Hyatt Place New York/Midtown-South — Hotel in New York

The staff at this hotel could not have been better, and the location is perfect for accessing the subway hub at Herald Square. A real pleasure. It's safe and not too close to Times Square. We will be back and will certainly recommend it to our friends.

The public areas were small and basic, but nice and clean. As of this writing, this hotel does not charge a "destination fee" like many NYC hotels do, but they do put $100 hold on your credit card, which will be released at the end of your stay if you don't mess anything up or put extra charges on your room. They do this even if you pay in full before you arrive. I feel that this is fair in comparison with other NYC hotels. We got an outstanding deal from Expedia, but unfortunately, Expedia does not explain the $100 hold well. If you have questions about fees or amenities, call the hotel directly. Don't call the main Hyatt number because they don't have a clue about the details of this hotel. The main Hyatt number will give you a half dozen different answers depending on who you talk to or "chat" with.

The website mentions a restaurant, but we saw no evidence of anything more than a tiny coffee station in the lobby that had some basic beer/alcohol, and just a few seats at a bar. I never saw anyone at this bar. It didn't matter to us, because there's a very good pub with a full bar, decent wine, and pub food right across the street. Open late.

As mentioned by others, the hotel has a good buffet breakfast with coffee, juices, eggs, bacon, sides, bagels, etc., and it's included in the price of the room.

We stayed in room 2206, which is on the 22nd floor. (The hotel has 26 floors.) Unfortunately, we had no luck at all with the WiFi over a period of 3 days. The bedroom had a very basic look, but it's larger than many boutique NYC rooms. It had a desk, sofa, a chest of drawers, and a small closet with plenty of hangers and a full-length mirror. The large, clean window had a blackout shade, and it's possible to open it a bit for some NYC air if you want it. Room 2206 does NOT have a beautiful view - you pay extra for that, and I'll do that on my next visit.

The mattress was fine. The bedding was excellent, with four nice pillows and a fluffy comforter.

The large bathroom looked recently renovated and was just lovely. Spic and span each day. Large mirror, bathroom venting, good lighting, and there was room for many of our toiletries on the countertop. At some hotels, being on a higher floor affects the shower temperature and the water pressure, but the shower in this room was good. The shower had a bath mat which we used, because the soapy tile floor can become slippery.

2206 is right across from the elevator, so we experienced loud voices at various times. This hotel is not a new building, so there's not much they can do than provide free earplugs - which they do. There are 8 rooms per floor, and two of them are close to the elevator. Do the math, 25% of the rooms are beside an elevator, so if that bothers you, ask for one that isn't, and pay for it. Sometimes if you reserve your room directly through the hotel site than through a 3rd party company such as Expedia you may get better accommodations.

The room had a simple, one-cup drip coffee maker, no fridge, and no microwave. It has a safe in the closet. I got several different answers about the fridge and microwave when I called the Hyatt main number. A fridge would have been nice.

A housekeeping visit is a requirement each day, and this is made clear on the hotel's website. It's actually a benefit, because many hotels in the USA no longer offer daily housekeeping. The housekeeper for our room was excellent and considerate. We slept late a couple of times, and she waited to clean the room without banging on the door, knocking and yelling, "housekeeping," as they do in some hotels. We left a tip each day in appreciation for the good service.

All in all, we give the hotel a great rating, and we will be back. We've stayed at some of those fancy boutique hotels, but we liked this...

When we booked the hotel, we were worried about how far away from everything it would be. (Our initial hotel plan had us right in Times Square but that fell through.) We were delighted to discover how conveniently close it was to EVERYTHING.

There was a rooftop view of the Empire State building that we did not know existed when we booked our room. We were a 5 minute walk from Bryant Park, 34th Street, and about 10 minutes from Times Square. It was great to be able to go back and forth from our desired locations within minutes. It gave us the chance to decompress and refresh when needed. Our purchases could be placed there easily. It was not an out of place stay.

I did not give this place a 5 star rating for a few reasons. I was bothered most by the incidentals. When we checked in, we were told that there would be a small charge that would be removed when we checked out and our room was checked. We anticipated that, as that is standard. What we did not anticipate was the incidental charge of $400. We expected the usual $50 This hotel charged $100 a night, as we discovered. The money was returned, as we expected it to, as we did no damage. It just would have been nice to know that before the charges appeared and caused a panic.

Another reason that my star rating was not a 5 was due to the fact that the water was shut off. I appreciated the few hour notice, but I was not thrilled about having to adjust my plans to not have water in the room. It was annoying. This leads to my next point.

It was also frustrating that there is no complimentary water for the room. You must pay for it all. Luckily, I had a few bottles of water from our 7 hour drive to help us out. I guess I got spoiled by other hotels giving you two bottles a day for free and not wanting $3 for a bottle right off while not having water in the room.

I would also suggest working with the parking garages on the street to give a discount. When we went to the parking garage, we asked if any discounts were avaliable. We were told it was only for those staying at Embassy Suites. When we stayed in DC and Cincinnati, the hotels worked with the parking garages to get discounts, even if it was only $10 off a day. If Hyatt did that, it would be awesome.

I appreciated the COVID safety measures. It was nice to not have to fret over someone coming in and out of the room for housekeeping. It would be nice to have a cart on the floor for soiled laundry or to take fresh towels instead of hauling everything down to the front desk and back up each time.

Would I return to this hotel? Yes. I would. Do I know how to better plan for this hotel? Yes, I do. Do I know to...

Overall, we have been very happy with our choice to stay at this hotel. It’s not a luxury hotel of course, but it is really nice and offers some great pros. For example, we had room 2402 and the view is great-excellent really. We can see the Empire State Building and many others. We have a double queen room with a sofa pull out, giving us enough room to allow our 7 month old to do some crawling around. Worked well for 2 adults and 3 kids (including the baby). When pull out soda was opened up it closed up that space, of course, but did still leave a narrow space for walking so that was good enough for us the one time we used it. The rooftop terrace provides an amazing view. Definitely worth checking out!! Can’t really ask for better when it comes to a great city view. The view has been the best part of our stay at this hotel, but second best is the breakfast. We have recently stayed in Hyatt hotels in NYC and DC. Both provided hearty, full breakfasts. This one may have even had a few additional options. Then, someone helped me clear my trash-unexpectedly-very cool! I mean, expect to clear your own trash, but I’m just saying, that was a cool thing that lady did for me. Hyatt’s also offer snacks which is great, especially if you’ve forgotten your vaccine card In NYC or your just needing a small treat or Red Bull or what have you. The front desk staff here was very friendly and helpful. A stroller in NYC can be difficult to manage, but they have side doors and helped us feel welcome to use them. They also helped us with the luggage cart. They have self parking right near the hotel. They have a fitness center on the LL. They have some nearby restaurants. Location was pretty great and made it easy to get pretty much anywhere, either by walking or metro. We would Certainly return to this location. Our only complaints (if you can even call them that) came from: the elevator noise, and just FYI they provide ear plugs in the rooms for anyone bothered by noises, but for us it was really no big whoop; and the occasionally spotty WiFi. The spotty WiFi was pretty easily survivable tho. However, it did effect my google maps and the TV at times. Still, not worth stressing over; narrow hallways from elevators to rooms (really something to just get over bc this is NYC). Didn’t keep us from getting around with a stroller and entire family. Adequate. I would recommend this location to friends and family and we...