The "Not so grand" Hyatt, NY
Oh, this is going to be a long review. Let me begin by saying I chose this hotel because of its great location and because by getting the Hyatt credit card I was granted a two night stay at any hotel in the Hyatt chain. Since I was going to New York for a special opera weekend and since I could also get points for the remaining paid days through the Hyatt frequent stayers club, this seemed a good idea. The website information about the hotel seemed quite nice, and I believed I would get great service and a lot of things at the hotel that would make my stay quite pleasant.
Unfortunately, only a fraction of what I hoped for actually happened.
Okay, here begins my tail of woe. I had made my reservation quite some time in advance, and, as is usual in these kinds of things, I had GUARANTEED my reservation using a credit card. Now when you do that, you don't expect to arrive and find no room available for you, do you? WELL, DO YOU? Now you can surely be positive that if I HADN'T shown up, I would have had to pay for the night. RIGHT? But you surely wouldn't expect to be told that "Oh, I'm sorry, we have no rooms available." To me, this is a violation of a contract. I had put my money on the line, and I feel the hotel was contractually obligated to give me a room. Now right now I'll say that I arrived after 1:00 a.m., but I had notified the hotel that this would be the case, and had been assured by someone at the Hyatt office, that there would be no problem with my late arrival. Well, guess what? SOMEBODY LIED! I was then told that they would move me to another equal hotel, nearby, and they would comp my stay at that hotel. Well, an hour later, I was told that they couldn't find anyplace at all, but they would still work on it, and in the meantime I could wait in their "executive club" room, where I could avail myself of a place to relax, and drinks and food would also be available. Well, the "club" consisted of a fairly nice and fairly large room, with couches and tables and some cookies and candies, but as far as drinks were concerned, oh yes, there were lots of drinks available (and by the way I was informed they could be alcoholic) but they were all BEHIND LOCKED GLASS!!! So now I'm sitting (I did have some nice chocolates) and waiting and waiting and waiting, and finally the desk clerk arrived and told me that miraculously, four people had checked out and I could have a room if I didn't mind waiting until 3:00 a.m.! Now doesn't this seem a bit suspicious to you? WHO checks out of a hotel at 3:00 a.m.? Okay, finally, my long nightmare of a travel day is just about over, and I'll admit they were very nice about it, and promised me a nicer room tomorrow, free breakfasts for all the days still left in my trip, and that this first night would not be paid for. Okay, this is nice, but I think my original contract would have been much nicer.
Off to a very short sleep, and then the next morning I was upgraded to a nicer room. End of the worst part of the story.
Later that morning after a somewhat fitful sleep, I went down to the desk, where a very nice clerk welcomed me warmly and offered an upgraded room, and the knowledge that not only would the room be nicer than the last one, but it would be at a lesser rate than had been agreed upon.
When I got to the room I discovered that it was indeed a very big room, with a nice view out on to Lexington Avenue. A BIG drawback to this room, however, was its lack of a bathtub. I really am very picky about needing a bath rather than a shower. Okay, but it's a nicer room, so I'll live with it.
Now, here are some more general comments about the rooms at this "not so Grand" Hyatt. First let me say that the room, though large, was not a room that made itself available for much. There is a table, a chest of drawers (which also doubles at a desk), a king size bed (the best thing about this room) and that's about it. You could play football in the space in the middle of the room, but as for any kind of other use, it's nothing. The lights in this room were four very tiny spotlights at two of the sides of the room, and one humongous gooseneck kind of light that pretty much imposed itself into the middle of the room, making it very likely you're going to bump into it, because the lights in the ceiling didn't brighten up the room much. There were also two bedside lamps, but again, they didn't shed much light. The bathroom is a closet. Or at least that's what it seems like. Pardon me for TMI, but you're sitting on the "facility" you can't move a muscle without bumping into either the shower doors or the sink. To use the paper you have to be a contortionist and reach behind you to get at it. Then when you pull it to tear it into usable sections you're just as likely to knock it off its holder. If you shut the door of the bathroom when you use it, you're just totally constricted as far as movement is concerned. The only good thing about the bathroom is that the lighting is pretty good, and you have enough space to put your cosmetics and things on the sink unit. I would much prefer that this had been the closet, but the closet itself was pretty roomy. In fact, it was a far better organized space than the rest of the room. One more negative thing about this room was this: whenever I've gone to a hotel they have information in the room about activities and benefits of the hotel. This place, except for a menu of dining options, had nothing. Nothing about spas, health clubs, exercise rooms, computer and business options, NOTHING! When I asked at the desk about it, they said they'd bring up the information to the room, but it never appeared. I tried to ask some of the desk people about it, but they had no idea about anything. I specifically wanted a massage but they couldn't help me. Oh yes, all the folks working here (except for the restaurant...more about that later) were very friendly, and if they had known what was going on at the hotel or would live up to their promises, they might have also been helpful.
Are you getting tired of all this verbage? Sorry, but let me go on to some more comments about the hotel in general. All the facilities (and I'm sure I didn't know about most of them) worked well, were nicely done and pretty nice for a big city hotel. The servers and helpers at the restaurant were usually pretty helpful and friendly, except for one woman who was seating customers at the breakfast hour. She made it quite apparent that she had no interest in being friendly or helpful and only the fact that she had to do it would she give you a table. I watched this same woman lead a couple to a table that wasn't particularly special, and when they dared to ask for a nicer table her looks could really kill! If this woman hates people so much, why does she take this job? There were also some nice servers, such as a very nice Irish gal and another at the bar who were especially helpful.
Whew! I guess that pretty much wraps it up, except to say that this hotel needs a major revamping in its service department. I've been in other Hyatts where the staff will bend over backwards to help, and everything you could possibly need or want could be provided, but this isn't the place. It could be a great hotel, but not the way it is. I guess the main thing to say is I WILL NEVER, NEVER, EVER stay at this hotel again! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.