Gold Passport Concierge

Hyatt Place New York/Yonkers is located in the center of the thriving Cross County Shopping Center, a landmark destination in lower Westchester County. Conveniently located at the junction of the New York State Thruway and Cross County Parkway, Cross County is minutes away from local attractions including Empire City Casino, Playland Amusement Park, The Bronx Zoo, and The NY Botanical Gardens. Hyatt Place New York/Yonkers is near Sarah Lawrence College and Fordham University, and centrally located to all New York-Presbyterian Hospitals and Montefiore Hospitals in the Bronx and Westchester Counties. A short drive will take guests to Yankee Stadium or to any number of world-class golf courses, and the Metro North Railroad, less than one mile from the center, will deliver guests to Grand Central Station and Manhattan in under 30 minutes.

WCT3U

I just returned from an overnight stay at Hyatt Place Yonkers and I'm sorry to say that I wasn't impressed. Check-in was overly litigious. I had to show my drivers license, a corporate ID was not acceptable. (I usually present my corporate ID along with a credit card when I stay on a corporate rates). I also had to read and sign several different sheets of paper. One looked like a cheap photocopy and warned me about silent times and partying. I was given a slip of paper and, after asking, was told it was to be placed on my car dashboard after 10pm.

The hotel is in good condition (newly opened) and the room was fine but smaller than I expected, not your typical Hyatt Place room. The King bed seemed like a queen size.

Breakfast was minimal. Powdered eggs and sausage links. No tomato juice or English muffins and one choice of pastry. A little window opens in the wall that they use to slide food in and out of so it was hard to find assistance and when I did find someone working breakfast, I learned that they had no trays. I guess they gave out their stock of trays yesterday and none were returned. At other properties staff has shown the Hyatt touch and found a tray or even offered to carry plates with me to my room. The 7-10am breakfast time is narrow and it was difficult to eat, pack and leave in time for Easter Sunday mass.

Elevators require a room key to operate and I'm sure I would have spilled my carefully balanced plate and drink on the carpet if another guest hadn't kindly badged me in.

I was hoping to add this property to my list of places to stay near New York City. Sadly though, I think I will cross it off.

RTW1

It's a typical HP with the standard rooms and beds.... so I'm not sure what you were expecting....

WCT3U

I gave my expectations in the previous post. Some more details: For the room, the "king" bed was smaller than typical Hyatt Place beds. The bathroom is at the entry, typical Hyatt Place room layout has the bathroom at the far end of the room opposite the bed. Desk in Yonkers is built in along the wall, typical Hyatt Place has a dedicated desk. The room layout was fine on its own but Hyatt Place tends to have cookie-cutter rooms so differences stand out. Compare the photos of Yonkers rooms to Paramus or Secaucus (both standard layout). Yonkers is outside of New York City so I didn't expect the tight quarters.

I don't recall ever having to display a parking sign on my dashboard before for a hotel. And having to sign a code of conduct before entry was not expected. It was like something you see in the Hotel Impossible television series. I see quiet floor notices sometimes. Greenwich has those and Dulles has notices on its Pure floors but having to sign a paper of terms, conditions and punishments raised a flag that Yonkers may be a noisy hotel.

Breakfast was just disappointing. Not having a tray is a peeve of mine. I get breakfast while the rest of the room is showering and waking up. More than once I've accidentally dumped my food on the carpet trying to push a button or enter the room. And it's gross to put my plates on the carpet or while I open the door or bring it up on a luggage cart. Hearing the reason they didn't have trays today was because yesterday's guests didn't return them gave me the impression that the hotel has a "blame the guest" attitude and that combined with signing the paper made me worry that the hotel is located in a bad part of town and my car had been parked all night outside with a "owner sleeping until morning" sign on it.

Hyatt Place almost always has tomato juice for breakfast and I add tabasco and pepper to make a virgin Mary. Other chains don't provide tomato juice so I notice when it is missing from Hyatt Place. English Muffins are a breakfast staple and their omission just showed the lack of variety in the Yonkers breakfast spread. Years ago I lauded Hyatt Place (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...l#post17365027) because they chose quality over quantity in breakfast selection. Yesterday's breakfast was just sparse.

The hotel was fine and the rate is competitive for the area. But it did not live up to what I expect from Hyatt Place.

dw

What you are describing is actually the old former Amerisuites room model. The newly built (non-conversion) Hyatt Places are all as you have just described-- bathroom at the entry, with a desk, drawer and wardrobe unit along the wall opposite the bed.

nineworldseries

I have stayed at around 12 different Hyatt Place properties, and I have never in my life seen tomato juice at any of them. Every single HP I have been to has the round glass pitchers of orange juice, apple juice, milk, and water, and that's it.

