Park Hyatt New York — Hotel in New York

Some of us aren’t customarily able to rub elbows with billionaires, but you can visit the life of the 0.001% at the Park Hyatt New York. Guest rooms occupy 16 floors of One57, a 75-story architectural statement whose upper floors are home to people with properties and staff in multiple continents||Much to my surprise, especially since I am not a Hyatt Globalist, I was upgraded to a one-bedroom suite that measured more than an astounding 1,000 square feet. This came as a particular shock because a Guest Experience Manager sent a pre-stay email admonishing not to expect upgrades: “[W]e encourage you to contact us in advance to discuss pricing and availability. We cannot guarantee complimentary upgrades at this time.” I’m not sure how purchasing an upgrade differs from simply reserving the room category you want, but no matter. To put the upgrade in perspective, there is currently a 1,021 ft2 one-bedroom apartment available for sale in the building for a cool $3.85M. My suite felt roughly the size of a cozy home with high ceilings, enormous windows, and finishes so refined they might reduce a minimalist to tears. Everything hums, slides or glows with quiet automation.||Then there’s the bathroom, spacious and sybaritic with beautiful marble galore, an enormous multi-headed shower and separate soaking tub. Rarely does a toilet rise to the level of conscious thought let alone mention, but this magnificent automated contraption boasts high tech bells and whistles I have only seen rivaled in the loos of the Four Seasons Lana’I in Hawaii and the Tokyo American Club in Japan. Even the lid of this porcelain throne demonstrates respect by opening automatically and standing at attention when one enters the WC. Finally, there is the lovely touch of heated bathroom floors that will sure to be even more welcome as seasonal temperatures drop.||The centrality of the location is a double-edged sword in one critical respect; it is at once convenient and cacophonous. It’s the trade-off for being in the middle of Manhattan’s most coveted corridor a block away from Central Park. Because the Park Hyatt occupies the lower floors of One57, your proximity to 57th Street traffic is not theoretical; it’s up front and personal. And emergency sirens in New York aren’t merely loud; they’re practically militarized, routinely clocking in at 120 decibels, roughly the same as a jet engine spooling at full takeoff power. That’s 10 decibels louder than the most soaring chorus at a Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter concert at Madison Square Garden down the street. NYC sirens are so loud Councilwomen Carlina Rivera and Gale Brewer introduced a bill to the New York City Council to lower the sirens to a maximum of 90 decibels and modify their shrill tone. Somehow, I don’t see this happening. Add to the sirens trucks equipped with train horns, taxis venting their gridlock frustrations through spirited blasts and Yamaha FZR 1000cc motorcycles with modified exhaust, it’s enough to make one yearn for the relative aural modesty of a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. At this is level of clamor, even triple-paned glass and earplugs are powerless.||My experience with the level of noise may not be representative of customary conditions. My stay coincided with the 80th United Nations General Assembly, an annual event that creates notoriously grim traffic in Manhattan. During my stay, the President of France found his motorcade at a dead stop due to the operations of a competing motorcade transporting the President of the United States. The gridlock was so severe that Mr. Macron hopped out and simply walked to his next meeting. The UNGA also entailed what the Park Hyatt euphemistically termed “enhanced security protocols” at the hotel. One morning I alighted to the ground floor lobby only to find a dozen Secret Service Police, half a dozen Secret Service Special Agents, a phalanx of NYPD and other assorted earpiece wearing security personnel along with a walk-through metal detector and TSA-style luggage screener. Not the most relaxing environment to say the least. Thankfully, heading up to the pool/spa/gym on the 25th proved to be a world apart with only a delightful lifeguard (families take note: complimentary pool games and toys available) looking after a beautiful 65’ pool in a commanding three story atrium along with soothing in-pool sound design especially curated from recordings made at Carnegie Hall across the street. How’s that for a “only in New York” experience?||If your idea of serenity runs more toward the monastic, you might prefer the Mandarin Oriental (previously reviewed) a couple of blocks away where the rooms are at least 280’ in the sky, occupying floors 35 to 54 of the Time Warner Center. The only thing you’re likely to hear there are the gentle flapping of the wings of the angels on high. Still, I found the Park Hyatt to be more inviting and magnanimous and the MO more formal in style. The other main difference between the two properties is the Park Hyatt restaurant The Living Room overlooks 57th Street and The Russian Tea Room and Carnegie Hall across the street while the MO Lounge is an aerie with commanding views of Central Park.||As impressive as the Park Hyatt NYC hard product is with tasteful design, luxury appointments and some of New York’s most singularly spacious rooms, the hard-working people who shine most brightly. Despite the building’s neighborhood and clientele, the staff here are disarmingly amiable. Even though everyone else in the lobby might be wearing couture ranging from the sublime to ridiculous, carrying an obligatory lapdog and awaiting bellmen to assist with their Louis Vuitton travel trunks, somehow the staff maintain a bonhomie free of pretense. Every interaction from my initial encounter with the bellman felt like it came from actual human warmth, not a training manual. Their ability to navigate the vagaries of diplomatic luminaries and accompanying entourages, managing DEFCON-level security concerns, satisfying the expectations of discerning world travelers and accommodating odd pikers such as me with equal aplomb is beyond impressive.||Special thanks to housekeeping for keeping the suite in immaculate condition throughout my stay and to Mamadou and his front desk colleagues for their gracious welcome (and the upgrade!) and infectious enthusiasm for all this Hyatt flagship outpost has to offer from cold martinis to heated floors and everything in between. I would count myself lucky to return, but perhaps when the UN is not in...

