Jaimito Cartero

Had an almost week-long stay here this week.

The hotel is in the heart of the city, but is mostly tranquil. I flew in from Sumatra on Air Asia. The airport is pretty small. Only has one luggage belt, that I could see.

Normal type of taxi mafia here, but not too expensive. Pay 40,000 IDR (about $4.30) for the ride to the hotel.

Bandung is cooler than Jakarta or Bali, which is a nice change. Arrived at the hotel and had my luggage taken immediately. Checked in at the lounge, and had great service. Rince at the club desk was super helpful during our stay.

I had used my last Diamond cert from last year to get a suite at this hotel. No problem finding availability. Used the Costco code to get my room for about 710,000++ IDR. About $90 with tax and service, per night.

The suite was facing the city with a park nearby. Fairly quiet, though you can still hear the nearby mosque a bit at prayer calls. You can also see some planes on approach, but not noisy in the room.

The suite was well appointed, with a dining table, living room, with comfy couch and two chairs. Nice 42" Panasonic flat screen TV. Provided with nice fruit plate with grapes, banana, asian pear and apple. Small box with 9 chocolates handed to us when we checked in. No bathroom in living room.

Nice comfortable bedroom. Same TV as living room. Firm, but nice bed. Nice linens. It was fairly cool here, so you didn't need the AC much, if any. Bathroom had huge shower, but no rainshower head. Big tub, vanity, electronic scale, and closet.

We were able to have breakfast in the lounge or downstairs. I had the lounge breakfast once. It was fine, with a few different egg options, fried rice and such.

Downstairs was quite a bit nicer. With waffle/pancake station, lots of local food, plus some western. 4 or 5 different fresh fruit juices, plus lots of good fruit. Egg menu. Excellent service from Vita, who regularly offered to bring us stuff off the menu for no charge. Came by most mornings and asked if I wanted my favorite carrot juice, even when we were having Sunday Dim Sum breakfast at the Chinese restaurant.

I was here during my birthday, and we were asking about which restaurants were open, so I could have a good choice. They ended up sending a large chocolate cake from the bakery, which was quite good.

I would say my biggest letdown at this location was the nightly happy hour from 5:30-7:30pm. Some items were not replaced when they ran out (lunch meat, smoked salmon), and the two hot items each night were really unremarkable. Horrid spring rolls, other items not even hot when they arrived. Some fresh bread would be nice here. I'm not expecting it to be as good as GH HKG, but let's try a bit harder.

They have a connected smoking room, thankfully they seem to have it vented right, as I never smelled smoke, even though it was only feet away.

Went to the swimming pool, which is off to the side of the hotel. You go up some stairs near a restaurant that is only open on the weekends. Good sized, and empty when we went mid-week. The water was just about perfect.

No wifi in the rooms, and had to call their tech guy to get wired hooked up in my room. No instructions, or desk there. Luckily I had my wireless router that I could hook up. Speed was pretty average for Indonesia about 1-1.5 mbps. Wifi in lounge and restaurant worked okay.

Had 5-6 bottles of water each day. You had to call for ice, or if you needed extra bottles. Had room service once. Pretty standard hotel pricing, about $10 for Indonesia plates, including service and tax.

There is a mall next door which has some decent food. Also a Circle K across the street, and local food stalls that had pretty good food.

Taxis are readily available. For taxis that are already waiting at the hotel they seemed to want whatever the meter read, or 15,000 ($1.60) whichever was higher.

Lots of people from Jakarta come here on the weekends, so traffic can be worse then. Bandung has tons of one way streets, so it can seem like a maze going through them. Pleasant, though.

Bandung is famous for brownies and Sundanese food. I had both, and was pretty happy.

I've now stayed at all 5 Indonesian Hyatt's within the last year. This location has the weakest club of all of them. It has great service though, just a little bit behind the Bali Hyatt, and probably even with the Jakarta GH.

