I recently went to New York City for one night to attend an event celebrating the official launch of the Bilt card. I also had a category 1-7 Hyatt free night certificate that was set to expire in a few months and so I booked the Park Hyatt NYC just before Hyatt bumped it up to category 8. Based on past stays at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris and the Park Hyatt Zurich, I had very high expectations for this stay. The Park Hyatt New York met those expectations three-quarters of the way.
Park Hyatt NYC Bottom Line Review
If this was a lesser brand, I would rave about this hotel. It really is a great hotel! But, since it’s a Park Hyatt, my expectations were also really high. The physical property itself met those expectations. My room was gorgeous, opulent, and spacious; and I loved the hotel’s indoor pool which features awesome city views, a great hot-tub and a terrific steam room. Plus, I was impressed with the person who delivered my room service breakfast. He noticed that I had ordered smoked salmon but I forgot to also order a bagel. He asked me what kind of bagel I wanted and returned in few minutes with the bagel properly toasted. A few areas where my overly-high expectations weren’t met were: 1) Elite benefits were mostly excellent, but I was surprised and disappointed that I didn’t receive a welcome amenity after having read reviews from Hyatt top-tier elites who had received them in the past; 2) Breakfast was good, but not great (whereas my breakfast experience at previous Park Hyatt hotels has been great); and 3) Turndown service didn’t include chocolates or other treats (I know — shocking!).
- Points Price: I booked with a category 1-7 certificate while the Park Hyatt was category 7, but this hotel is now category 8 and is priced as follows:
- Room: 40K points per night standard, 35K off-peak, or 45K peak.
- Suite: 61K points per night standard, 56K off-peak, or 66K peak.
- Premium Suite: 80K points per night standard, 70K off-peak, or 90K peak.
- Points Value: Very good. Cash rates are usually north of $1,000 per night.
- Resort or Destination Fee: None.
- Parking: $80 per night for valet or self parking. This fee is waived for Hyatt Globalists on award stays.
- Turndown service: Yes, but no chocolates or other treats were offered.
- Housekeeping: Daily service.
- Internet: Excellent.
- Dining: Meals are served at “The Living Room” restaurant or via room service.
- Spa: Yep, but I didn’t try it.
- Fitness Room: They have one. I didn’t see it.
- Other:
- The Park Hyatt has a terrific indoor pool, hot-tub, and steam room.
- The Park Hyatt offers a complimentary chauffeured house-car to take guests up to 10 blocks away. No reservations are possible. I tried to use this service, but the car was out when I needed to go. A doorman asked if I wanted to wait, but he had no idea how long the wait might be. He didn’t offer to call the driver to find out when he was likely to return (and I didn’t think to ask him to).
- Hyatt Globalist Elite Benefits:
- Upgrade: I had used a free night certificate to book a King Room. At check-in I was told that I was upgraded to a King with a City View. I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t upgraded to a suite, but since I was traveling alone I didn’t need any extra space. And my room was fabulous.
- Club Lounge: None.
- Free Breakfast: Globalists are entitled to daily free breakfast either in the restaurant or via room service. I went with room service and ordered about $200 worth of food!
- 4PM Late Checkout: Yep, they offered late check out and I accepted it and stayed until 4pm.
- Welcome amenity: None. I was disappointed about this after reading Richard Kerr’s review of the hotel from two years ago. He wrote: “A welcome amenity of a chocolate apple (that really looked like an apple), custard pastry with chocolate medallions and a New York taxi toy was waiting for me on the desk along with a handwritten note welcoming me to the property.” I didn’t get any of that. Not even the note.
- Waived Resort & Destination Fees: N/A. The Park Hyatt NYC doesn’t charge resort or destination fees.
- Free Parking on Award Stays: Yep. I didn’t have a car with me, but this would obviously be a huge benefit ($80 per day) for those who arrive by car.
- Would I stay again? Maybe. This hotel is really nice, but it’s very expensive (either in points or in cash). There are many other less expensive but still very nice hotels in New York that I’m likely to stay at first.
Photos and captions follow
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ignore previous post – didn’t realize this post was from one year ago
Early May we booked 3 nights at the Andaz 5th Ave (to be close to friends going with us) and then booked one more night at the Park Hyatt (wanted to try it since once prices rise we won’t stay). With family on Long Island we never stay in the city so we’re excited about this. Thx for the good review.
Maybe service is down just places, we’re currently at the Andaz San Diego and while the room is ok the service is pretty poor, it seems they’re just overwhelmed and understaffed
Thank you for the as always excellent, succinct review!
So, which other hotels in NY would you rather choose?
