Likewise. I’ve staycationed at every Forbes 5 star hotel in NYC and many of the notable Forbes 4 star/non Forbes rated hotels for at least 5 nights. The only exceptions are the new Aman NYC which I have only spent 3 nights at and the new Ritz Carlton NoMad which I have only spent 2 nights at.
I have actually historically been one of the defenders for the Park Hyatt NYC in that thread as I frequently stayed there due to how cheap it was on points. However, I never thought it was amongst the best hotels in the city. I’m not sure many people would agree with that statement given that the hotel rooms largely occupy the bottom floors of a large condo tower. Before I would have put it in the middle tier for NYC luxury. Over the past year, I’ve come to move it down due to how much stronger the soft product has gotten at NYC luxury hotels in a post-Aman city.
My main gripes with the Park Hyatt NYC
- Middling hard product with finishings that are fine but not particularly luxurious
- Weak exposures and increases noise because the rooms largely occupy the bottom floors of One57
- Very weak concierge- it’s impressive to me that the hotel has still struggled to cultivate a meaningful relationship with the nearby world class restaurants. I suspect they hold back a little for true VIP guests but it is a missed opportunity nonetheless. One57’s lifestyle manager has better reservation access which is, frankly, embarrassing.
- Soft product is hit or miss. The data points in the Park Hyatt NYC FT thread make it sound worse than it is. The service is not actively bad IME but it is certainly nowhere near on the level of a true luxury NYC hotel
None of these are huge deals when you’re paying 30K points. At 45K points, the value proposition becomes a tougher sell as you effectively begin competing with other very solid hotels like the Langham (which has its own problems but is overall a better hotel IMO). As others have mentioned in this thread, I generally would not pay the current cash rates at the Park Hyatt NYC.
There are so many world class hotels in NYC. If you really cherish luxury travel experiences, I think it would be a shame to focus only on the Park Hyatt. FWIW, I think this is generally true for most NYC “luxury” points hotels. There are exceptions (ie specialty suites at the St. Regis NY) but think this is generally a good rule to follow (Plaza base > St. Regis base).
My current favorite overall is the Baccarat Hotel but tbh I change my mind on this quite frequently.