Being a flagship Park Hyatt, this was on my list and finally got to experience it. We had a special occasion - celebrating a birthday. Though was little disappointed with few misses which I didn’t expect being a Cat 8 property. Based on which I rate it 3.5/5. Location is nice, right next to Central park. Sad part that there is lot of construction going on in the area. The checkin was smooth and was upgraded to a King room with city view being an Explorist. To get to the Lobby you need to take one elevator, and to get to the room you need to take another elevator which is a bit of a hassle. The building has 25 floors and the property is well maintained. The room was too cold (around 64) when we entered. The room was big for a NYC hotel. They provided plenty of water bottles in the room which is good. I had to work for couple of hours and had a tough time because the wifi was spotty and slow. Not sure if that was temporary, but I had to use my phone hotspot to get things done. The work desk was good. Generally the hotels will leave a note wishing you on your special occasion but I did not find any in our room. I had much better experiences at a Cat 5-6 Hyatt properties in terms of making you feel special. We had to refrigerate a cake, so we called the guest services and they were very helpful and prompt in providing a mini refrigerator. The bathroom is large and luxurious - Dual vanity sink, a box with all personal care products, heated floors, Le Labo Bergamote 22 body lotion. The shower is equipped with a rainfall shower head and a normal shower. There were Le Labo Bergamot 22 products - Shampoo, Shower gel and Conditioner in the shower, which are hands down the best. There is a mini tv in the mirror as well. The toilet was nothing special. There is a soaking bathtub which was cool. And had Le Labo salt and a Lufa placed on the platform. Soaking in the tub was a good experience but the picture of the room I booked (added to this review) was little misleading. It featured a bathtub next to the window, but seems its not true for non-suite rooms. There were 2 robes, one in the closet and one hanging next to the soaking tub, one extra large and one large size. They were pretty comfortable. They also had 2 sets of slipper, but felt sticky and made weird sounds when walking on the tiled floor. The bed was very comfy and had no complaints. The TV had a swivel mount which could be rotated as per your needs. The view outside was okay, due to the presence of construction sites. The house keeping staff also prepares your room in the evening which I liked. Automatic drapes and curtains and the lighting could be controlled from multiple locations, including both the sides of the bed. The mini bar is beautiful. Most of the items are for purchase but the Coffee and tea is complimentary. In the morning we decided to hit the gym and the pool which is on 25th floor. The gym is top end and had most of the high end equipments, including a Mirror and a Tonal. Plenty of hand towels for use. Comes with a partial view of the Central park. The pool is very beautiful and has nice interiors. It is 4 feet deep, 65 foot long with a divider in between. The water temperature was well maintained. Next to it was the hot tub, which had a nice curved slab to sit/lay on. The steam room next to it was nice and also has a shower. The shower/locker rooms are luxurious. The shower room had full body shower heads and a great experience. The stay at Park Hyatt NYC came with few complimentary perks - Free perfume samples from Le Labo store at 65th st., Complimentary 2 hour bike rental and complimentary drinks at Nordstrom cafe a block away. Conclusion : Would I stay here again? May be no, unless Its a suite. For the price of $1400 ($1600 for city view room) a night I expected a little more compared to a Cat 6 property.

