(Long and detailed) Review of the new Grand Hyatt Deer Valley
I stayed 4 nights this past Presidents Day Weekend at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. Leading up to it, I had read lots of reviews saying that it wasn't ready for prime time, but was hoping they'd have kinks worked out between a busy MLK weekend and now. It may be a little better, but there still was a lot left to be desired, mostly because of inconsistency in staff service/knowledge and communication between staff at the hotel.
The hotel is gorgeous and the rooms are really nice. I had booked a standard room on points and kept checking online to see if a standard suite became available to use my SUA on. The week before our trip, I saw that a premium suite (Grand Suite with Balcony) became available on points (58,000 points per night) so grabbed that. The room was huge and had amazing views. The kitchenette had a Nespresso machine, hot water kettle, full sized fridge and freezer, microwave, dishwasher, wine glasses, glasses, plates, cups, silverware. It was really nice to have an additional half bathroom when traveling with 2 toddlers.
I had requested via email upon booking that I wanted a crib, and was told that wouldn't be a problem. I also requested a rollaway bed and they said I'd have to see when I checked in because they didn't have many of them. Upon check in at 5 pm, I requested a crib and rollaway bed again and they said that housekeeping would get those set up right away because with the time change, it was already close to bedtime for my 2 year old. At 7:45 pm, after a few calls to the front desk, nobody had stopped by, so I called again and asked to remain on the line while the front desk person personally called housekeeping. She came back and said that housekeeping told her there were no more cribs or rollaways and she said, "Someone was supposed to tell you that, but I guess that message didn't get communicated. Can I offer you a *small* (yes, she said small) credit for food and beverage?" and I said, "No, I don't want a food and beverage credit, I want a crib for my 2 year old to sleep in as promised." She came back after speaking with the manager and said they found a Pack n Play for me. Okay, good enough...wish they would've just offered the pack n play to begin with. But they were definitely out of rollaway beds, so one of the adults slept on the couch the first night. The next day after some people checked out, they were able to bring a rollaway bed.
Breakfast (7 to 10 am) was in the Grand Lounge on the 5th floor for Globalists. Now that it's up and running, they told me that complimentary breakfast was only in the Grand Lounge and not at the restaurant anymore. Breakfast opens at 7 am and it gets packed immediately with families wanting to get an early start on their ski day. It was an okay spread. Scrambled eggs (looks like it might be made from the egg in a carton stuff based on the consistency), oatmeal with toppings, charcuterie and cheese, fruits, smoked salmon/onions/capers, cereal, bagels, bread, pastries, juices, milk. There was a line to toast bagels and bread because there was only one toaster. It was very busy, but they were pretty good about replacing items as they ran out, so I think they've definitely worked that part out for breakfast at least.
They don't serve lunch there, presumably because everyone is out skiing. But they do have snacks (noon to 4 pm) like Kind bars, Twix, fruit, chips. The drink refrigerator also has sodas, chocolate milk, and Perrier. There is always coffee, hot water, tea, and hot chocolate packets out. There's a water machine with filtered water and the good nugget type ice (I call it the Sonic ice). No alcoholic beverages.
Hors d'oeuvres are served in the lounge from 5-7 pm. It was heavy enough to be dinner for all of us. The first night was a little sad - it was some kind of beef stir fry over white rice and mini egg rolls. Someone else in the lounge said that reheated egg rolls from a box were sad and that the food at Hyatt Place was better, lol. The second night it was better. It was steak with chimichurri sauce, potatoes, and some other sides. The third night it was little riblets with mac n cheese. Overall, it was decent. And it was free and convenient, so I was happy with it.
They set out dessert from 7-9 pm. Nothing fancy, small lemon bars, brownies, etc. They did run out of the lemon bars the first night at 7:15 with no plans to replenish, but they brought out fruit instead. They have board games in the lounge, and families would hang out there after dinner and play some of the games.
There is an arcade lounge on the first floor with air hockey, ping pong table, a large area with beanbags and 4 TV screens to play video games, board games, and an arcade area with 4 or 5 games like pinball, pacman, street fighter, etc. Pretty cool for older kids.
The pool and hot tub area is awesome. My kids loved swimming in the heated pool (it was a tad lukewarm for me considering it was blizzarding outside), and I loved the hot tubs (there are 3 I believe). Most times we were the only ones crazy enough to be out there because it was snowing and the wind was whipping the snow in our faces, but I think it was the toddlers favorite part of the trip, to swim while snow was accumulating on their heads.
There is no self parking option, and it's $50 per night for valet ($60 for oversized cars). This was taken off the bill at the end for me (Globalist booking with points). I knew it was valet only ahead of time so brought lots of small bills for tipping them, we took the car in and out every day. During busy times people were waiting 30-45 minutes for valet to bring their cars around. The family we traveled with left 20 minutes after we left to drive to ski school in the morning and it took 30 minutes to get their car and between that and the traffic to park city, they were very very late to ski school. When I was checking out I heard someone giving feedback to the front desk that it took 45 minutes for them to get their car the day before and it was stressful for them.