And no DCC nonsense when checking out. And the bill was 100% correct. Had a relative stay for the last night, and they got full Diamond benefits, too.

DHalltheway

I fully agree with you that this property as I've stayed there a few times, but also compared with other properties in Bandung: it is quite standard.

I would view it like comparing it with a hyatt property in Manhatten vs a hyatt property in Kansas City.

Bandung is a sleepy little town.

They also have car free days on the weekend, so you have limited access to main roads on the weekends.

peteropny

Thank you for the review - this property was one of the few that we have no reviews for.

Jaimito Cartero

I noticed, so figured I'd try to give a bit of a complete report. Not a bad price for this city, and the quality.

mario33

It's actually the 3rd largest city in Indonesia ( after Jakarta and Surabaya ) but overshadowed by Jakarta which is only 100 miles away. The new Ibis has over 600 rooms if it's any indication of the boom Bandung is experiencing, it's hardly a 'sleepy little town'.

Location wise, the Hyatt is about as central as it gets. The hotel is attached to BIP (Bandung Indah Plaza) right in the middle of town. However the Hyatt is not known to be a highly sought after place to stay with so many better choices in town, both international chains and local luxury hotels. IMO the nicest Hilton in the world is actually located in Bandung.

hailstorm

Less than $66/night tax inclusive, with a club lounge to boot! Is this the king of Asian mattress run locations?

craigthemif

Yes, with a club I practically didn't have to pay for food anywhere as I could easily make a meal out of the evening canapes. The wines were practically undrinkable though...

Bandung also has cheap a Hilton, Sheraton and Holiday Inn so you can go crazy on mattress runs...

Only problem is explaining at customs why a Westerner is coming to Bandung on holiday!

Jaimito Cartero

$66 all in is pretty darn good. Luckily the property prices in Rupiah, so with the strength of the USD, it's a good time to stay.

The staff are generally good here, but don't compare to BH in Bali. I've also had tons of problems getting nights to credit correctly, promos, etc.

Good luck if you try to use Hyatt $ certificates there. The Front Desk first refused to take them, then when only 30 points credited for a stay a few days later, then refused to award points for the amount paid by the Hyatt $ certificates. The management was no help, and I had to go to Hyatt corporate to get it fixed.

On weekends when the Chinese restaurant in the basement is open, you can eat there for late breakfast buffet for diamonds. Pretty good duck. It's Halal, so no bacon, or pork steamed buns, but still nice. Opens at 11am, I *think*.

The pool does get filled with lots of kids on the weekend, as it's a big tourist destination.

Also, make sure you're upgraded to the best non-suite room. I've had to bring this to their attention before. When I was last there in March, they were finally upgrading their room door locks. The old ones were quite bad, on an average stay, I had to get new keys everyday.

Jaimito Cartero

The Holiday Inn is okay if you're Gold or higher. Reasonable rates of $50-$70 per night. You usually get the lounge for free.

The Hilton is nice if you can get a good rate. The Lounge was quite nice, but I found the service subpar from the rest of the hotel. Had a gift delivered, and the hotel said they had never gotten anything. Of course they had gotten it, and it was a pain to try to get it after we had checked out.

Every time I've checked the Sheraton it certainly wasn't cheap. Usually $150-$200 a night when I checked last year.

Lots of people come to Bandung for shopping. Air Asia runs a few flights daily from KUL. Plus a Lion and a few other airlines fly international. There are some hot springs, Angklung musical performances (as seen on TAR), and other interesting stuff once you get out of the congested part of town.

