Arguably the most anticipated hotel opening of 2014 is the brand new Park Hyatt New York, which occupies the lower 25 floors of the new One57 building. Even though it just opened, this is actually the flagship Park Hyatt property globally, taking over that title from the Park Hyatt Chicago. The hotel just had its…
Continue reading: Review: Park Hyatt New York
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The hotel looks stunning. I have stayed at PHPV, PH Tokyo, PH Shanghai and PH Siem Reap, I hope to stay at PH NY soon.
Thanks for your review.
I think I just came a little.
Only 15 more days until I do a graceful cannon ball into the pool.
That is awesome you were there for opening night last week! I'm surprised though you didn't do a "first impressions" blog post (or did you?) 😉 Anyway, did the suite that you toured have a better view? For the bidet-style toilet in the suite, is it similar to the Japanese toilets I saw at Park Hyatt Tokyo? Was there a grand party on opening night? I think it's just so cool that you were probably one of the first people (if not the first person) to sleep on that bed! Thx for the report!
@ Joey -- I actually had aspirations of publishing the review the day after I checked out, though unfortunately had a crazy week, then ended up at Disney, and then caught a cold, which is why I didn't have a "first impressions" post. There are suites on every floor, so views do vary depending on how high up you are. Yep, the toilet is a Japanese one. There wasn't a party, but certainly they were fully staffed and everyone was on their best behavior. 😀
I too am a huge Park Hyatt fan and love their understated "less is more" elegance.
Based on the pictures, the new NYC Park Hyatt looks spectacular. It does seem very expensive though, even by Park Hyatt standards.
Talking of Park Hyatts, has anyone stayed at the Magnificent Mile Hyatt in Chicago? It's a very nice midway point between the Hyatt Regency and Park Hyatt (both literally and in price range and quality). I have not stayed there but I checked it out on my last trip in Chicago, and would definitely stay there next time. Much cheaper than the Park Hyatt (which is gorgeous), and much nicer than the Hyatt Regency Chicago, which is mammoth and unpleasant.
@ Denis -- Already shared a somewhat detailed review of that flight here:
https://onemileatatime.com/singapore-airlines-a380-business-class-frankfurt-new-york/
Will have a more detailed review in a couple of weeks.
I was under the impression that the dsu here was to a jr. Suite. Is it actually to a park suite? If so that might sway me to book the PH.
Fdw
It does seem very expensive though, even by Park Hyatt standards.
Looking at my stay, rooms start at $848/night at the Hyatt vs. $982/night at the St. Regis and $995/night at the Peninsula. So, it seems reasonable for 5 stars in NYC.
Looks really great.
Except for the checking in on the ground floor, with no chairs or anything. So, we walk in with all our bags, and stand around to be checked in via iPad? What if a few people walk in at the same time?
Just seems odd that you don't go to the gorgeous third floor.
I get the speed aspect of going straight to the room, but just seems a bit off to me.
@ John -- Agreed. Ultimately hotel rates are based on the brand and the city. It's more expensive than most other Park Hyatts simply because New York is also a MUCH more expensive market than most other cities. I do think this hotel represents a substantially better value than most other five star hotels in New York.
@ Neil S. -- The idea is that the second you walk in the bellman takes your bags and an associate walks you straight to your room. There are several associates positioned downstairs, so I can't imagine there will ever be a wait. I'm sure you could still go to the front desk if you prefer, but here there's no need to stand around. You literally go straight to your room.
Most of of your reviews are good anyway, but looks like you were genuienly excited for this review and it showed. Well Done
"Back when I used to live in Bellevue, the place where I gotst my hairs did had Vaughn products..." Say what?
Interesting/informative review of a beautiful place! Wait, you're in AAA? 🙂
Not to diminish from the PHNY's uniqueness, but the Le Labo products are branded/stamped with the specific hotel name whenever they're used at Park Hyatt's. The Le Labo Bergamote amenities at the Park Hyatt in Washington are claimed to be made "exclusively for" the PHDC right on the bottle.
