Grand Hyatt Taipei REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
Dec 30, 2019, 10:10 pm
Dec 30, 2019, 10:14 pm
Dec 30, 2019, 10:16 pm
Dec 31, 2019, 11:43 pm
Also, if anything, Taipei will be less crowded on that Monday due to CNY. The official holiday should run through that Wednesday. Many residents (esp. those not from Taipei) will have left the city.
Jan 2, 2020, 4:18 am
It’s pretty shocking, in a good way, how they’ve managed to maintain this property over the years. It’s in excellent shape!
re: the bathtub, it takes forever to fill. The rain shower head also has awful water pressure, while the handheld shower has fantastic pressure.
Also, there have been various reports on breakfast, so adding a DP. Was told upon check-in that breakfast is in club lounge. I then asked “oh, so Globalist breakfast is only in lounge? Not in the cafe?” To which the agent replied that she could add free cafe breakfasts for us if I wanted. We are on a points stay with a paid upgrade at check-in, so the paid upgrade may have had something to do with that.
Jan 2, 2020, 11:41 am
Jan 2, 2020, 11:44 am
Jan 2, 2020, 11:46 am
It’s pretty shocking, in a good way, how they’ve managed to maintain this property over the years. It’s in excellent shape!
re: the bathtub, it takes forever to fill. The rain shower head also has awful water pressure, while the handheld shower has fantastic pressure.
Also, there have been various reports on breakfast, so adding a DP. Was told upon check-in that breakfast is in club lounge. I then asked “oh, so Globalist breakfast is only in lounge? Not in the cafe?” To which the agent replied that she could add free cafe breakfasts for us if I wanted. We are on a points stay with a paid upgrade at check-in, so the paid upgrade may have had something to do with that.
Jan 5, 2020, 6:55 am
Definitely leave the airport. Whether you get a hotel or not is up to you, but, at least, go to a night market. There is one that's a short walk from that Hyatt (I've stayed there).
My advice is get the room. You have plenty of time for dinner at a restuarant, a visit to the night market, and a decent amount of sleep. The food in Taiwan in world-renowned, inexpensive, and unique, and the people are warm and friendly.
Just because you're on a mileage run doesn't mean you can't see these great cities (NY, Taipei). You are missing some good opportunities here.
Jan 5, 2020, 8:57 am
Definitely leave the airport. Whether you get a hotel or not is up to you, but, at least, go to a night market. There is one that's a short walk from that Hyatt (I've stayed there).
My advice is get the room. You have plenty of time for dinner at a restuarant, a visit to the night market, and a decent amount of sleep. The food in Taiwan in world-renowned, inexpensive, and unique, and the people are warm and friendly.
Just because you're on a mileage run doesn't mean you can't see these great cities (NY, Taipei). You are missing some good opportunities here.
Jan 15, 2020, 1:25 am
Jan 15, 2020, 2:28 am
I've only had a hotel mess this up once (it was booked very last minute, and also I don't think that the FD guy knew what he was doing)
If you want 2 certificates on one reservation, I recommend calling in to make the reservation. I did this recently. You can't put different payment methods on the same res, but they can. Another thing you can do is book the whole thing using points in a single res, and then call in to get them to modify the payment methods (you can switch to certs and the points will be automatically refunded)
Jan 15, 2020, 8:52 am
Grand Hyatt Taipei
2 SongShou Road Taipei, TW 11051
Best Points Value in Town (6 Photos)
Grand Hyatt Taipei
Check In
We had booked a car from TPE through the hotel, so they knew we were on the way. When we arrived, we were met in the driveway by several bellmen who took our luggage onto a cart and prepared to deliver to our room. It was late, so there was no line to check in, and I did it in the lobby as opposed to the club lounge. I had used a TSU to upgrade to a Grand Suite King but asked about further upgrades. I was informed that for 4,000 TWD (~$133 pre-tax) per night I could upgrade to an Executive View Suite, which I took. I was told upon check-in that breakfast is in club lounge. I then asked “oh, so Globalist breakfast is only in lounge? Not in the cafe?” To which the agent replied that she could add free cafe breakfasts for us if I wanted, which of course I accepted. We then went up to the room to get to bed. Our luggage and the roll-away bed and crib that were originally set up in the Grand Suite were shortly brought to the room.
Room
The Exec View Suites are located at the very end of the corridor(I believe on each floor), and it has a very nice entryway with large art on the wall, windows to the left and straight ahead, and a coat closet. There was a very nice white orchid with probably a dozen blooms on the counter in the entrance. When you turn right, you are then looking at the dining/living area ahead of you, and there is a half bath on the right, which has a Toto Washlet. Along the left wall is the minibar, coffee, and tea, all enclosed within built-in cabinets.
The dining area contains a circular table with one (?) dining chair, and the living area has a lounge chair, ottoman, coffee table, and corner sectional. We put the roll-away bed between the dining table and the lounge chair, though I don’t have a photo of that. Again, nice art, flower arrangements, and decorative tea pots and cups all around the room.
You then turn left through double doors to enter the large bedroom with windows on two sides. The bed and pillows were incredibly comfortable, and there was plenty of space to add a crib along the wall of windows. There is a large walk-in closet separated from the bedroom by a pocket door. There was more than enough space to hang/fold all the clothes for 2 adults and 2 kids for two weeks.
The master bathroom is then through another pocket door and is very large, with a double vanity, separate WC (though with a glass door) with Toto Washlet, walk-in shower with rain head and handheld sprayer, and a free-standing tub. The faucet for the tub seemed undersized, so it took a long time to fill. Water pressure at the rain shower head was poor, though, the handheld sprayer had very high pressure.
Everything in the room was super clean and impeccably maintained, and it was a very comfortable place to spend a week, even with two little kids. There were motorized blinds and curtains throughout.
Service
Service at the property was excellent and friendly, though we didn’t ask all that much of anybody. Everyone from the doormen to the café staff to the housekeepers greeted us warmly whenever we saw them. I had booked a second room for my mother-in-law for part of our stay, and the front desk staff was very helpful when I went down to make sure that everything was all set for her arrival.
Dining
We ate breakfast in the café each morning. The spread there is pretty massive and changes slightly each day. Overall very good quality, but had I not been with the kids, I would have preferred to go out for some shao bing (flat baked wheat cake topped with sesame seeds) and fan tuan (rice wrapped around cruller, pork floss, egg, and pickled veggies). I was a bit surprised that they didn’t have these Taiwanese breakfast staples as part of the buffet, though they did have you tiao (cruller) with dou jiang (hot soy milk, either sweet or savory).
We never ate breakfast in the club lounge, but it definitely seemed quite a bit more limited in terms of selection. However, afternoon tea there and canapes/drinks in the evening were very nice.
We ordered room service at 3am once when my son was jet lagged and hungry. He ordered some really delicious pancakes and I had won ton soup, which was also excellent.
Location
Perfect location. Connected to 101 via a sky bridge, easily walkable to Xinyi, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall and Zhongshan Park. Also easy to walk to Tonghua (Linjiang Street) night market. Great MRT connectivity.