thegrailer

I just got back from a trip that included a few stops in Indonesia and I'll have to disagree slightly with some of the above info: The HR Bandung is fantastic - anything less must have been an off day for the staff . I don't think I've had better service at a hotel in all of my travels (for Hyatt, from the Vendome to the HP Dulles North and back). The lounge staff went above and beyond, and were amazingly kind and helpful. From looking in a store for a certain tourist thing to calling the next Hyatt I was visiting (in Yogyakarta) after my stay to ask them to look for it too. I am a cart food fan and usually have a hard time convincing staff to provide suggesting for that type of food. This staff enthusiastically recommended their favorites (and they were wonderful). Indeed, one lounge agent hand drew a map with landmarks and descriptors, and all that was needed to find some out of the way places (in addition to a real map). I was treated like a king on a $60+ rate (a lot of money for the area I assume based on the prices of other things). My only complaint is not getting the Hyatt survey after my stay so that I could praise the staff. I want to go back to Bandung just so I can stay at this hotel again.

The hotel itself was fine. I was upgraded to a suite as a Diamond without using an instrument. Big room. No problem with the locks. The next door mall is a good landmark for taxis so that one can avoid getting hit with what seemed to be a Hyatt surcharge, i.e., if you can afford the Hyatt, you can afford a higher rate. Angkuts to the mall also work well.

Again, I had a great stay and if you ever end up in this part of Java, the HR Bandung is well worth the money.

Cheers

Jaimito Cartero

They have had some really good sales this summer. I booked a bunch of nights at under $50 a night including tax/service.

The lounge staff is almost always great. Meiske has been there a long time, and she is a gem. Linda and Devita are also very good.

I may have been there when you were. Up until a few days ago, I was there 6 out 7 days a week, for a month.

I had a very nice 1/2 peking duck in their Cha Yuen restaurant this week. The tableside service with the pancakes was not up to par, not much flare. It was very tasty though, and the duck meat cooked with veggies was superb.

Only $18 including service and tax, or $9 if you have a Club at the Hyatt card ( and 2 people are dining).

DHalltheway

Used to be better last year when they had the my elite rate @ $40 per night.

abitlost

I am now finishing a week-long stay at this property, which I love. The entire staff is warm, conscientious, gracious, and very helpful. The Regency Club is lovely, and the attendants there provide some of the best service i've encountered. With regard to my food allergy-type issues, the staff went above and beyond anything I have encountered, including at Park Hyatts. The property is physically very pretty and elegant, and I loved my suite with a view of the mountains on less hazy days. My only minor complaint about the suite was that I'd like a touch brighter light in the bathroom. Maybe the pool could be less chlorinated, but maybe it's best as is, as there are so many child guests on weekends (I'm not explaining the science there). The breakfast spread in the mezzanine restaurant is sprawling, diverse, and delicious. The chefs and servers there are very helpful, friendly, and professional. On busy days, they proactively reserved a table for us, which I thought was amazingly sweet and believe is due to having diamond status. Maybe they just reserved the table for us because they are awesome. For someone planning a visit to Bandung for just a few days, I'd recommend visiting on weekdays, as the whole city gets very crowded when the weekend crowd from Jakarta arrives. Still, it is nice on weekends, and auto traffic is suspended on Sunday in parts of town. The grounds are very well-landscaped; oh, and this landscaping is three floors in the air. The lobby and all common areas are bright and extraordinarily well-maintains. I hesitate to call the property potentially the best-value hotel in the Hyatt portfolio, as it would be a great hotel at notably higher rates and I'd rather emphasize overall quality than relative value. Bandung isn't usually a destination on most international travelers' radars but is lovely and worth a visit if in the region. I was so pleasantly surprised by the hands-on service from senior professionals and am not used to assistant managers refilling my coffee and juice and being genuinely concerned if there is anything more the staff could do, which there never was because the staff is so awesome. I hope to return to this hotel soon.

Jaimito Cartero

I'm sad to report that this hotel will no longer be a Hyatt as of 2/1/16.

This is my favorite Hyatt, and I was heartbroken to find out that it is leaving Hyatt. There are so many superb staff here, that I have gotten to know in the last 3 1/2 years.

It wasn't the newest, or most fancy, but the staff from GM to bellboy were all exceptional.

thegrailer

This sucks