Radiant Flyer

I did a tour of the hotel today... and I was quite pleased.

This hotel may not be for everyone, it sort of has that San Diego Andaz energy going on (PARTY, a touch of Andaz 5th ave... with a dash of Hyatt 48 LEX going on... but on a more luxurious note.

PROS:

STAFF: WONDERFUL: I came in asking for a tour, I had mentioned I have a future reservation and wanted to check out the property. When they looked at my reservation and noticed my VIP status with Hyatt, the service and attention was racked up a few levels. VERY HELPFUL... can I help you kind of service.

GYM: Fantastic gym, spacious for a hotel this size.. I loved it!

ROOF TOP: Nice rooftop area for guest only... bar to open soon. It will be a relaxing place to hang and meet other guest... nice city views.

RESTAURANT: Beautiful lobby bar is now open, hotel restaurant to open in mid May. Currently free breakfast for Diamonds in the lobby bar area, Diamond Breakfast TBA when the restaurant opens. I took a tour of the restaurant area.... STUNNING, AWESOME. Restaurant is not operated by Hyatt^^^.. American Bistro 1st level, Brazilian, South American
Tapas, high end, lower level. Space is just my taste hope the food is just as good!!!

ROOMS: On the small side like 48 LEX, but more modern, tasteful, luxurious, fantastic lighting, love the bathroom tile work, high end bath amenities, not KENET MD


CONS: Small tiny rooms... no where to sit and lounge in your room. The only seating is an typical office chair!!!

BATH SINK AREA: It's part of your room, no privacy. When you step out of the shower you are in the room, who ever is in the room with you is going to see you in your prime!!! The courtyard room I viewed had a separate bath area, but not the Sky room.

Rooms that face the street may have a lot of noise. Courtyard rooms sort of have that residential city view of the building next store, but its quite.. If you are looking for a view, this is not the place to stay.

In the end if you want a swanky fun place to stay in an AWESOME neighborhood and don't mind tiny beautiful tastefully appointment rooms that are hip... A beautiful hotel with nicely designed public areas.. this maybe your place...

I went for drinks at the bar tonight... loud, fun, hip and so NEW YORK!

Again the place is not for everyone... but I loved it! if I'm traveling alone and not sharing the room!!!

LIH Prem

Nice review, but where are the pictures?

-David

365RoadWarrior

I walked by yesterday and chatted up the doormen. Wish I'd had time to tour the place. Will be walking by again tomorrow.

Radiant Flyer

Sorry no pics, but the rooms/hotel looks much better in person than they do on the Hyatt website.

TRAVELSIG

Thanks for posting- great to have another option in this area of the city which is quite convenient- the more options the better in Manhattan.

LASUA1K

I also just booked for early May, I'll let everyone know what I think. Pretty hefty price, even for NYC.

Radiant Flyer

Not really, andaz 5th ave was pretty pricey when it opened, did not even offer a AAA rate... Look at Hyatt 48 Lex!!!, and I can't believe the midweek prices for Hyatt Place Midtown! Rates will go down once the hotel looses it's newness.

On another note, they do have a wine hour in the lobby. The front desk invited me to stop by and enjoy 5 - 6.

I Stayed at the Hyatt Place again this weekend... The elevators are painfully SLOW!!! Free breakfast has been extended to deal with the crowds^^^ service is very good to outstanding. I wish Hyatt did what they did at the San Jose Hyatt place, the rooms there are nicely done. Won't stay there again unless the rate in well under $200.

LilZeppelin

Waiting for stay reviews. Strange shower/bathroom arrangement and noise would be a major deterrent for a business traveler. Love Union Sq area, but want to be able to rest at night.

LASUA1K

I'm staying on Wed, I'll let everyone know.

LIH Prem

I had a standard king bed room there, room 1003, there's sliding doors (like pocket doors but without the actual pocket) separating the sink/shower from the room and the toilet from the rest of the bathroom. At least in this room, that's not an issue. Noise (street or neighbors) was not an issue for me, I was facing 4th Ave on the 10th floor. You can hear the neighbors opening and closing their doors (if they just let them close themselves, which they do.)

