The Andaz Wall Street New York has been closed for most of the pandemic. The hotel will soon resume operations, but under a different brand.
In this post:
Hyatt Centric Wall Street New York opening soon
The Andaz Wall Street will rebrand as the Hyatt Centric Wall Street when it resumes operations on January 26, 2022. The hotel’s restaurant Wall & Water, will reopen as of the same day. The hotel will continue to be a Category 5 World of Hyatt property, meaning the points requirements won’t be changed.
In terms of branding, this is definitely a downgrade. For context, Hyatt Centric is Hyatt’s brand of “upper-upscale lifestyle hotels in the center of their destination.” Generally speaking I find Hyatt Centric properties to have good locations, but otherwise be pretty generic and bland (read my reviews of Hyatt Centric properties in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and New Orleans). Andaz is definitely intended to be a more high-end lifestyle brand.
The 253-room Andaz Wall Street originally opened in 2010. The hotel’s guest rooms were modernized in 2019, and the lobby has also recently been enhanced. The hotel’s owners also plan to invest a further $5 million to improve the property over the coming years.
Why is the Andaz Wall Street being rebranded?
Here’s the explanation that Hyatt provided for why the Andaz Wall Street is being rebranded as the Hyatt Centric Wall Street:
Rebranding Andaz Wall Street to Hyatt Centric Wall Street New York was a strategic decision based on the hotel’s location in the heart of the world’s most exciting city, a key brand differentiator for the Hyatt Centric brand, which is known to embrace the locale and inspire exploration. The hotel is ideally situated at 75 Wall Street and offers a premier location for savvy travelers to discover the best that New York City has to offer with premium lifestyle accommodations in the heart of Wall Street.
Interestingly this isn’t Hyatt’s only property in New York that’s rebranding. In late 2021 the former Grand Hyatt New York reopened as the Hyatt Grand Central New York. That was clearly a cost cutting initiative, so that the hotel no longer had to maintain Grand Hyatt brand standards (including the club lounge).
With that in mind, I’m not sure what to make of this rebranding:
- This property was the second Andaz in the city (after the Andaz 5th Avenue), and it will now be the third Hyatt Centric in the city
- The Andaz 5th Avenue was always priced much higher than the Andaz Wall Street, and I always got the sense that the Andaz Wall Street wasn’t commanding the rates that the owners were hoping for
- I have a hard time imagining a hotel owner would voluntarily choose to spend money on a rebranding to become a lower end brand (and potentially not be able to command rates that are as high), simply as a “strategic decision based on the hotel’s location”
- Not only that, but the owners are investing a further $5 million in updating the hotel, which makes this all the more confusing
I suspect there’s more to this than in the press release, but it doesn’t seem like it’s quite as extreme as the Grand Hyatt rebranding, which was simply to avoid having to provide Grand Hyatt services.
Bottom line
The former Andaz Wall Street will be reopening as of January 26, 2022, but it’ll be known as the Hyatt Centric Wall Street. This is an interesting direction for the hotel to take, as Hyatt Centric is a less premium brand. While it’s claimed that this was simply a strategic decision based on the hotel’s central location, I suspect there’s a bit more to this.
What do you make of the Andaz Wall Street rebranding, and what do you think the motive is?
With the lack of business travelers and the neighborhood becoming more residential, the downgrade makes more sense. Plus people who stay in this neighborhood are tourists, many foreigners stay in the Financial District and looking for better value than what is offered in other parts of the city. Hopefully the new restaurant will not charge $75 for a burger and a bourbon, and actually offer decent food, so us locals will want to go there.
The Wall Street Andaz has been looking very shabby for quite a while. Hopefully new ownership will help.
Never stayed here, but I did used to work nearby so I had happy hour drinks there several times. For as much people rag on downtown Manhattan, it has a lot going for if you're visiting NYC--basically every subway line in the city is within a few minutes walk, which makes it easy to get anywhere in Manhattan within 15-30 minutes. A lot more restaurants and bars have opened up in recent years as well,...
Never stayed here, but I did used to work nearby so I had happy hour drinks there several times. For as much people rag on downtown Manhattan, it has a lot going for if you're visiting NYC--basically every subway line in the city is within a few minutes walk, which makes it easy to get anywhere in Manhattan within 15-30 minutes. A lot more restaurants and bars have opened up in recent years as well, plus you're close to some of the key sites if you're a tourist. And in terms of nightlife, you're just as close to LES, East Village, West Village, etc. as if you stay in midtown.
Relatedly, I recently spent two nights at Gild Hall, which is nearby this hotel. I wanted to check out the Andaz, but had two category 1-4 nights to use and Gild Hall is conveniently the only category 4 hotel in Manhattan. I came away pleasantly surprised with Gild Hall--rooms were not as small as I feared, plenty of space for a crib, and convenient to transportation. Would I rather stay in another part of the city, everything else being equal? Probably, but it's hard to turn down considering the ability to use a cat 1-4 free night.
I have stayed there several times. When it first opened it was wonderful and the breakfast were great. They had a great lounge there with free wine. My last couple of stays there were disappointing to say the least my last stay there was in September 2019 and the breakfast was lacking the front desk service so so, housekeeping great.