Again, that tells me that (most) Park Hyatts have an attention to detail that is worlds above your cookie cutter Ritz-Carlton.
[I CAN'T BELIEVE I MIS-USED AN APOSTROPHE. Obviously it's "Park Hyatts," not "Park Hyatt's," and I'm MORTIFIED.]
Guest Bloggers? We've heard your dad and mother's perspective. How about your brother? 🙂
The Plaza is a notoriously difficult hotel to use Fairmont certificates. I would imagine that the PHNY will be equally or more stingy - one or two rooms at most available on points, need to grab them months and months in advance.
We'll see.
@ Lark -- Well, except that's not actually within the terms of the Gold Passport program. Fairmont doesn't advertise no blackout dates/no capacity restrictions. So as long as a standard room is for sale at the Park Hyatt, they'll have to make it available on points. Long term I really don't see it being an issue.
Fantastic review, thanks! I am glad to hear that their is a new flagship PH in the US. The Chicago PH was not up to par in many ways.
@ Stvr -- As I said at the beginning, I stayed here to review the property. This hotel isn't otherwise in my price range, aside from using points for a special occasion.
As usual another superb review.....very concise, great pics and expert insight!
Great review Ben! the hotel looks fantastic and the standard room size is very generous compared to other hotels in NYC.
The review I have been waiting for all week! Staying there this labor day weekend!
Largely amazing and super useful review, but a tiny bit frustrating too.
You deserve real praise for forking over $650 to review the hotel quickly for us, that's classy. But I wonder about the multiple tours of hotel spaces. Were those 'I'm a blogger' related? If so I think that really calls in to question the customer service section's validity. If they were NOT (and therefore anyone can request suite tours) that's awesome, but might be worth mentioning in the review then to avoid the appearance of preferential treatment.
@Sunrise089 - Two counterpoints:
First, Ben spending $650 for a room here to review it is a business expense. His job. That isn't praiseworthy; however, this review is very detailed and useful. Generally speaking, Ben's reviews are more reliable than a lot of the other stuff you'll find out there. That, I think, is the worthy praise.
Second, the day that "I'm a blogger" should impress anyone, go ahead and let me know 🙂 Everyone is a blogger. There's no barrier to entry. Heck, I'm a blogger. Letting someone see a bigger room and the spa is hardly preferential treatment. Not paying for your stay would be preferential treatment. Given that this hotel isn't booking to capacity yet, I'm willing to bet they'd let you see a suite if you asked nicely.
That said, if I ever stay here, I'm going to tell them I'm a blogger so that I can get that backroom breakfast as my diamond breakfast. Slam dunk, right? 🙂
I hate the Le Labo products. Surprised they didn't pony up for Aesop here. Even PH Seoul has Aesop.
I called Hyatt Diamond line about using Diamond Certificate in PHNY and the answer I got is that it will put you in a Park Junior Suite instead of a Park Suite. Given that Park Junior Suite is just marginally more expensive than a Deluxe Room (a few sample dates all show $100 difference, which is really small compare to the baseline rate), I wouldn't consider it a good value.
Plus, it seems really difficult to find a date with Park Junior Suite availability. I picked about 15 random dates this year and only 3 shows Park Junior Suite availability. Maybe they only have very few of them to cater to the need of Diamond Suite Upgrades...
Ben: Thank you for the review. Well done. Chef Sebastien Archambault is in charge of the kitchen and since I had the luxury of eating a few times at the Andaz West Hollywood when he was the head chef there I believe the food at the Park Hyatt New York will be "tops".
Ben, I am going to NYC with my wife for our 50th birthday and 20 years married. What would be your top 5 hotel recommendations? I am SPG Platinum so that's something to consider too. Can I apply for the Diamond Challenge upfront and for example use it in this property? Hotel Budget is around $600 per night. My apologies for so many questions but this great post just opened the creativity!
