Grayson Hotel - The Unbound Collection by Hyatt — Hotel in New York

I have spent more than 1700 nights in hotels somewhere in the world in my life, but sometime is always the first time. This time rather unpleasant. But in turn and the whole story.

I was once again in New York and have already for professional reasons an interest to see as many hotels personally before I recommend them.

So I first stayed two nights in the hotel 50 Bowery, which you should definitely look at.

After that it should go to the new house here. The Grayson. The expectations were quite high. New hotel, just opened half a year ago. The pictures looked good.

Already the check-in was bumpy. A room a little further away from the elevator, is already in the profile and then also said again at checkin. What did I get, a room directly in front of the elevator. So tried to call. Even after ten attempts, no one answers at the reception. But you have a sms service. So I tried that. Half an hour later a move was possible. Further down but further away from the elevator.

Already the first room was not really clean. Hair in the bathroom. Dust on the table and nightstand. Clean is different. But I didn't want to stay there anyway.

After it was now already a little later and I was still arranged, it went off first. On my return, I noticed that the second room was also dirty. Hair in the shower and on the towel too. Dust in all corners and ends. So probably not an isolated case.

Slippers that were still in the first room, were no longer in the second. The usual do not disturb sign was not there either. In addition, an already opened water bottle. Creepy.

But I didn't want to change again in the city. Too elaborate for the last night. But then.

In the afternoon I bought pastries, some drinks and cakes for an event and left them in the room. Right next to my backpack and very far away from the trash can or other waste. After 4pm still no room cleaning was there and also calls helped nothing, I went out for dinner. When I came back, I didn't look bad. The bag was gone. Including all drinks, cookies, cake. Also a call did not bring this out again. "One wanted to announce itself". But nothing happened.

This has never happened to me after so many nights. Never did anything disappear in the room. An accident is excluded, since it was right next to my backpack in the corner.

Unfortunately, this stay was a bust.

I cannot confirm the slow elevators from other reviews. It was always quite fast. Breakfast (free for status customers up to $35) was also good and the staff in the restaurant a real bright spot.

Unfortunately, the Grayson is a property that I'm sure won't see me again anytime soon. I am still waiting for a refund. Announced one had this after some complaints then first.

Too bad, it could have been a nice hotel in a good location at Bryant Park. Would have but also only. Unfortunately, it was not.

EDIT/ addition after longer discussions: After many E-Mails and complaints, the hotel refunded the amount of the "missing or stolen" items of USD 60 and also offered 15.000 World of Hyatt points as a "compensation". I was not in the mood to discuss this any longer, so I accept Regullary, you should accept this status of cleanness and it would be a real offer, to refund at least one night in points...

Wanted to give this place the benefit of the doubt after a terrible first breakfast. Everything was wrong and it took over an hour. Orders were lost and forgotten, food and drink sub par, a gross piece of steak was sitting on the floor in my eye line the whole meal, my cappuccino took 45 mins and came out after our food alongside my also late mimosa that I didn’t even want anymore. The next morning we went down and sat at just before 1015. We were in a bit of a rush to catch the train home (12pm) and hoped to make a couple of quick stops before. This time my cappuccino came out in a timely manor but my husband’s coffee took at least 15 minutes. We ordered oatmeal and eggs as soon as we sat. We never saw our server again. After we sat for 50 minutes we asked about our food and everyone seemed confused. There were also at least two other tables that seemed to be waiting way too long. We were told they’d check on it by a server who we also never saw again. Finally, the manager, Javon, came to tell us our order was never put in. She acted apologetic but did not seem genuine. She continued to call us “friends” like my sons elementary teacher calls them, which really irked me, and then proceeded to ask us when we’d like our food, to which we replied “now.” She asked us again and again, wanting to know specifically when we needed to leave which was odd and unprofessional (we had now been sitting there over an hour). She did offer to compensate a portion of the bill but this was a complimentary breakfast. It was her tone and management style that was severely lacking. I watched someone take a stack of at least 8 tickets off the bar at one point - they were by no means slammed. There was zero hustle- staff hanging around polishing glasses both days. I’m assuming our ticket along with the other tables was probably hanging off the printer in the kitchen too or maybe was actually never rung in. When our food finally arrived it was sub par. Soggy, unseasoned oats with tart berries. The presentation of my husbands eggs was lacking to say the least. I attribute all of the issues to the incompetence of management. It was clear there was little direction and no one knew what they were doing. Coming from a hospitality and food service background I could see what was going on. It really but a damper on the last part of what was otherwise a good trip. We had to book it to the train station and I was still hungry as my oatmeal was so bad I only scarfed down a few bites. Otherwise front desk was friendly. Room was fine despite the weird unfinished ceiling. Location was good for midtown activities. The elevator takes a million years. Don’t stay here if you’re in any...

Overall, we greatly enjoyed this hotel. There were a great number of positives with only a few minor shortcomings. I would definitely stay here again and would otherwise recommend to others.

Pros: Location was exactly what i was looking for, within a short/reasonable walking distance from Broadway, 5th Ave shopping, central park, and plenty of dining. Price was excellent, at least considering location within NYC and the additional benefits provided by booking through AMEX travel portal. We were able to use our annual hotel credit, take advantage of late check out (combined with porting luggage to get a full extra day before leaving), enjoy breakfast each morning (I love when they choose to include a proper breakfast as one of the perks and is often a deciding factor in booking over otherwise similar options), and make more use of the hotel charge credit than anticipated. Breakfast provided several great options and the hotel credit went further than expected covering both dinner at the taco truck out back as well as drinks on the rooftop bar - both of which were excellent. I was also not able to hear any street noise at night while sleeping which pleasantly surprised me.

Cons: While my interactions with the front desk were highly positive, over the course of the weekend there were a few general aspects of service that were below par which I should stress that I consider fairly minor and in no way would make me less likely to recommend or return. We had breakfast both mornings, once earlier when less busy and once later when more busy. Both mornings I ordered coffee with breakfast and specifically requested cream/half and half with it. The first day I asked a second time as well but still never received it; the second day i did not bother to ask again. The coffee was good and perfectly palatable black, but not once receiving the cream was vaguely irksome. Somewhat similarly we had at one point asked for some makeup removing wipes to be dropped off when the room was serviced, but those also never arrived. While i had overwhelmingly positive interactions with all of the staff (esp. Jasmine at the front desk); there should not be multiple instances where i would have to follow up on such basic requests.

Other considerations: some people may consider the rooms smaller, I however thought they were comfortable and that sizes were within normal based on location. There is not onsite parking, again normal for the area. They are partnered with the DOCK parking facility about a 5 minute walk right down the street with reduced rates. there's no in and out however I had zero plan or desire to drive around the...