Note: I did not have the type of rooms that Radiant Flyer described (interior courtyard or the other one.) They told me I had a standard king bed room.

more later .. but I like the property a lot, it's a boutique property with 145 of 178 rooms in service now. room was small, great for 1, tight for 2. Everything was small. I'm in a grand room at the GHNY and it's probably 2x the size of room I was in last night. If I had 2 people I would stay here at GHNY or another property instead unless I could reserve one of the bigger rooms there (corner room, which I didn't see or one of the two suites they have online now.)

I'm sure the property will have both fans and critics.

Pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1066814...eat=directlink

LIH Prem

I arrived mid-afternoon and only had time to drop my rollaboard. I had to get back to Penn Station to catch a train in 20 minutes. I gave them my name and the FDC gave me a claim check.

I didn't get back to the hotel until midnight, they had already placed my bag and an amenity in the room. I mentioned that I usually prefer to take the points, and she acknowledged that, but I have no idea if I will get them or not, but the amenity was nice as you can see in the pictures.

At checkin they didn't ask me if I wanted a late checkout, and I forgot to ask at check-in, but when the FDC called me later to followup on a different request, I asked for a 4pm checkout and it was given with no question.

The card key system was down when I got back to the room, so they escorted me to the room, let me in, and I got a key in the morning when I went down for breakfast.

There's two elevators, I was told 145 of 178 rooms online so far, just two suites, but corner rooms are supposed to be larger than the standard room. I just didn't have time to tour the other room types, maybe LASUA1K or somebody else will be able to and get some pics.

As Radiant Flyer mentioned, breakfast is currently in "Four", a restaurant off the small lobby. Breakfast hours are 7am - 10am. It was very good, no bill was presented, I could have ordered whatever I wanted from the menu, and you can see in the pics, I ordered what I think was called a NY Breakfast, which was a toasted everything bagel and smoked salmon, tomato, onion, and whitefish salad. I had OJ, coffee, the NY Breakfast and extra toasted everything bagel. It was all very good.

The staff at Four is just getting up to speed, service was competent and attentive. They ask you to fill in a survey, they give you an envelope and a pen at the beginning of your meal. I only had a minor service issue, the waiter forget to bring me a spoon with the coffee, but I had a fork and knife I could use to stir it, so it was really minor, not even worth mentioning on the survey. There's a really nice photography exhibit in the restaurant, a photographer has all these pictures of waitresses in diners and restaurants from all over the US. It's nice stuff, take a look when you are there. Ask the staff about it. I think they are proud of it, and they should be, it's a nicely appointed, tasteful space, large ceilings, nicely designed.

In the room, everything, of course is new, and they used nice materials and finishes throughout and everything you'd expect, including the two hyatt paper coffee cups (though I had to look for them and I'll leave it to the readers here to try to find them when they stay there) were in the room. Toiletries were nice (see pics for branding, they were not Kenet MD, they were nicer.) The window opened slightly (there's a latch and a crank and it angles open just a bit, so it's safe) and my room had a nice view.

The staff was great, I met the front desk manager when I checked in, and they were eager to please. I hope they keep that attitude as it's easy to lose in a NYC hotel. I asked about local delis and they did a little bit of research and they came back with one on 1st Ave and 14th St and another one on 1st Ave and 7th St that would deliver. I didn't get a chance to explore very much around there, but I hope there's something closer (they also mentioned one across the street, but I think it closed at midnight or something like that, these other two would deliver if I wanted anything and she offered to make the call for me. But I didn't really want anything, just wanted to know what the neighborhood options were.)

They had a doorman, he helped me flag down the cab I needed after I dropped my bag had to get back to Penn Station. I ended up with a good driver who knew how to get me to 31st and 7th Ave (you can't turn left at 31st and Park, that's where the tunnel ends, you have to cut over to Madison) and even with a bit of traffic I made it on to my train just as the doors were closing.

The entrance itself is on the left side of 4th Ave in between 12th and 13th streets, pretty much on the corner of 13th, but if you want to be let out at the entrance, it's 4th Ave between 12th and 13th.

I didn't have any elevator issues, but I'd imagine that if 1 out of the 2 were down, you might have some issues.

The tv was a beautiful LG large monitor, the channels were all the HD digital variants, there was some sort of menu system, my name was displayed on the tv welcoming me to the room when I got there.