@ Claude -- Not all rooms are open yet, so I'd give it a bit of time, and I'm sure more will be available.
@ Ricard -- Congrats on your upcoming birthday/anniversary! Yes, you can apply for a Diamond challenge and would get the status upfront. More on that here:
https://onemileatatime.com/hyatt-globalist-benefits/
In terms of hotels, for a really special occasion I think the St. Regis or Park Hyatt would be great options. I don't have much experience with non-chain hotels in NYC, unfortunately.
Great review--thanks! I've been to the PH Shangai, PH Paris Vendome, PH Buenos Aires, PH Moscow Ararat, PH Siem Reap, PH Sydney, and PH Melbourne...and will be at the PH Paris Vendome and PH Istanbul in October. (And I'm SPG Plat but LOVE PH!) I can't wait for my next chance to stay at the PH New York based on this.
@ Tom -- It's anyone's guess when this hotel does, as it's all up to the revenue manager at the hotel. I'm guessing they're still testing the waters at this property.
Just to bring in another perspective.... We checked in the same day you did and only stayed one night:
We went to stay there for our honeymoon after they have officially opened. Our expectations were heightened when the assistant guest relations manager emailed us prior to our arrival to assure us that they would make our trip "memorable" since we would be celebrating our honeymoon there. But after the fancy and nice welcome we have received from the moment we checked in to the moment we settled in our room, everything else went downhill from there. Overall, we did not have a good honeymoon. Our sleep was ruined, our romantic plans in the rooms were ruined, and the management was sarcastic about ruining everything. I hope this is only a glitch stay because they just opened, because this was not what I've expected after all that I've heard about Park Hyatt New York.
PROS: Nice Hotel. Everything from the designs to the lighting created a really elegant feel to the hotel. The Check-In process was flawless. From the dramatically grand front doors to the personalized escort all the way to your room, it was amazing. The staff remembered our names and continued to address us by our name throughout the entire stay.
CONS: There were tons of construction going on. When we first arrived, there weren't any soap in the room, so we requested some soap through the room ipad. No soap was delivered after an hour, so we requested for it again through the phone. We still did not receive any soap after one hour, so we left the room (because we didn't need a shower at that time, and we had other plans for the day). We got back from our whole day of events around 11pm, and we expected that turn down service would have been done and they would have noticed the lack of soaps and restocked it for us. Well, guess what... our room was still a mess and no turn down service was provided (and no soap too!). We saw their kind "honeymoon gift" on the table though (it was a small blueberry tart) --- indicating that someone did come into our room, but they did not tidy up. We kindly requested for a housekeeping refresh through the ipad (and finally this time they showed up). We had to leave the room for 15 mins so that they could do their thing (At this point it was midnight and we were SO exhausted already!) Before we left, we also requested an HDMI cable so that we could stream something on our laptop to the TV. After we came back, the HDMI cable was still not delivered, so we went ahead to head to bed. At 3am in the morning, our doorbell rang --- it was a lady delivering our HDMI cable. Instead of being polite and asking, she rushed into our room and tried to install it (before I stopped her ---- I was in my PJs and my wife was sound asleep). I tried to explain how late it was but she still rushed in the room to try to install the HDMI cable! The next morning, we ordered room service for breakfast, but half of our order was incorrect and was not on the cart. At this point, we were tired of calling so we decided to leave it alone. I did try to approach the hotel manager to address these issues privately and kindly, but instead of sympathizing with our ruined honeymoon, he jeered at the issues that I brought up, as if it's not a big deal to him. I also told him about their broken pool. One of the things that was highly advertised was that their pool would play carnegie hall music inside the pool. Our lifeguard friend advised us that many guests have complained about the non-working pool speakers but management have been dismissing it. When I brought it up to the manager, he said that "we have crews that have been working on it since yesterday and they are working on it right now" --- but when we went up to the pool, we saw no one fixing it (neither did the lifeguard saw anyone), and the speakers were still broken.
