RTWSTARALLIANCE

I may be off to the Grand Hyatt Taipei on three FFNs. All comments appreciated. How do they treat Diamonds? Also. Ideas of things to do as I will be there two solid days. Comments on Spa also appreciated. Thanks

SanDiego1K

Here's a thread that gives some recent experience at the Hyatt.

And here's a post from an old trip report from FTers who spent 18 hours in Taipei.

thezipper

Depends if there is a conference in town, if yes... no upgrade. Though they did say in an e-mail I could "pay" to secure an Exec Floor upgrade before arrival if I wanted... was ~$50 and for one night not worth it for me. Welcome amenity is a drink at the lobby bar. Seems all Gold Passport members receive the continental breakfast at the Cafe' (according to the key packet) or you can have it served in your room though. The hotel is right across from Taipei 101, so ask for a view or they will put you in any room. Also, 101 has a food court in the basement... worth taking a walk over if you want a snack. The Hyatt has an outdoor pool, but not sure about spa services.

When are you going? I'm off to NGO this weekend....

domirule

Last time I stayed there was August of 2004. Received Grand Club upgrade but that was before the policy changed... Wrote a letter to Hyatt Int'l regarding some service issues:
_____________________________________________
Dear Hyatt:

I've stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Taipei some 15 times now and whether it's a training problem or just attitude problem in general, I've found the service at this property to be average at best.

In my most recent stay there last week, I found the following service lapses -

- At check-in, no diamond amenity was provided.
- At check-in, I was told that a newspaper would be delivered to my room promptly. It never came.
- An hour after I checked in, I approached the Grand Club and inquired about the items above. The agent could not believe that my diamond amenity (a drink certificate at the lobby bar) wasn’t given to me, and she did not seem to believe me. However, she finally gave me the certificate and made a call to the front desk for my newspaper.
- I then told her that I was not very happy with the room. The room seemed worn and I told her that there was a crack in the bathtub. She again did not believe what I said and advised me that all the hotel rooms had been renovated. She then told me that the hotel was running pretty full...and said somebody would go to my room and check out the crack...the "somebody" never came.
- Upon check out at the Grand Club, I advised the agent to please make sure the GP1000 bonus was noted in my folio. The agent hesitated and advised that she may not be able to enter the code because it was supposed to be entered in upon check-in. I've never heard of this rule in all of my Hyatt stays before. But she advised that she would check. Let's see if the bonus shows up when my stay posts to my account.
- After leaving the Grand Club reception desk, I checked my hotel statement. To my surprise, the hotel bill only shows my name and a zero balance on it. My stay was booked and pre-paid on hyatt.com. However, the bill didn't show the room rate, it didn't show the pre-paid amount...it didn't show anything but a big "0". I asked the agent about this and she said that because the room was booked on the internet, that was the only bill she could give me. I found this explanation absolutely incredible. How can I claim my hotel expenses from my company when the bill doesn't show anything? How can I claim Gold Passport points if for some reason my stay doesn't post?
- I approached the front desk to inquire about this problem. The agent seemed surprised that the bill showed "0" and proceeded to print out another bill showing my room rate and balance.

All in all, the service that I received from this stay was mediocre. People seemed uncaring, service was not refined, and the room that I had was poorly "renovated."

And finally, why is the diamond amenity at this hotel a drink certificate? Diamond members already have all the drinks they want at the Grand Club. How is the amenity useful?

I was disappointed with my stay. Please look into the service issues above.
____________________________________________

After I sent the letter, the resident manager replied and apologized for the problems that I encountered...and was kind enough to offer me a suite upgrade the next time I visit. He also wrote and assured me that the bonus points "have already been credited to my account." I waited another 3 weeks after he wrote back to me and still the points were nowhere to be found. Had to ultimately fax in my statements to Omaha to get things credited.

As stated, I've never been impressed with this hotel...the price that they charge is not justifiable. One can stay at the Regent for about 4,500 NT (tax inclusive)...the Shangri-la is better too in my opinion.

By the way, do I have a valid point regarding the drink certificate? I think it's only for 1 drink, even if you have 2 people in the room...

TerryK

The renovation was for the rooms themselves, decoration, furnishing etc. Most bathrooms were not renovated. Yes, many of them are getting tired.

Depending on systems used, many hotels generate a separate room rate bill for prepaid stays. The first rep was probably new and didn't know how to access the room rate bill. She only gave you the incidental bill. Quite often, I would receive two bills for prepaid stays with incidentals.

