travelit

I'm curious to see if anyone here has stayed at the park hyatt toronto recently. I stayed in August and again in this month. First stay typical Pk quality, second I had a one bedroom suite that was for lack of better words falling apart, had a nightmare experience when I complained about it, before eventually turning up in the General Managers office who did his best to fix everything. Anyway, the point is, has anyone else stayed here that could comment on if this property is up to PkH general standards? So far I would say compared with other Pk's no way but, I don't want to prejudice anyone elses view.

kv99

Welcome to FT!!

The general consensus on this hotel is quite positive-- if you do a search on "Toronto" you will see that this is the case.

FWIW, I had a terrible experience there and will never go back. It had to do with some rate discrepancies and they let me walk out of the hotel at 11:30 pm and go to a Sheraton rather than try to resolve the difficulties.

I do think it's a nice facility in a nice location. I'm sorry your experience was not positive.

travelit

Thanks for the welcome. Oh its not that my experience wasn't positive, it did turn out to be kind of positive in the end. And truth be told I didn't handle it in the best way but I was very tired, my boss actually had to tell me that I did not handle that dispute properly when I was writing an article about it which ultimatley lead to the situation being resloved and restoring some of my lost faith in humanity. I was trying to see if this was more of a one off thing and that other cusomters hadn't had problems as well, the general consenus does seem to be quite positive and there certainly are many positve aspects to the property but, I would be most interested to hear more about your specific case.

travelit

Thx IK, don't know why they didn't come up in my extensive searches. Yeah that is a bit a tough situation you had with Pk Ht T.O. kv99 -- I don't understand why you should punished for a travel agents mistake or why the situation escalated to such a point. It seems the service there is excellent most of the time but, there seems to be under-riding sense of the good service depends on whom you get to serve you and there is certainly a lack of consistency. I think a general staff course in dispute resolution may benefit those members of staff not accustomed to being agreeable and although the prices are very low compared with those of other major cities. I paid I think CA$635 a night for one bedroom suite, I've paid more than 600 Euros a night for a junior suite at Pk Ht Paris Place Vendome or over US$700 elsewhere. I can't honestly recommend it, as consistency is a huge part of what it is to be good hotel however between two minds about it because the GM and a large bulk of the staff there are so incredibly fantastic, I feel a tad guilty. I think if it wasn't for the poor dispute resolution it would be great hotel unfortunately for them in their renovation they didn't separate the bath and the shower which will ultimately prevent them from becoming Mobil 5-star. Does anyone think its unfair to say that the good service there depends too much on whom you get?

[This message has been edited by travelit (edited 10-27-2003).]

kv99

travelit -- the rate i booked was, if i recall correctly, something on the order of 180CDN.

the rate they asked me to pay was about double that, basically rack for a standard guestroom. mistakes happen, and i have no issue with them not honoring my ta's mistake, but they would not even give me a corporate rate. and they just didn't care when i walked out. service is not their strong suit, and certainly at the prices you're quoting (600+ CDN) service should be PERFECT.

in any case, as i said, nice facility and location, but is it the park hyatt tokyo? don't think so!

travelit

Thx kv99, ok yeah, exactly, you agree with me then. The article I was writing was about consistency in Hotel Brands. Right like compare the Pk Toronto to the Pk Tokyo (ok given that the Japanese do have a flair for good service but still). So the point of my internal client newsletter (I advise corporations on where they should consider taking corporate discount arrangements, obviously the fewer the contracts the better, so large chains come to be the focus of my research) was what is the point of even branding a hotel if there is such a difference between properties, I don't think its unrealistic to assume similar service levels amongst hotels with the same name otherwise what is the brand supposed to demark? Good to know someone else feels that there definitely is a sometimes marked difference between Pk properties; they might need to review the franchise model again. I just have a thing about being fair to seemingly faceless companies, especially after that French chef shot himself over a Michelin Star. I wish I hadn’t gotten to know most of the Hyatt staff so well, then I would feel bad about criticizing them, but I’ll make it constructive at least, no low blows. --- goes to show you though, don't trust the brand name, trust Mobil ratings (or similar).

[This message has been edited by travelit (edited 10-27-2003).]

JetCity

I've found the Park Hyatt to be a really nice property with good service ... but I've been upgraded the two times I've been there to a Jr. Suite

travelit

Yeah I've stayed in the JR suite once before at Toronto property, they are nice. But if you like that check out the Park Hyatt Place Vendome JR suites, the bathroom is bigger than the JR suites at Park Hyatt Toronto. I love that hotel, Tokyo also good, although the food needs some work in my humble opinion.

gabbysz

I also have to give a big thumbs down to this hotwl and I have stayed there several times. The Spa is great (no pool), the restaurants(s), wonderful. The service...horrendous, and I am a Diamond. Everytime I have stayed there they have not been able to honor my reservation in some way. More often than not, they have moved me from North to South Tower, even though that is exactly what I reserved, and refused to honor North Tower. They have made me feel like a criminal for asking for my Diamond amenity, I have had to fight for AMEX breakfast coupons, and many times I have had to wait for a room until late afternoon. They have always behaved arrogantly (hey..you only work here, I am actually staying here!), and even gotten into arguments with AMEX when they have tried to recify the situation to meet the reservation. However, I love the area, so I doubt I will boycott this hotel, but I wish everyone that worked there was trained by the Tokyo Park Hyatt.

travelit

Oh my God, totally agree!!! In fact couldn't agree more --- I couldn't put a finger on it but thats exactly what it is. You get treated like a criminal for complaining or even asking for the things you deserve and have paid for ie. your diamond amenitity. That totally pissed me off, acting like I was the bad guy here. Just curious though, why not stay at the FourSeasons across the street? Stayed there a few times not exceptional but, consistantly high level of services & amenities. Or has the Gold Passport locked you into staying at Hyatt's eventhough some you would rather skip.

cigarman

I stayed there 3 weeks ago. It was perfect. Upgrades, coupons, amennity, free car ride to my meeting. I could live in that hotel.

Jim90068

For those unhappy with the Park Hyatt. Have stayed there, much prefer the Intercontinental Toronto around the corner and down the block.

snorkmaster

I stayed their two weeks ago on an FFN stay and was very pleased -- I thought the diamond amenity was nice, and in IMO the breakfast coupons delivered more "bang for the buck" on the menu than most Hyatts. (And, breakfast was very tasty.)

Only downside (and not a real big deal) -- from the looks of the back of the door diagram, they put us in the smallest room on the floor. That said, I thought the room was perfectly nice.

MGR

What about the Four Seasons in Toronto compared with the Park Hyatt?

grumbler

Don't get me started about the Four Seasons in Toronto. It is better than the Park Hyatt Toronto. But not by much. The service is great, but the facilities and the rooms are (dare I say it) looking a bit worn. Considering that Toronto is the home of the chain, you'd figure that the owners of the hotel would try to spruce it up a bit..

The problem is that Toronto doesn't have a lot of good hotels. There are some nice boutiques - the Germain and the Soho Metropolitan are the two new ones, but apart from those, there's not a lot of choice.