Interesting to see how this property has evolved since staying there when new in July 2010.
I remember Wall + Water being an excellent spot for Diamond breakfast, and they also allowed complimentary room service breakfast.
Made for a great base for my first trip to NYC.
Actually really like that property. Easy address to remember and nice rooms. Great funky showers too. Guessing now that it's going centric,the free fridge will disappear. I actually like staying downtown for proximity to multiple subway lines, tkts, and some quiet at night.
I liked this property, but it doesn't belong in the same league as the Andaz on 5th. I suspect that someone forced this change in order to ensure appropriate differentiation between the two properties.
I had one of my worst ever hotel experiences at this Andaz several years ago (staying for work -- as others have said, no one would stay in this location on a leisure trip). In addition to the not-quite-right lobby and public areas and the annoyingly creaky and cheap faux-wood guest room floors, one of my (female) colleagues was subjected to a shockingly offensive tirade by one of the servers at the restaurant (where we...
I had one of my worst ever hotel experiences at this Andaz several years ago (staying for work -- as others have said, no one would stay in this location on a leisure trip). In addition to the not-quite-right lobby and public areas and the annoyingly creaky and cheap faux-wood guest room floors, one of my (female) colleagues was subjected to a shockingly offensive tirade by one of the servers at the restaurant (where we had spent many thousands during our two weeks there). We ended up moving to the significantly nicer Smyth Tribeca.
This property never commanded the rates that an Andaz in NYC should have. Simply put - tourists aren't flocking to wall street.
There's a subtle difference between lowering a tier and lower-end. Hyatt Centric is a lower tier, but definitely not low-end.
Agree...I've stayed at the Hyatt Centric Mag Mile in Chicago many times and love it. It's on par (or better) with many Grand Hyatts that I've visited. I'm sure other Centrics may not be as good, but love that one.
I suspect the costs of the rebranding and $5mm refresh are probably more attractive to the owner than the mandated refresh costs and ongoing expenses associated with the Andaz flag.
That was my thought too. $5m to make it a centric. VS a lot more to make it a true Andaz.
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/new-york/hyatt-centric-wall-street-new-york/nycaw/dining
^ Looking at the website, I wonder if the Wall and Water name is truly back from the dead or somebody messed up. Chef Pietro Consorti got moved to the Hyatt Centric Key West.
"The spot is a local favorite among the neighborhood locals." Sure, Jan.
Perhaps like the 'Business Suites' rebranding of first class, Hyatt Centric may be an approved brand for some corporate travel polices, while Andaz are not.
Good hypothesis.
I remember I stayed there probably 7 years ago. It was a very modern and chic hotel. The bathroom was amazing installed with rain forest shower. But the location is a bit remote from touristy places. Over the weekend, downtown Manhattan was dead... and that's before pandemic. I think Hyatt Centric brand is probably more tailored towards business travelers. For this location, you get a lot of financial industry business travelers. And also, they would...
I remember I stayed there probably 7 years ago. It was a very modern and chic hotel. The bathroom was amazing installed with rain forest shower. But the location is a bit remote from touristy places. Over the weekend, downtown Manhattan was dead... and that's before pandemic. I think Hyatt Centric brand is probably more tailored towards business travelers. For this location, you get a lot of financial industry business travelers. And also, they would never be able to charge over $400 for that location. So basically Andaz as a higher end brand does not fit.
I always had an issue with the soundproofing at this hotel towards the street but aside from that, which is all to common in NYC, enjoyed my stays there and really like the rooms. Excited to have it as another option.
I would be curious if the rebranding somehow makes it a “new” hotel from some sort of COVID relief/return to work issue the owners were having either with getting the government back money that they got or with a union.
Until they fix their HVAC issues (poor AC in summer, unable to turn down heat in winter, so ALWAYS too hot), no rebranding is going to make this an acceptable hotel.
There are actually two other Hyatt Centrics in NYC, so this will be the third. This particular Andaz property has been troubled from the beginning-- I remember once reading before opening, the property owner was given projected room rates from Hyatt of $500 per night, which given the location is a bit ridiculous. I think given the actual room rates for this location, a Centric is much better suited.
@ DWT -- Whoops, thanks for pointing out my error about the other Hyatt Centrics, I appreciate it. Post updated now.
Also extra slight clarification, it was the first Andaz in the city. 3rd in the chain - after London and WeHo. 4th was San Diego (rebrand) and 5th was... 5th Ave.
Extra fun fact - part of 5th Ave was meant to be the first urban Hyatt Residence Club, hence the hotel having a lot of different suite categories. I don't know how that hotel maintains the rates it does considering how much the service has deteriorated and the lack of any renovations.
"Andaz is definitely intended to be a more high-end lifestyle brand."
I guess you've never stayed at the Andaz in Savannah, GA? ;)
@ Ryan -- LOL, actually...
https://onemileatatime.com/andaz-savannah-review/
Yeah, not an amazing property, but still better than some Hyatt Centric properties.