Cons : Slow wifi Construction. Broken Bluetooth speaker. Broken work table lamp. Misleading pic of room. Malfunctioned Lockers in Shower room.

Pros : Le Labo products. Amazing Guest services. Beautiful pool. Gym. Friendly...

After my most recent stay, I couldn’t figure out why the service had declined so much. As I was departing, I learned they had a new GM start about a year ago. Hello Hyatt upper management —- wake up! Read the recent reviews that are less than excellent, especially from your loyal globalists! 5-star service is top down and Park Hyatt has colossally failed at this once epic hotel property.

Overall they barely meet basic service standards, a far cry from 5-star levels and they hardly — if ever, exceeded or anticipated guest expectations.

They don’t value globalist loyalty like every other Hyatt (even top choices like Park Sydney and Chicago locations) — they’re beyond stingy and arrogant.

They play games with their room categories, so they have only a couple globalist upgrades. There have near identical suites as the upgrade category, but they conveniently categorize them as something else to keep them out of the program, probably because they don’t like corporate reimbursement levels, or they think they can sell them for higher revenue.

When we checked in, we were not thanked for globalist loyalty, we were not offered water or given an amenity during the stay.

Globalist Upgrade? Ha! Yeah right. Even though they had at least a dozen suites available during our entire stay, according to the website, they made sure we only received the category booked and not an inch more. Actually we got less — read on!

On our second night, we had no hot water in our room and at midnight, we realized we would have to switch rooms. I was thinking, well that’s a bummer but at least they will probably upgrade us now given the inconvenience in the middle middle of the night. NOPE! And fun I even checked the app to see what they had available — lots of better rooms!

They had an opportunity to delight us when we had to switch rooms due to this maintenance issue and instead we got a step down with the same room type with a smaller room!!! They apologize and gifted a measly 15k points — but why not just give us a a nicer room when you have them available!!!???

More service issues…

Front desk staff is friendlier at the Hyatt Place than this Park Hyatt. I don’t know why they are so arrogant and unwilling to please, and only deliver on the most minimal service needs.

Housekeeping inconsistent, and would always forget something, like the shampoo, hand towel, or a bath mat. Had to call down to have them delivered when housekeeping forgot to leave them. Even worse, one of the times we couldn’t get them to even answer the phone. Tried the front desk, zero, even housekeeping, no answers anywhere. After about my eighth try, they finally answered, and just said they were kind of busy!

Kitchen closes at 10pm on a Saturday night! So if you want to come back for a snack after the theater, tough Locke. You can only order drinks. This is fine if the hotel had another restaurant, but there is only one dining area, so why close the kitchen so early on a weekend night?

Also, breakfast gets crowded because they only have the one area to serve. We ended up sitting in lounge seats because I don’t have ample table seating. Had the same waiter several mornings in a row, but he couldn’t remember once that we ordered iced tea with extra lemons every morning. Even a basic hotel waiter would remember this on subsequent mornings. It’s the little touches that matter.

Fortunately, Hyatt has expanded and grown and there is another category 8 hotel in the city as well as several several category 6-7 which I’m certain will deliver beyond expectations and will cost you less money or less points. If you’re going to pony up $2000 per night, I suggest spending it elsewhere even outside the Hyatt brand. Sorry, I’m a super duper Hyatt loyalist, but I won’t spend another day or dollar at this location unless it turns...