tuk-tuk to a variety of shopping/dining centers.
- Room: We booked a standard room with one king and were proactively upgraded to a nice ~516sq ft, 1-bedroom Regency Suite.
- Parking: 200 INR/~US$2.30/night.
- Resort/Destination Fee: None.
- Internet: Excellent inside the hotel, restaurants and lounges. Spottier by the pool and in the fitness center.
- Service: Very good, if a little bit over the top. A couple of times in the club lounge we had people quite literally falling over each other to help us. But folks were uniformly attentive and helpful. The housekeeping staff was awesome.
- Turndown service: Nightly.
- Dining:
- TK’s Oriental Grill: “Far East” restaurant serving Japanese, Indonesian and Thai cuise. The same menu is served for Lunch daily from 12:00pm – 3:00pm and for dinner from 7:00pm – 11:30pm.
- La Piazza: Trattoria-style restaurant featuring a wood-fired oven. Claims to be the first Italian restaurant in Delhi that imported actual Italian products for dishes. The same menu is served for Lunch daily from 12:00pm – 3:00pm and for dinner from 7:00pm – 11:30pm.
- The China Kitchen: Chinese restaurant with three different chefs that each represent a Chinese regional cuisine. The same menu is served for Lunch daily from 12:00pm – 3:00pm and for dinner from 7:00pm – 11:30pm.
- Syrah: Middle Eastern restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating. The same menu is served for Lunch daily from 12:00pm – 3:00pm and for dinner from 7:00pm – 11:30pm.
- Polo Lounge: Wood-paneled, lobby-level lounge that features an extensive menu of whiskeys, cognacs and single malts. Open daily from from 11:00am – 1am.
- Cafe: All-day restaurant with both buffet and a la carte service. Globalist members can choose to have breakfast here instead of the club lounge. Open daily from breakfast from 6:30am – 11:00am, for lunch from 12:30pm – 3:00pm and for dinner from 7:00pm – 11:30pm.
- Sidewalk: Mezzanine cafe for sweets and coffee. It serves a menu, as well as cocktails and wine. Open daily from 8:00am – 10pm.
- Spa: Club Olympus is a massive, multi-level fitness center spa that’s on-site and has the broad menu of massages and treatments.
- Fitness Room: There is a very well-equipped fitness center inside Club Olympus right by the pool. It’s effectively a full gym and has enough equipment for several days of resistance and cardio workouts, including bikes, rowers and a separate yoga studio.
- Hyatt Globalist Benefits:
- Room Upgrade: We booked a standard king room and were proactively upgraded to a 516 sq ft Regency Suite.
- Free Breakfast: The Globalist breakfast is served either in the upper floor club lounge or at Cafe on the ground floor. If you want something from the cafe in the club lounge, they will go down and get it for you.
- Club Lounge: The Hyatt Regency Delhi has a large club lounge with terrific views of the surrounding city. It’s a nice place to unwind and take in the sunset before dinner. Food selection changes depending on the time of day, going from breakfast in the morning to afternoon snacks to dinner appetizers and desserts. It serves complimentary beer, wine and liquor in the evening, as well as non-alcoholic beverages, teas and coffee throughout the day.
- Late Checkout: We were automatically given a 4pm checkout.
- Welcome Amenity: Ours included a fruit plate, sweets and bottled water.
- Would I stay again? Without hesitation. If I was in the area, I would seek it out.
Pros
- Good views from many rooms, great views from the club lounge.
- Rooms are nicely-sized.
- Good location in central New Delhi, although like much of Delhi, nothing much is in walking distance.
- Convenient to the airport.
- Excellent club lounge that’s actually a place you’d want to spend time. Very good service.
- Good elite recognition.
- Terrific fitness center…like having a full gym at the hotel.
Cons
- The property is showing its age and is a bit dated. Rooms have been well-used.
- You have to take a taxi or tuk-tuk anywhere you want to go.
Image Gallery
Hyatt Regency Delhi Regency Suite
Hyatt Regency Delhi Club Lounge
Hyatt Regency Delhi Restaurants
Syrah
Polo Lounge
Sidewalk
Hyatt Regency Delhi Pool and Fitness Center
Hyatt Regency Delhi Common Areas
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I have used this hotel for decades — even since before there was an FT — and it hasn’t really changed much in the time since. It’s never been the fanciest place around the city, but I have enjoyed a lot of time around the hotel’s pool and mostly had good service at the hotel. [There have been issues over the years, including with their charging of taxes on award stays and their hostility toward providing all club room benefits to upgraded Hyatt elites, but that kind of stuff wasn’t really limited to being just a Hyatt issue in Delhi as some other Delhi area hotels did sort of the same stuff and I have been such a Hyatt customer that I always wanted to get what value I could get out of the Hyatt loyalty program(s).]
It also happens to have been the first hotel I checked into right after 9/11 hit, as I was thereafter going from DC/NYC to Delhi; it was also my gateway hotel back for returning to the US as soon as commercial flights back into the US were allowed after 9/11.
For many years, the people bringing me room service meals at this hotel knew from my order that it was me staying there or knew what to bring me as soon as they saw me or heard me. Nowadays it is more impersonal, but still attentive enough.
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Delhi a few months ago. I agree with just about everything in this review. The staff were extremely friendly, and the points redemption value was excellent. We also thought the food in the lounge was fantastic. Unlike some Hyatt lounges, the offerings varied each day, so the food didn’t get monotonous.
We also stayed at other Hyatts in the north of India.
Hyatt Regency, Lucknow, was a bit of a disaster – I can’t really recommend it. It was a bit odd!
Hyatt Place, Bodh Gaya, was very unusual – perhaps one of the most unique Hyatts I’ve stayed in. It’s a very restful property in the middle of the country and is surrounded by fields. It is close to a sacred temple where the Buddha gained enlightenment – this is the main reason for visiting Bodh Gaya. Many monks and Buddhists from all over the world stay at this Hyatt, and consequently, the atmosphere is extremely relaxing and peaceful. The hotel is located in Bihar state, where the infrastructure can be a bit creaky. Therefore, it wasn’t unusual for the electricity to momentarily fail in the hotel, but it wasn’t an issue because the hotel’s generator kicked in a few seconds later.
We paid in cash at the Hyatt Regency in Kolkata. The daily rate was excellent value—around $70 per night when we were there—and the service was reasonably good. We enjoyed using the lounge, and the gym was excellent, too. It’s an excellent way to earn tier-qualifying nights, so we stayed there for three weeks!
No mention of the modern metro station right across the (admittedly gigantic) highway?
Every business hotel in India I’ve been in has been over the top. Is this more over-the-top than average? I love that it’s a category one.
What were meal prices in the hotel restaurants?