I've also never seen trays of any kind, although I agree that's a good idea in theory.

WCT3U

Oh dear. I hope the missing tomato juice isn't part of the new design. It's not something you would notice in the juice/milk selection but apparently tomato juice is very popular in Austin: https://foursquare.com/top-places/au...s-tomato-juice.

Trays are typically provided on request. That's why I was looking for the attendant in yesterday's post.

WCT3U

Interesting. Thank you for telling me about the change. I'm planning a trip for next month and maybe I can stay at one of the newer HP to get another experience with the rooms. The new HP properties at http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/about/news_announcements.jsp use stock photos that show the same room design as Yonkers. Flushing, NY looks like they have their own photos and those also are with the new design.

pWei

I stayed here last year and unless you really need to be there, I would stay elsewhere. Echo the comments above wrt parking pass and feel of the general property. The service is noticeably below par. Maintenance and cleaning was noticably subpar. In a few years when wear sets in, I wouldn't even consider it.

cdancer20

I stayed at the Hyatt Place Washington DC last year. It's a new hotel and it did indeed follow this new design. The bathroom was right at the entry.

ChoochMom

We just had a one night stay here and we had a fine time. I suppose it is what your expectations are. But it is a Hyatt Place, which is really just a comfortable and clean place to spend a night. Now we were upgraded to a small suite so I can't comment on the size of the regular rooms. So maybe that influences my review, but we had no complaints about the property. Yes, you have to put a sign in your windshield because the hotel is part of an outdoor mall, but that really isn't a big issue for me. (Better that then having the lot taken over by cars parking there illegally overnight.) Breakfast was typical for a Hyatt Place I found and we have stayed in several (I don't drink tomato juice so again can't comment on that). Friendly check-in and service. No cleaning issues. Property wasn't loud (stayed on a Monday night if that makes a difference). Nice that there are several eating options steps away (usual chains like Chipotle, Noodle & Company, Longhorn Steak, etc.) Overall would go back again.

WCT3U

Did you have to sign a paper about noise when you checked in? You didn't mention that in your (very good) review and I'm wondering if maybe that's just a weekend thing.

cmjaffe

this was 3rd stay, prior was in fall. first two times had corner double room which was larger, so space wasn't a noticeable problem. had parking slip but wasn't asked for additional I'd other than credit card. this time was asked for id and had additional papers to sign, but wasn't instructed about quiet times. first time we had a noise issue... seemed there was a dog barking in room next door BUT there was no record of such when we called. on our request we had noted quiet room... not hard to do. definitely agree about sparse breakfast.... 3 dry cereal choices, frosted flakes, Cheerios and another sugary kid cereal (might have been fruit loops). We're not picky but it would have been nice to have had an adult choice. the lack of trays is a definite problem esp when time is at.a premium for getting family out and the carded elevator.... which was problematic with my room key... I dropped half the breakfast I was balancing.... felt bad since I'm one who frowns on wasted food.

the heating was a bit off and very noisy (sounded like we were next to highway yet high floor overlooking mall). on a positive note we thought the beds were probably queen (vs usual double) and found them quite comfortable... I'm a very light sleeper and had a hard time staying awake.... will we return? if we must be in the immediate area early and the price is reasonable or cash and points. otherwise we will look elsewhere.

SanDiego1K

We had a one night stay at this property. It's a quirky location, in the center of a mall. That works, as there are plenty of places to get a quick meal or to bring food back to the hotel. There's a multiplex that's roughly a block away.

We didn't have any challenges checking in, no paper to sign re parties. We did have to put a paper in the dash of the car, but I assumed since we were on mall grounds, that helped mall security know it was a hotel car. I can imagine that malls have problems with abandoned cars.

I had a C+P booking that included an option for a suite. The suite is the same square footage as a non suite. It had a large bathroom right off the entry. I would have preferred that there be an entrance from the bedroom. There were large TVs in both the small living room and in the bedroom. There is no place to sit in the bedroom except on the bed. The living room was snug but adequate.

Breakfast was decent. We did indeed have tomato juice. There were open face egg sandwiches. I chose the one with bacon on top, my husband chose the one with ham. Bananas were fully ripe.

We had very pleasant staff both for check in and check out. I chose points as my diamond amenity but was also encouraged to take cold beverages. On check out, I was chatting with the agent and was given a candy bar for the road.

We were headed north to the Hudson Valley and this was a good launching off point. Kykuit, the Rockefeller Mansion, is about 20 minutes north.