Review: Grand Hyatt Incheon Airport

Thansk again for this very useful report!

I am staying at GH Incheon on my return from Hanoi. Flight arrives at 8:35 PM (on a Sunday), Asiana F departure is 2:50PM the next day. Given what I heard about traffic to the airport, it seemed like I would have to leave before noon if I was staying at the PH Seoul, so I didn't think the schlep was worth it. Is INC worth exploring? (I assume I'll hear about Asiana F lounge later in the report.)

It's a free night cert, so I could stay at the PH if it was worth it for a little more than 12 hours, but I wonder.

No in room coffee (other than perhaps instant)?

Ben,
You need to check your labelling of photos, some seem to be wrong.

What's Hyatts official policy regarding elite benefits on airline booked rooms?

SPG officially doesn't give any benefits (room upgrades lounge access or breakfast) which I find somewhat offensive as often in those cases of irops that's when you need the most help etc to make a bad situation more tolerable, but that's just my humble opinion.

Is the casino still attached to the Hyatt?

@ Beachfan -- I'd definitely do the Grand Hyatt Incheon in that case. Haven't actually been into the city of Incheon, so not 100% sure as to whether it's worth exploring or not.

@ Mike -- Hmmm, looking at them and not noticing anything. What did I screw up?

@ avi -- Hmmm, have always received them even when the airline pays for the stay. Not sure if that's the official policy or not, but that has been my experience.

Thanks Lucky!

I was actually referring to the airport. I'll have access to the Asiana F lounge, but was wondering whether there was more to the airport (outside the lounge) than the normal duty free stuff.

@ beachfan -- Whoops. It's certainly a nice airport, though not really worth spending more time at than you have to, in my opinion.

Was the pool heated?

A nice swim before the TransPac flight sounds quite nice actually.

@Beachfan: If you have any Hyatt Points or some UR to spare, it is better to use for your up coming stay rather than using a Free Night cert for a Cat 2 hotel. My 2 cents.

@Lucky: Please add, reply capability to the comments section.
I know, I know that you want to run this blog democratically but still 😉 !!!

@beachfan and anyone else coming to Korea...
I work near Seoul and can tell you that in there are some reasonable places nearby. The issue with that airport is that it's on an island, so even going to the city of Incheon is 20 mins by taxi. If you go there, I would suggest the "Chinatown" area. It's by the coast with several good restaurants and a small island amusement park if you're there during the day. Personally, I would go to Songdo, which is a small city on the opposite side of the Incheon Bridge. Ask the hotel to have a taxi take you to the Central Park area and there is a nice collection of Korean restaurants, Saunas, bars, etc...Everything there is quite new and since it's an "international city" (by Korean standards), you can also find some western style food and bars as well. If you have any further questions or want specifics, just let me know.

How many comforters did you have to send up this time (remember the firm Hyatt Regency Incheon bed before they rebranded)?

@ Alvin -- Hah, I was so tired by the time I got to bed that I didn't need any.

Except for the view (or lack thereof) I think this looks like a gorgeous airport hotel. I love the finishing of the lobby, there's something vaguely Gehryesque about it.

@ beachfan -- Yep, the pool was nice and toasty.

For both Hyatt properties I stayed in this year (that's not a lot for a travel blogger I know) I got June Jacobs amenities. Does that count as rotten luck or a luck out?

@ Alvin -- They're pretty standard, and I'd say June Jacobs is decent enough for a mid-range property.

That desk in your room did not look very good, with it being supported by one central pillar, as opposed to four legs. Looks as though the pillar would get in the way of where you'd want your legs to be.

The GH Incheon seemed to do a better job of honoring your Diamond status on an "airline" rate due to the cancellation. I had a similar incident with LH in Frankfurt and we were put up at the Sheraton where they didn't recognize my Platinum status since we were on a prepaid rate by LH. I found this rather disturbing and petty of the hotel considering the only Platinum benefit I was interested in was Internet access. Eventually they offered me Internet access as a "one-time" exception.

@ Lucky -- love that they actually have the new Lightning connector for iDevices. Every time I see a dock/clock with an old Apple Dock connector, I mentally imagine hotel owners cursing Apple for changing the connectors 😛

Those are actually not day beds, so not unusual at all. You wouldn't understand, which is typical for European bloggers.