Originally Posted by
ElevatorEnthusiast
Overall, I enjoyed my stay at the Grand Hyatt Berlin, and I think it's a good hotel. However, there were issues with pre-stay sentiment due to a poorly-worded upgrade email and a subsequent failure to deliver the promised replacement benefit (yes, I didn't ask for it, but if you're going to promise something, you should deliver). I find it ironic that the stay would have been better had they not said anything at all. I'll detail that before hopping into my pros, cons, and photos - again, this is a nice hotel with a good offering, and I think most would be happy here.
Email Saga:
I received the following from the GH the afternoon before my arrival day:
Thank you for your reservation at Grand Hyatt Berlin. We are happy to welcome you soon. I would love to inform you that unfortunately we do not have a Globalist suite upgrade available anymore to allocate, but I would love to ask you if there is anything else we could prepare or arrange to value your Globalist status with us? For example could we offer you a drink in our bar, offer the minibar for free or offer complimentary parking? Please let me know if I could do anything to make your stay even more comfortable for you. May we ask as well what type of welcome amenity we may arrange in your room, would you prefer something sweet, savory or fruity? We are happy to welcome you and if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. In case you could give us an arrival time, we would appreciate it.
After checking online and seeing that Junior Suites were still being sold, I responded an hour later with:
Thanks for reaching out! If a suite or other upgraded room happens to open up before arrival, I’d love to be included for consideration, but in case not, I’ll never say no to a drink at the bar. As for treats, I’ll always pick something sweet! I’m staying at the Westin tonight, so I’ll likely walk over and perhaps arrive around 2 PM. On Wednesday morning, my train to Hamburg departs around 10:30 AM, so I’ll have no need for late checkout.
The next morning, I received the following reply (after seeing this, I did check and see that Junior Suites were no longer being sold):
At the moment unfortunately the suite situation did not change, but I have upgraded you to one of our bigger Deluxe rooms with the access to our Grand Club lounge on the 7th floor of course. My colleagues will hand out a voucher for you at time of check in, so that you will be flexible in regards to your drinks. As well we are trying our best to have the room ready at 2pm latest. At the moment the room is still checked in, but I will cross my fingers that the other guest will check out early.
I know some on this forum will disagree with me, but my problems with this exchange, besides the poor translation of "love to inform you", are that 1) it creates a lack of excitement for the stay before it even happens and 2) the supposed "drink voucher" never appeared. Nothing was mentioned at check-in or otherwise, and I didn't want to pull a "you promised a drink voucher" at the front desk as I'm sure the FDA would have thought I was being entitled. Plus, I don't need any more notes in my Hyatt profile to get me on any bad lists.