Lucky, My question about "My Elite Rates" is more of a general one and not a PHNY specific one. I don't see any Hyatt properties (albeit in a limited search) that have these rates loaded for 2015. It seems like it could be a corporate decision that has not been made yet. I wonder if there is any precedent from past years from when these rates become available for the following year.
@Jason C - I'm confused, your honeymoon was only one night long and it was "ruined" because the shower didn't have soap, they woke you up late and the room service messed up? Seems a bit dramatic.
Has a Vendome feel to it.....better than DC PH? Have to think so but the service doesn't appear so......I guess to get friendly service you have to leave NY and go to Paris...........
@ Tom -- That's a great question. Let me do some research and see if I can figure out anything. You're right, don't see them loaded.
@ Louis -- Sorry, I'm not sure. I only had the bottle I was given and didn't ask for more.
@ JustSaying -- They're both fantastic hotels. It's like asking someone to pick their favorite child!
I really hope that the menu is an error- beluga sturgeon is critically endangered and importation of the Black Sea and Caspian varieties are banned in the US.
@Jason C - you shouldn't be copying and pasting you Trip Advisor here. Sounds overly dramatic.
My wife and I stayed at the Park Hyatt last weekend. We used our two free nights. (Thank you Chase!) You didn't mention the glorious steam room where the steam smells like mint.
Ben,
Thanks for including the minibar price sheet and your cocktail expenses. That's very helpful for folks who want to compare and contrast the cost of using the hotel as more than just a bed. Like you Park Hyatt hotels are generally out of my price range and my two experiences so far (Tokyo and Paris) were both very nice but didn't always feel like a good value for the money. Unfortunately the next step down would either be a Grand or a Regency and neither of those brands has ever struck me as especially impressive. In the Marriott world I tend to gravitate toward the JW brand when splurging and it would seem that the Hyatt ecosystem could use a brand that filled a similar role as a JW but with better attention to detail and more polished service that the Hyatt name implies.
Looks very nice! Hope some of the issues Jason C. had mentioned will be rectified as they settle into regular operations mode.
Hi Ben,
I'm 100% agree, its an amazing hotel. Stay here since yesterday and moved to one of the Junior Suites with these amazing curved windows.
Some more pictures (at this time only in german) in my post http://www.wp.me/pLedN-2xk
It's an absolute SIN that this hotel isn't located on higher floors. HALF the experience of staying in a hotel in NYC are the views. PH NYC seriously screwed this one up. I'd rather fly to HKG and stay at the Hyatt Regency than waste $$ or points at this property.
@ Gabriel -- Agree the lack of views is disappointing, but I can only imagine what a night here would cost if it were on the higher floors of the building.
Hotel is good but I dont think its worth the steep price. I've stayed in many Park Hyatts before some of them including the Park Hyatt Paris, Park Hyatt Vienna , Park Hyatt Hyderabad etc. At least from the first impression, the PHN doesnt look on par with the ones I've mentioned. As a Park Hyatt loyalist, I think the grand Hyatt is a better option and worth your money especially if you are paying for it.
Monday I was checking out of the PH Sydney - today I will be checking into PH NYC!
I know this is from a few years ago, but I came across this review while researching for a trip for next year and I'm thinking this is where we'll stay. I've got some Hyatt points to burn (sadly I don't think I'll be chasing status with them as they just don't have enough of a footprint where my wife and I tend to travel) and was looking for a convenient location in Midtown for 3 nights. I considered the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Station since it's soon to be demolished, but they charge a "Destination Fee" even to points bookings, which is a dealbreaker for me.
Specifically I wanted to see if the 25th-floor pool/gym had a decent view of Central Park considering the buildings on 58th/59th street in between, and I'm glad to see from the pictures here that it does!