We had a major issue with miscommunication and our skis. When we arrived, we got a ticket for our skis and boots from the bellhop. We needed to leave early the next day to drive to the Snow Park Lodge area of Deer Valley to drop our kids off for ski school, so I went down to the front desk before breakfast and showed the person at the WOH desk the ticket that the bellhop gave us, and she said she would call and have them brought out front for us in a few minutes. 20 minutes later after breakfast, our car was out front, but no signs of our skis. The front desk person said they would call again. 10 minutes later, still no skis. At this point I was antsy because I knew traffic would get bad, so I took the kids in the car and my husband stayed behind to figure out the missing skis and catch a ride later with our friends. He said nobody knew what was going on, there was zero sense of urgency from the front desk person (who was very friendly and smiled a lot but didn't seem to know what was going on at all) and he literally walked downstairs with a manager to an ENTIRE SKI STORAGE LOCKER AREA THAT NOBODY TOLD US ABOUT!! I had read in other reviews that there were ski lockers, but assumed it was just for people who rented skis from Ski Butlers. We rented from Christy's Sports. Turns out guests of the hotel get complimentary locker(s), take elevators from the south wing to level B1. Would have been nice if they told us this when the bellhop took our skis upon check in. Or if the check in person mentioned it. I just assumed they were stored in an area where they store luggage. So someone downstairs in the ski lockers was holding our skis and boots, but didn't know that they needed to be brought upstairs. Just major miscommunication between front desk, ski locker staff, and bellhop. We just kept our skis in our car for the rest of the time because we had to drive anyway to take our kids to ski school on subsequent days. The day of check out, I walked downstairs to look at the ski locker area and it's very nice. You can put on your boots down there and walk outside to an area where a shuttle picks you up with all of your gear and takes you uphill a few minutes to the base of the Keetley Express. You could also walk, but would be an uphill walk with your ski boots and carrying your skis and poles...probably better to wait for the shuttle. My kids don't know how to ski so going on the lift within walking distance of the hotel wasn't an option for us to get them to ski school.
Ski school. It will be REALLY nice when they set up ski school in the East Village. The first day, we left at 7:45 am to drive to Snow Park Lodge and got stuck in traffic for AN HOUR. Miserable. There's an area where 2 lanes merge down to 1 and it's just bumper to bumper traffic until then. The next day we left at 6:45 am (our kids woke up at 6 am every day anyway) and found a place to have a leisurely breakfast close to Deer Valley. There was zero traffic (without traffic the drive from GH DV to Snow Park Lodge takes 20 minutes) and it was nice to get there early (they opened the lifts at 8 am and ski school drop off opened at 8:30 am). This was our first time at Deer Valley and we loved it. It's really, really pricey, but the kids loved ski school and the child care area, and as very beginner skiers, my husband and I had a great time.
The shuttle to Park City. We had to use the shuttle because one of the main ski lifts (Sultan Express) broke down while we were on the East side, and that was the only way we could get back to the main area, and we needed to get there to pick up the kids. It leaves every 2 hours and it just happened to be leaving 20 minutes after we determined we would need to either shuttle it or Uber it to the other side. There was room for our 2 sets of skis and poles (they slid them under the seats) and we hopped on in our ski boots. The shuttle could fit about 12 people and ti was first come first serve. I'm not sure if they would have called another shuttle if the shuttle was full, or if people would just have to wait for the next shuttle 2 hours later. It drops you off at City Hall in Park City, and from there we walked 3 minutes to the Transit Center and took a free bus to Snow Park Lodge. I read from others that the shuttle back to the hotel from Park City can be a problem because it gets full quickly and then you're just waiting for the next shuttle, and who knows how long that will take.
We ordered to go from Remington Hall for lunch one day (they won't deliver to the room but you can go get it take out). It was pretty good and took about 25 minutes to be ready. Our friends sat down and ordered and it took 40 minutes to get their food and their hamburger looked medium rare plus. We reserved the Remington Hall High Hot Chocolate for our 4 kids ahead of time (you can do this online). It was pricey, $25 per hot chocolate (comes with a red velvet cookie) and we ordered a 2 tier dessert tray ($32). The hot chocolate was very rich and delicious to the adults (basically tasted like melted chocolate) but the kids didn't really like it (I guess they like the thin, Swiss Miss stuff). You could add milk and whipped cream to it to thin it out. I wouldn't spend the money and do it again with young kids (their palettes are terrible), but older kids and adults would enjoy it. We ordered room service one night and just ordered off the kids menu, even for the adults. I was expecting to wait an hour, but they told us 25 minutes and it took them about 35 minutes. Gratuity is included in the service charge, but of course there's a line to leave an extra tip if you wish.
Would I stay there again? Yes, on points, especially if a premium suite is available on points. I didn't mind the drive to Snow Park Lodge, just have to time it right with valet and getting the skis from downstairs (now that I know that's where the skis are). If I didn't need to drive my kids to ski school, it would have been a LOT easier. Everyone was really nice, they just need to work on communication between the different services. It will be SO much better when the East Village is built out more and especially when there is a ski school set up there for the kids. Right now, there is a little temporary East Village Deer Valley trailer within walking distance of the hotel at the base of Keetley express where you can rent equipment and print out lift tickets. It closes at 5 pm, not 6 pm like the other rental areas (I tried picking up my kids skis the night before at 5:15 and was rejected..oops). And now, please enjoy a bunch of photos.
