Grand Hyatt Seattle REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
#286
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 973
Just want to update. Stayed 3 nights at GH Seattle in early July - a pleasant stay. Hotel is conveniently located near a light rail station - we took it from the airport, cost US$3 each! From the train platform at SEA we could see Mount Rainier (also saw it in Amex Centurion lounge inside SEA). Train trip took about 45 mins, and 5 mins walk from station to hotel. Room as described in the review in this thread, located on 20th floor of 30 floors - facing west so bright and having limited views of the harbour / waterfront in distance over other buildings. Good size room with king bed and big bathroom. As we have no status, so no breakfast, no lounge. We ended up eating dinner at the Pacific Centre building next door (4th floor has Din Tai Fung restaurant - Taiwanese dumplings) and we bought a few things from the Wholefoods Market (about 10 to 15 mins walk from hotel). Cherries were in season and great. Also bought some cherries from Pike market.
#287
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
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I just got a buyup offer for $45 for lounge access (one night stay). Is it worth it? I'm thinking no unless someone can convince me otherwise.
#288
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,161
Depends on what you use it for... the food is pretty good and if you like to stay in and eat light you can make a dinner and breakfast out of it. Alcohol is discounted and NOT free as I recall...
#290
Pass. The breakfast was just so-so. Go eat somewhere local, not even sure why people hype up this lounge. It's average for US at best, ie not great vs Hyatt lounges elsewhere in the world.
#291
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,161
#292
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
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Citrus Thai is nearby and meets those requirements. Been there a bunch over the years.
Citrus Thai | Seattle - Menu
Citrus Thai | Seattle - Menu
#293
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
Programs: TubWorld, Bar Alliance, Borratxo Legendarium
Posts: 16,968
For 2 people, it might be worth the lounge upgrade, but for 1, you can get a lot for $45 within walking distance of the GH
Barolo (my #1 choice)
Il Fornaio
Any Tom Douglas restaurant
Ruth's Chris or Blue C are attached to the hotel.
Missed Happy Hour?
Long Provincial - you can get a great bowl of pho for < $10
Mae Phim Thai
Din Tai Fung - not cheap, but you can definitely get out of there with a full belly for <$45 and have leftovers for the breakfast you're missing at the lounge.
There are also food trucks all over downtown with good eats.
Breakfast:
Cherry street coffee
Dahlia Bakery
Biscuit .....
You can go one stop north on the light rail and be across the street from Dick's Drive In, and any number of places on Capital Hill
You can go 3 stop south on the light rail and be in the heart of the International District.
#294
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,161
I suppose if you want to limit yourself to food trucks and happy hours you can do marginally better than $45 for breakfast and dinner. But assuming you tip appropriately, your really talking about $35 worth of food in an expensive city which will go very fast, especially if you have a appetite. $45 for the club, which is unlimited all-you-can-eat, and convenient, is not a bad deal for two meals. I realize food is very subjective, for example, I don't really like Asian, but in my experience the Grand Club was decent. Not spectacular, but not bad, very clean, and a great view.
#295
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: Flying Blue Platinum, JetBlue Mosaic, Hyatt Globalist, Alaska MVP Gold.
Posts: 1,962
I personally barely understand the benefit of a lounge in a hotel as-is; perhaps in an airport, where options are limited and poor, it makes sense. In the middle of a city? With tons of great food options around, with local flavor and wonderful scenery to enjoy, you'd rather pay $45 for two supremely mediocre buffets?
No. You can absolutely do better than that in downtown Seattle. The options are already listed. If you make a convenience choice — perhaps you're insanely busy, you have no time to ever go to a restaurant even next-door or in the hotel itself — that's fine, but otherwise go out and get some quality food in a city known for lots of excellent dining options.
No. You can absolutely do better than that in downtown Seattle. The options are already listed. If you make a convenience choice — perhaps you're insanely busy, you have no time to ever go to a restaurant even next-door or in the hotel itself — that's fine, but otherwise go out and get some quality food in a city known for lots of excellent dining options.
#296
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Seattle
Programs: Delta Silver Medallion, BA Executive Blue, IHG Platinum Elite,Kimpton.
Posts: 739
I personally barely understand the benefit of a lounge in a hotel as-is; perhaps in an airport, where options are limited and poor, it makes sense. In the middle of a city? With tons of great food options around, with local flavor and wonderful scenery to enjoy, you'd rather pay $45 for two supremely mediocre buffets?
No. You can absolutely do better than that in downtown Seattle. The options are already listed. If you make a convenience choice perhaps you're insanely busy, you have no time to ever go to a restaurant even next-door or in the hotel itself that's fine, but otherwise go out and get some quality food in a city known for lots of excellent dining options.
No. You can absolutely do better than that in downtown Seattle. The options are already listed. If you make a convenience choice perhaps you're insanely busy, you have no time to ever go to a restaurant even next-door or in the hotel itself that's fine, but otherwise go out and get some quality food in a city known for lots of excellent dining options.
Lounges in hotels in the States that I have experienced are pretty poor, unlike in Europe, did a stay at the Clayton Burlington Dublin, lounge was super nice, hot food in the evenings, help yourself wine and Guinness, far superior to what I have experienced over here.
Seattle has improved i the few years I have been here restaurant wise, Belltown, Capitol Hill have some really good places for eating.
#297
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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To close the loop on this, I didn't take the offer. But when we checked in, they gave us lounge access anyway. Pretty good for a lowly Explorist. The best thing about the experience was that it saved us some time in the morning.
