Park Hyatt New York

A Weekend in New York City – Introduction

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I decided to redeem my two free nights from the Chase Hyatt Credit Card at Hyatt’s flagship hotel, the Park Hyatt New York. I was actually thinking about whether or not to go to the Maldives and redeem my night there.. but then I read all about what a pain it is to get there.. so I decided to visit New York City for the weekend, since I’ve never been there before.

Booking the hotel was simple, I just called Hyatt Gold Passport and they told me when they have Saturday/Sunday nights available and I simply picked out a weekend. Quickly after booking, I realised the minimum check-in age is 21, and I called the hotel and they were super friendly and let me know there wouldn’t be a problem and that they would just take out the alcohol from my room’s minibar.

After landing at LaGuardia at around ~11:30, I called the hotel and let them know I would be a little earlier than the check-in time (15:00). I made it there around ~13:00 and the agent informed me my room was ready. I was upgraded to a Park Deluxe King room from the Park King room which was booked using the free nights.

The exterior of the hotel is super beautiful, the hotel is actually the first ~25 floors and the rest of the building, I believe, are just offices. It is located at 153 W 57th St, just a street away from Central Park and a few blocks from Times Square.

The entrance to the hotel is very beautiful and ‘grand’, there are people standing inside of the ‘entrance’ lobby and an agent checks you in using an iPad and takes you up to your room.

This is just the entrance lobby and the actual reception desk and restaurants are located on the third floor, however, agents escort you from the moment you walk into the hotel to your room and finalise the check-in inside of your room with their iPad, and hand you key cards.

My check-in agent was super friendly and explained to me all of the features of the hotel and showed me briefly where everything is located as she escorted me up to my room on the 14th floor. She was also nice enough to take my carry-on, although I said it was fine and she didn’t need to, she still wanted to.

The moment you exit the first set of elevators (going from the entry lobby on the first floor to the third floor), you are presented with The Living Room. It is essentially what the name suggests – a giant living room where people can sit down and chat. There is also a bar by the windows which serves drinks and snacks.

The design of the hotel is downright beautiful – it was opened late summer 2014 and it still has that ‘new’ smell and feeling. I was actually surprised how empty the hotel is, you’d think for a New York 5 star hotel there would be tons of exclusive people, but it was rather empty and it was the weekend.

Turning right after exiting the elevators takes you to the actual reception on the third floor where there is more staff and the concierge.

The main reception area also has several nice seats and couches where you can socialise.

The elevators are very spacious and have a sleek, modern design.

They want to set the mood by keeping the hallways dark, I guess.

My room was located on the 14th floor and like I mentioned, this room is a Park Deluxe King. The room’s entryway is “L” shaped in that there is a long hallway which leads you to the bathroom on the left side and the room on the right.

Here’s a video room tour that I recorded:

 

The bed is huge, I don’t think I’ve ever slept in such a huge bed, you can literally fit up to four moderately-sized people on the single bed.

The room overall is very spacious and the design is inline with the general style of the hotel, I really like how modern everything is. Everything in the room was clean and no furniture showed any types of stains or wear.

I like it when hotels personally welcome me! 😀

I think the most beautiful thing about the room was the bathroom, I mean words cannot describe how beautifully designed it was.

On the opposite side of the sinks is a large bathtub and next to it are two sets of doors, one leads to a toilet and the other, a shower.

There are two ‘ways’ to shower, either with the handheld shower head or the ‘rainforest’ shower which is mounted on the ceiling.

The body wash, conditioner, shampoo, lotion, etc. all were Le Labo Tubereuse brand which smelled fantastic and I may have taken all of them with me…

Below the sink were some additional care items such as a toothbrush, comb, mouthwash, etc.

Overall, the bathroom and room were both bigger than what I have in my house and I finally had a lot of space to put my clothes, care items, etc.

The welcome amenity consisted of three clementines which were super sweet and didn’t have any seeds.

The minibar was located between the bathroom and one of the room’s closet. I don’t understand why the bar is heated, once you open the two doors to it, you can feel heat and that made all of the chocolate melt.