This always puzzles me as well!

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Can someone please comment if any Hilton or Starwood brand hotels are near the GH Taipei? Thanks

ohbahsan

no hiltons and the 3 *wood properties are not within walking distance of the hyatt. they are also not up to par compared to hyatt. despite the previous posts i have received excellent service and still find this hotel to be one of the better hyatts in the world, especially now that the location is becoming very attractive.

Taipei

Closest Startwood is the Westin Taipei, which is also a nice hotel. The Sheraton is near the Train Station in old Central area (Taipei Main Station area). The Sheraton has been under renovation for last few months, some lobby area, and restaurant are done and very nice, but appearas on one side, the are still working on the rooms. The Sheraton is old, but with renovations, it looks very good. The Four Points, is southern suburban area with access via MRT (subway).

The Hyatt does have great location in the new area, and is one of the top level hotels in Taipei along with Formosa Grand, Westin, and Far Eastern Plaza.

gregorygrady

I stayed there 3 different times in Sept. 2004 and was upgraded to Grand Club each time, although there were GC rooms available on hyatt.com each time. And one of the stays was during a big conference so I was sort of surprised I got the upgrade. As far as the free drink diamond amenity, I actually liked it more than the normal Amenity fare. I used it after they stopped serving drinks in the GC. I just took my laptop down to the lobby bar and had my free beer while surfing FT (had to pay for wireless access time though ). The above gripe could go the other way as well, why offer a cheese plate or fruit plate or chips, etc and why offer water/soda/wine as an amenity when it's available in the GC for free. But nonetheless it would be nice if they gave you a choice of several things like normal Hyatts do. What if you don't drink beer? Then you're just SOL. It would also be nice if they offered the choice of 1,000 GP points or something. The Diamond Amenity I actually liked the most was the $25 food and beverage credit that I got at HR Chicago last month. That was actually quite useful.

cmhua777

Just checked out of there this morning and overall it was a good experience. I did not get a amenity upon check-in but was granted lounge access and given a club floor room for being a Diamond. The room was spacious and modern. The bathroom did not look too aged either. Standup shower, seperate bath-what I would expect from a Grand Hyatt.

Had stayed at the Regent Formosa the week before and enjoyed that as well. Actually, the rooms at both hotels looked amazingly similar and were of identical size. Given a choice between the two I would stick with the Hyatt for its location.

magiciansampras

Thanks for the sage advice.

One quick question: With the bed and breakfast option can one have breakfast delivered to one's room? I will be there for 2 nights by myself and I might enjoy having breakfast delivered so I can eat in my robe and read the paper (and watch the same news repeated on CNN World every 15 minutes).

Also, is the club lounge breakfast just continental or is it hot?


Thanks!

michel_chu

GH Taipei's Club floors had just went through a rennovation with very chic modern deco, so you may want to check it out.

If memory serves, GH Taipei offer all gold passport members free continental breakfast, which can be delivered to your room at no additional charge.

Michel

Michael899

Yes, you can have complimentary breakfast delivered to your room at the GH Taipei--I wished more Hyatts emulated that. But be aware that it consists only of coffee or tea, small juice, and 2-3 small pieces of pastries/croissants. I would highly suggest a visit to the breakfast buffet--there are usually 40-50 items to choose from.

This is one of the best perks of most 5-star East Asian hotels--excellent breakfast/lunch buffets that includes selections from Europe, North America, and local specialties. Among the best that I've encountered are the breakfast offerings at the Conrad Hong Kong, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, Westin Taipei, Grand Hyatt Shanghai, and the St. Regis Beijing.

168

[QUOTE=magiciansampras]I have no status with Hyatt. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

Before you go, make sure you sign up for Gold Passport so you can get discounted breakfast if you choose to go that route.

If you don't mind, tell us the price different between those options and maybe one of us out here can tell you if it is worth the extra $$.

Breakfast at the club consists of your regular Cont-style pastry, fruits, cold cuts, vege-omelete, ham-omelete & Chinese hot soy milk with fried dough. Breakfast at the lobby is more like a Sunday brunch and I would have no problem paying US$20 elsewhere.

Evening cocktail and snack at Grand Club are great. Sushi, Chinese BBQ pork/roast duck, satay.... are the usual menu items. One catch, it ends at 8pm sharp. If you still hungry after that, try basement of Taipei 101 food court.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Any ideas on transport from TPE to Hotel? We are a party of three. Thanks