#298
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Stilllwater OK (SWO)
Programs: AAdvantage ExecPlat, World of Hyatt Globalist, plain "member" of Marriott, IHG, enterprise, etc.
Posts: 1,837
Just had a stay here in the last couple of weeks.
Got an emerald suite XX15 room number which had a very nice view of the water and city.
Breakfast (in this era of Covid) was room delivered off of their very limited 24 hour a day room service menu. We ordered quite a bit some mornings (up to 70$ worth) and it was all waived off the bill. Quality of breakfast was simply okay -- kind of like you'd expect at a cafe (warmed up prepacked sandwhich, oatmeal, croissants), but better than 500 points, or a HP/HH breakfast.
The lounge was open but minimally maintained. Coffee machine worked until the last couple of days (afterwhich, we could order coffee free from roomservice). Only water was well stocked. Some perrier was in there for a few days but then when it ran out it wasn't restocked. Some ginger ale appeared for a couple days too, but then wasn't restocked. Only a handful of nuts/dried fruit and energy bars were stocked for food ever. Front desk was clear that we could have anything from their fridge downstairs (sodas) if we wanted.
Did get housekeeping once, but had to schedule it a day in advanced. They said they are on bare minimum housekeeping staff and need to know in advance if they needed to call in anyone.
The gym is open on a reservation based system to limit access to no more than 2 people. We had no problems getting in when we wanted. The saunas were locked up though. The pool and spa at Olive were closed (well, all of Olive8 is closed).
The hotel was very very empty. Only saw maybe eight other guests in the hallways and lobby all week. It felt like we were staying in an abandoned building, but that was kind of what we were hoping for.
It was overall a very nice getaway. The front desk was very responsive and courteous. This was my second stay in which seems like a half a dozen that I didn't have to get something corrected on my billing. Seattle is still very much closed up with several museums still closed, early closing hours for most retail, etc., but it has some of the lowest rates in the country right now so they must be doing something right. Pine street is still pretty much boarded up from the threat of protests/riots, but retail is open, there were families out and about, and never did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable. One of the primary reasons I went (other than just to get away somewhere super cheap for a bit) was to check out the museum of flight, which was open and I really enjoyed it. The most frustrating problem I found with the trip was that a lot of restaurants in Seattle open very limited hours, like 11 to 1:30 or 5-8. I am usually a 7AM and 3PM eater when I travel, so it was a bit frustrating to find food when I wanted to eat mid afternoon. And, a lot of easy lunch places downtown are closed (many look permanently closed), so there isn't all that many options even in the immediate vicinity.
Got an emerald suite XX15 room number which had a very nice view of the water and city.
Breakfast (in this era of Covid) was room delivered off of their very limited 24 hour a day room service menu. We ordered quite a bit some mornings (up to 70$ worth) and it was all waived off the bill. Quality of breakfast was simply okay -- kind of like you'd expect at a cafe (warmed up prepacked sandwhich, oatmeal, croissants), but better than 500 points, or a HP/HH breakfast.
The lounge was open but minimally maintained. Coffee machine worked until the last couple of days (afterwhich, we could order coffee free from roomservice). Only water was well stocked. Some perrier was in there for a few days but then when it ran out it wasn't restocked. Some ginger ale appeared for a couple days too, but then wasn't restocked. Only a handful of nuts/dried fruit and energy bars were stocked for food ever. Front desk was clear that we could have anything from their fridge downstairs (sodas) if we wanted.
Did get housekeeping once, but had to schedule it a day in advanced. They said they are on bare minimum housekeeping staff and need to know in advance if they needed to call in anyone.
The gym is open on a reservation based system to limit access to no more than 2 people. We had no problems getting in when we wanted. The saunas were locked up though. The pool and spa at Olive were closed (well, all of Olive8 is closed).
The hotel was very very empty. Only saw maybe eight other guests in the hallways and lobby all week. It felt like we were staying in an abandoned building, but that was kind of what we were hoping for.
It was overall a very nice getaway. The front desk was very responsive and courteous. This was my second stay in which seems like a half a dozen that I didn't have to get something corrected on my billing. Seattle is still very much closed up with several museums still closed, early closing hours for most retail, etc., but it has some of the lowest rates in the country right now so they must be doing something right. Pine street is still pretty much boarded up from the threat of protests/riots, but retail is open, there were families out and about, and never did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable. One of the primary reasons I went (other than just to get away somewhere super cheap for a bit) was to check out the museum of flight, which was open and I really enjoyed it. The most frustrating problem I found with the trip was that a lot of restaurants in Seattle open very limited hours, like 11 to 1:30 or 5-8. I am usually a 7AM and 3PM eater when I travel, so it was a bit frustrating to find food when I wanted to eat mid afternoon. And, a lot of easy lunch places downtown are closed (many look permanently closed), so there isn't all that many options even in the immediate vicinity.
#299
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: SEA
Posts: 2,021
The lounge was open but minimally maintained. Coffee machine worked until the last couple of days (afterwhich, we could order coffee free from roomservice). Only water was well stocked. Some perrier was in there for a few days but then when it ran out it wasn't restocked. Some ginger ale appeared for a couple days too, but then wasn't restocked. Only a handful of nuts/dried fruit and energy bars were stocked for food ever. Front desk was clear that we could have anything from their fridge downstairs (sodas) if we wanted.
#300
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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