PHNY is a fantastic property, but I think the review correctly frames the question in terms of whether the VALUE is there for $1000+ per night. Next weekend the rates are an eye-popping $1600+ per night including tax. Maybe is my answer… If you are in NY for a special occasion… The hotel is well positioned for a special night out like a fine meal in the area (Jean-Georges and Per Se are both reasonably close) or at the Met or NY Phil, or heck… across the street at Carnegie Hall. Being within a free hotel limo ride of many world class options NYC has to offer is worth a premium. If it’s a more standard trip to the big Apple, then I’d go for an upgraded room at the Hyatt Grand Central or the Andaz 5th Ave. Not inexpensive, but an enjoyable stay can be had for less than half the $$. I think the bar at PHNY is highly underrated. The premium liquor lists are top notch and fairly priced by NYC standards. Enjoying a craft cocktail perched immediately above Carnegie Hall after check in or before your evening adventure is a simple but quite luxe experience. I agree with many of the review’s points that something is a bit off here relative to the Parks I have stayed at in Asia… Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, Kyoto, Tokyo and Siem Reap. Breakfast in those hotels rivaled anything that can be had the world over, but even with that in mind, the breakfast provided here in NYC is pretty amazing, particularly when you consider it is free for Globalists. Special occasion? Yes. Book early for the best rates. Regular trip? I’d save the $$ for other things and be even better positioned at Grand Central.
Wait, we were supposed to get an amenity ;-)? I am “only” Explorist and my wife and I stayed there for two nights back in March (finally seeing a Broadway show that had been postponed for two years). I booked both nights on points, (since I didn’t have anything above a 1-4 certificate). The room was as you said, in fact from the photos, we may have had the same room overlooking Carnegie Hall. But we were disappointed in the quality of the materials… meaning the towels and pillows. Though I don’t expect a hotel to refurbish everything during a pandemic, when we asked for extra towels, we found more than one of them had had black stains like they had been stuck in the dryer door. In addition, the room-darkening curtains were off the track and did not close all the way… and the fire alarm went off TWICE in one night (3:00 and 4:00 am). While I cannot fully fault the hotel for a faulty alarm, the “sorry” note in my email was not what I expected for the fitful night’s sleep. I had to call and ask for a complimentary room-service breakfast since we then slept past the opening hours for breakfast. (There was no argument about this. But while my bagel and lox were great, my wife’s eggs were cold). Having said all of that, I filled out the Comment Survey online after our weekend and received a very nice note from the manager apologizing for the issues, noting that when we next return, I should keep her info and contact her directly so they can make it up to us. That last part is a very important reason why we will keep going back!
My wife (Globalist) and I stayed there a few weeks ago, and the experience was fairly similar. We did receive a welcome amenity of chocolate covered strawberries and other fruit (this may have been because we were celebrating an anniversary) and a hand-written note. We were able to order anything on the restaurant or room service menus and it was all comped, even though they told us it was limited to certain options at checkin. No upgrades, and the car was never available when we needed it over 4 days (including at 9 AM, when the car was there, but the driver said he didn’t start until 10). Worth it for 30k, but probably not 40k.
My husband used to say of me that my idea of roughing it was if they put a domestic chocolate on my pillow. Not QUITE true, but . . . .
I stayed using a category 1-7 certificate the last Saturday of January and was upgraded to a junior suite. I had similar expectations and they were met with the exception of my breakfast in the Living Room. My room was fabulous (although the bathtub porcelain was chipped!) but breakfast in the Living Room was overpriced and underwhelming. With tax and tip, my (completely comped) bill was $81 for a pot of tea (a Tea Forte tea bag, not tea leaves freshly brewed like at Peninsula Hotels), an inedible chocolate croissant, four slices of gluten free toast (not toasted enough), two scrambled eggs (good) and overnight oats (which were terrific). I had typical NYC brusk service when ordering, had to flag someone to get more hot water for my tea, and then had to chase down the manager to sign the bill when I was ready to leave. If I had paid $795+ for the room and then $81 for my breakfast, I would have been been perplexed about what all my money paid for. My bottom line review is I’ll be trying out other Hyatts in Manhattan on future visits….this is not worth the 40k points/rack rate.
The breakfast here really is okay for the insane price they charge. It’s like $35 for two eggs meat and potatoes. I mean it’s done well but that’s a dinner entree price
Stayed over COVID when premium suites were 60K per night – very good deal. Not worth 90K per night. Hyatt devalued the program so much. I don’t stay loyal (current Globalist) to Hyatt so I can get free nights at the Hyatt Place Omaha…it was for places like this which are now just as expensive and difficult to book as other brands. Was looking at Ventana, they lowered the suites that count as premium, so not only is it 50% more expensive, but it’s for lower level rooms than before. Like airlines devaluing programs, I see no more point in loyalty… I think my best bet is to charge everything to CSR and get my 1.5c/pt booking the lowest rate regardless of brand. Who cares about all these ‘massive’ offers for new credit cards when the points are worth less and less all the time? Wow, a 100K united points, great – maybe I can fly round trip coach once if I don’t mind the 6am flight or the red-eye on a Wednesday.
We were literally just there on Saturday night (cat 1-7). Very similar reaction to yours:
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I stayed for thanksgiving right around the opening (on those old certs) and it was terrific. Like everything prolly Covids fault… they also granted me points for the full cash value of the stay so between wife and myself 4 nights it was like 30k points. Globalist Breakfast was awesome we were nervous about them comping full bill for room service but got it to $3-400 some mornings and no issue on checkout.
I like you, feel that Park Hyatt New York under performs. It was adequate, but didn’t meet my expectations for a Park Hyatt.
Or is it just that the other Park Hyatts dazzle and raise the bar?