As you can see, the minibar has just about everything you could want inside of a hotel room. Tea, coffee, alcohol, snacks, nuts, water, juices, and much more.

The actual refrigerator part of the bar is located below the coffee machine. As noticeable, a lot of alcohol was taken out.

Snacks ranged from $5-45 USD and non-alcoholic drinks had a similar price range. The most expensive item was a bottle of Krug for $180 USD.

The room has two closets, both are located by the minibar and one of them has a bathrobe along with a Park Hyatt bag, the other closet has a garment bag with the Park Hyatt logo… which I may have taken along…

With the iPad, you can browse the internet, order room service, order additional items to the room (like a tea kettle… what I did), there is also general information about New York and the hotel.

The chest by the entryway has a safe along with some additional accessories you might need, like a sewing kit.

Yet another awesome item with the Park Hyatt New York logo was a big paper bag.

The view from the room was nothing amazing with a view of other buildings and the street below.

On Sunday morning I decided to order breakfast to my room and opted for Belgian waffles with fruit for ~$20 USD – again not a bad price for such a fancy hotel. The waffles were delicious and freshly prepared, they arrived about fifteen minutes after I ordered them on the iPad.

After exploring New York City again, I returned to the hotel at around ~17:30 and opted for a snack from the bar of The Living Room.

Most snacks were actually very affordable and I was kind of surprised that most of the food isn’t that expensive – you’d think at a hotel where one night costs $900+ that the food would be super costly, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I ordered Seared Tuna which was freshly prepared and brought to my table within ten minutes.

After eating the snack, I went to check out the pool on the 25th floor and later decided to come to The Back Room (behind The Living Room), which is the main restaurant, for dinner.

Once again, dinner prices were very reasonable. I decided to order some Olive Oil poached Halibut which was just $32.

Along with sparkling water, I got to try four different types of bread, all of which were tasty.

I was sort of amused by the ‘appetiser’, I didn’t order one but they brought me something that consisted of cheese and fruit on a single spoon. I jokingly sent this picture to a friend and said “that’s all I can afford here”.

The Halibut was prepared in about twenty minutes and was served along with artichoke, morel, fiddlehead, bacon, and some un-identifiable green stuff. The halibut was very well prepared and was very edible. The service at the restaurant was first class, the waiter would check on me every couple of minutes and automatically bring me more bread or water and constantly asked me how my meal is.

Before dinner, I went to the pool on the 25th floor and I was left speechless. I think the pool may be the coolest part of the hotel, words cannot properly describe how damn beautiful the modern design is, and there was no one there! Essentially I had a private pool at a five star hotel in New York City – for $0, I LOVE this hobby!

Next to the pool are several lounging areas, a large hot tub, sauna, and upstairs there is also a gym.

I also recorded a video of the pool area:

The view from the gym is also stunning, since you can somewhat see Central Park.

To summarise:

Words will never be able to describe how f#$%ing amazing this hotel is, literally everything was perfect during my stay – nothing went wrong and the service along with all of the aspects of the hotel were amazing. This is a category 7 hotel, which is the highest category of the Hyatt programme – so if you are looking to redeem your free nights somewhere in the U.S., you either have this option or a Hyatt hotel in Beaver Creek.. which isn’t that nice compared to this one.

Yes, I think the best way to ‘maximise’ the Chase free nights would be at the Park Hyatt Maldives, but once you factor in the pain of getting there along with the domestic flight and speedboat ride, I don’t think it’s worth it – also you will have to redeem points for more nights there since two won’t be enough – whereas here I had a perfectly adequate amount of time to explore both New York City and stay in the hotel as much as possible since everything was perfect.

Never in my life have I had such an amazing stay at any hotel worldwide, I’ve stayed at five star hotels before, but nothing will ever compare to my stay here. I will now always remember my first trip to New York City as a relaxing trip where I explored a good part of the city and stayed at a world-class hotel, all for close to none.

I seriously recommend redeeming your two free nights here, if you would like to travel somewhere ‘close to home’. The hotel is located right next to Central Park, therefore most places are just a short walk away and most of the city can be explored just by walking around.

Until next time, Park Hyatt New York, I will miss you!