Everything you would expect in a nice Hyatt property is there.

The only minor complaint I have for the property is to find a way to relocate the toilet paper holder in the room I had, as every bit of precious space is used, the toilet paper holder interfered with the space where my knee would go. So I just removed the tp from the holder and placed it on the little magazine rack and spare tp holder behind the sliding door in the bathroom. You expose that area when you close the sliding door in the toilet area. Yes, it's a minor thing.

Bottom line, I liked it a lot, because of the new, nice furnishings, the location, especially the staff, and I wouild stay there again in a minute, with the caveats about room size I mentioned earlier. Room size should be a consideration if you have more than one person in a room there.

This was a points stay, cat 5, so 18k points, 1 night.

-David

LilZeppelin

Great review and pictures - hard to believe though how tight the space looks in a standard room. Nice that Hyatt expanded in NYC, but given the size of everything, and possible problems with only two elevators, this hotel seems to put more Grand into GH NYC than add much to the Hyatt brand.

brosnan6

I tried using a diamond suite upgrade and the rep advised me that currently the best room they can confirm into is the "alcov" one under the "deluxe" category. When I asked why not one of the suite category rooms she spoke to the hotel and they advised the suites are not yet completed with construction. I'm checking in in about a week and she said some of the inventory may change by then and they might be able to get into a proper suite

dw

Unfortunately this seems to be the case with new construction hotels here (aside from luxury properties), and not just with the McSam properties that usually fly select service flags. Take a look at the rooms at the relatively new Sheraton Brooklyn-- they are also extremely tight with space.

LASUA1K

I spent last night at the property. From the minute I walked in, I was taken care of. Check In was quick and easy. They walked me around the lobby/bar. I was upgraded to a Terrace King Room on the 2nd Floor. The terrace added great value to the room as it made everything feel bigger. The terrace had a couch, 2 chairs and a table. I spent a few hours outside just enjoying the fresh air and enjoying the bottle of wine and cheese that they sent to the room. I chose the points but they still sent something up. The front desk agent who checked me in, brought the amenity. It was a nice touch. A letter and a card from the GM was on the table when I walked in.

The room felt spacious for NYC and I had no issues with it. I can see the bathroom setup being an issue if you are sharing a room with someone you don't wanna share too much with. The TV had an amazing picture and had probably the most channels I've seen at a Hyatt, not Hyatt Place. About 50 stations all digital. The bed was a bit firm for me, but I still slept like a baby, so I'm not complaining, and I'm thinking I might be a firm bed guy, when I always thought I was a soft mattress kinda person. The furnishings reminded me a bit of Grand Hyatt San Francisco. I think the wood floors gave me that feeling.

The bar had friendly staff, a bit too friendly but everyone seemed excited to work there. I was given a card for my diamond breakfast. I ordered anything I wanted and gave the card and never saw a bill. I ordered the pancakes, which were ok, I expected a bit more flavor. Service was a bit slow even though I was one of 3 people at the restaurant. I'm excusing this as they seem to still be working out the kinks, which I understood, and still left a cash tip out of respect.

I was given a 4pm checkout and due to the weather in NYC, my flight was delayed by 3 hours. I took a nap from 2-330PM and no one knocked or called my room, as I've seen at other Hyatt's where I've taken advantage of the 4pm checkout. A big plus on this! The one issue, my room was across from the staff hskp closet. If your a light sleeper that might bother you but it wasn't too bad. For being on the 2nd floor, street noise was not heard.

My only main concern was the door person, who twice didn't hail a cab for me. He was friendly, but didn't even offer the service, and I didn't bother as I can get my own cab. Lot's of excitement by the staff, they seem to truly love the place and are excited to make sure everything goes right.

The location is ok, depending on where you are going, it could be the perfect location or it can be an out of the way location. I was going to NYU, so for me, the location was perfect. The subway is a block away.

I will def stay here again. The staff was fantastic except for a few minor issues, which I expect with a new hotel. As far as NYC, I will pick this place over the Grand 10 out of 10 times. I probably still prefer the Andaz 5th Ave, but this place has won me over for my NYC travels.

Thank you to the staff and thank you for the great room. The terrace room gave me the chance to entertain some local friends who took me out for the evening. They loved the room.