Andaz 5th Avenue, by Hyatt — Restaurant in New York

Review as a Hyatt Globalist and as someone who spends 20-30+ nights a year at Hyatts in NYC, including the Hyatt Union Square, Thompson Central Park, and more recently, the recently added Standards.

THE GOOD

1. Breakfast is good, especially the truffle mushroom omelette, which had enough truffle to impart flavor without overpowering anything.
2. An assistant manager named Louis (or maybe Louie) and a housekeeper named Jackie (sp?) were excellent – they provided friendly, communicative service that I think exemplify the Andaz brand.

THE ANNOYING

1. The staff in the lobby are not uniformed - they wear an assortment of outfits, and the only way you can identify them with certainty is to scrutinize each staff member for these small Andaz pins.
2. Certain staff lack initiative, which is surprising for an Andaz, especially a Cat 7 one. My fiancé had forgotten his room key (which is also required to access the elevators), so he went to the front desk to get another one. He wasn't on the reservation, so they needed me to confirm he should have access. My fiancé calls me and hands the phone to the front desk, and I ask the agent to add him to the reservation and give him a room key. He refuses and insists that I needed to call the hotel to verify my identity. He also refused to call the room phone or my cell, which is on the reservation, or to look at my fiancé's phone, which shows my cell number. At this point, I'm getting annoyed because it seems that the agent is digging in his heels and unhappy that I'm asking about alternatives instead of simply following his bizarrely inflexible instructions. But fine, I call the number he gave me, which asks for an extension (which they never gave me), so I sit on the line for 2-3 minutes waiting for someone to pick up before giving up and going downstairs to fix the problem in person.

THE UNACCEPTABLE

1. While I add fiancé to the reservation, I ask the front desk for an explanation for why they couldn't have just called the room or my cell, instead of insisting that I call a number that required an extension they never gave me and that appeared to have no operator. The second attendant at the front desk (who wasn't the one who "helped" my fiancé and wasn't even there to witness the initial encounter) insisted that the first attendant did call the room. It felt surreal to be so brazenly lied to, but I had to run back upstairs to take a meeting. I come back down later and ask for a a manager.
2. While I explain to the manager that it's unacceptable to be lied to, the first attendant, who is now back at the front desk, runs over and raises his voice to insist that "that's not how it went down," saying that he didn't know I was in the room or else he would have called. Even if that was true at first, we had repeatedly asked him why he couldn't just call the room for verification, so I'm not sure why that was his defense. And its also just unacceptable for hotel staff to loudly interrupt a conversation between a hotel guest and the manager. To his credit, the manager instructs the attendant to stay out of the conversation and says he will look into this.
3. The operations manager later called to offer wine or candies, and my fiancè picked up (I was at the office). However, my fiancé doesn't drink and we don't eat candy, so he told the operations manager to call back and talk to me about other options. We never get a follow-up, even though I bumped into the first manager in the elevator two days later and raised the lack of follow-up.

All in all, not a great experience for a Cat 7 Andaz. I think the Thompson Central Park is a much better alternative with better, more consistent service, more modern rooms, and is typically cheaper (both in cash and in points, since...

This is a five star rating with one little caveat but before I get to that, I need to express my gratitude to the entire staff at Andaz for my NY Christmas vacation. Sometimes even great customer service can feel a little business like which I still appreciate, but at Andaz the staff had a very human touch that featured genuine kindness. When I checked in I knew it would be a great stay when the person was able to get a held room unlocked to put my friend and I next to each other in the exact part of the hotel we wanted to be in.

Housekeeping was impressive in many ways. The room was spotless on arrival, not a stray hair or sign of any previous guest in the room. I had many friends visit me and needed multiple towel replenishment as we used my room as NY central because of its location. They were always brought up promptly. I was loving the trip but later came down with a bad cold and ended up sweating through sheets and duvet covers three straight nights. Housekeeping was very sympathetic and changed everything every night and left me extra sheets and pillowcases if I needed them on the middle of the night. One night I sweated through the duvet cover and the duvet itself and they quickly replaced them, all with graciousness. All the housekeepers are great communicators and work with you on timing of the room cleaning. They try very hard to accommodate your schedule and do not seem overburdened with too many rooms.

The caveat is that the beds themselves do not have a firm enough mattress for my liking and that almost made me detract a star but when I mentioned this to housekeeping they brought up some boards to put under the mattress which definitely helped. And later that night I received a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a note apologizing for that inconvenience (completely unnecessary but appreciated).

As far as the room itself you can’t imagine a more perfect getaway space. Very simple, stylish and functional without a lot of clutter (bad artwork) on the walls. I love how easy it is to control all the lights and the thermostat from the bed. The ceilings are high and the bathrooms expansive with the greatest rainforest shower area that makes you never want to leave. The hot water never runs out as attested to by a long fun dual shower that lasted 45 minutes. No more details on that.

Location is perfect for me, near grand central and a whole foods where I brought food up to my room. The staff brought me all kinds of eating utensils and didn’t charge for that kind of request. The rooms are pricey but they don’t nickel and dime you. They give out free sodas and bottle water and staff did not look at my weirdly when I replenished multiple times a day for me and friends.

What was most impressive was that Christmas in NYC is always busy and the hotel was completely booked every night I stayed there. Knowing that the service was this amazing at full capacity speaks volumes. It was truly memorable. Thanks...

I had a very nice stay here and can recommend it. I'll stay again but it was not a perfect stay. First, the good:||1) I was kindly upgraded to a loft suite as a globalist. I loved the suite, the feel and size. I was having a rough day so the upgrade was greatly appreciated. It's not a proper suite as there isn't a wall between the living area and the bedroom but the room is huge. I loved it and hope I'll stay in it again ||2) gym was well stocked with 50 kg dumbbells. They also had free bottled water and protein bars in the gym. This was awesome as I love a protein bar after a workout||3) the breakfast for globalists was surprisingly good. I loved the avocado toast. I did order sides both mornings. One morning the side was charged, one it was taken off (globalists get free breakfasts but not free sides though most properties will waive a side). Front desk eventually did. ||4) front desk overall was awesome. Usually front desks are cold in my experience. These folks were friendly and always offering bottled water. That's great. Too many hotels are stingy with water so it's great they offered to many people||5) location is awesome near Bryant Park. I loved the ease to walk to Central Park as well as Korea Town. Good location||Overall, I'd definitely stay here again. However, there were some weaknesess||1) the mini bar was not refilled on day 2. I even called to ask if it comes and they said it does. This was disappointing as I had drunk all the sparkling water and wanted snacks. This was not good as mini bar is part of the amenities||2) oddly, I had late check out on last day as a globalists , and the guy came in to refill the mini bar at 350, right when I was exiting. ||But worse the guy just walked in the room and didn't knock. This is actually upsetting. I did not tell anyone at the hotel as I was so thankful for them upgrading me to a suite but the mini bar guy should've knocked and waited 2 seconds. I was naked in the bed about to get dressed. Not happy about this at all. ||In other words, this was a great hotel and lll definitely come back but the mini bar team was terrible - walking in on me and not restocking properly despite me calling to ask. I loved my stay, probably because of the room upgrade. If I had not had that and dealt with the mini bar issues, my review might not be as good. But because I had such a nice upgrade, I'll definitely come back and use a TSU next time (I used free night certificates this time so couldn't use a TSU, one of the oddities of the...