This post, written earlier this month, was not sponsored or hosted. All opinions are my own!
This week I’m in New York for work and I decided to make it a mother daughter trip. Times two. I’m here with an awesome writer from my site, Angela, and her daughter as well as my own.
We labored over the decision of where to stay. It can be tricky to even find a room for 4 in the city. There are so many choices, and so few deals.
At $317 a night thru a luxury discount booking service (down from the online price of $417) the Hyatt Grand was a “deal” that still felt a little like a gut punch. Until I took into account the Grand Club access.
Traveling with hungry teens is expensive. Breakfasts for two can easily top $50 in the city. Five minutes later my kids are hungry again. Then they want a water bottle.
The Grand Club offers hearty breakfasts, fruit and filling snacks all day long. Non alcoholic beverages are also available and a water bottle for the road makes for a much happier stroll.
Afternoon snacks and evening desserts, specialty coffees and teas round out the selection that I think can easily save a family of 4 close to $100 (or more) a day. I’m including photos of the fab breakfast selection as I was not able to really find any when I was deciding whether to ante up for the upgrade and it would have made my decision process a lot easier had I seen these!
Eggs, cheese, salmon, assorted breads and cereals, oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, nuts, sliced cold cuts are what we found waiting for our very filling breakfast. A coffee machine (not pictured) served up decent espressos, americanos and cappuccinos.
Now our room seems inexpensive.
The Hyatt Grand NYC is billed as a luxurious place to stay. The Grand Club definitely makes us feel pampered but I’m not sure the rooms and other common areas live up to that promise for us. Granted, we are picky! The rooms were certainly clean and decent, but the hotel feels a little worn which may be due to the constant, heavy traffic.
The staff were all super nice to us. I love when I show up at a hotel that I am not set to review or attend a press event at and the staff treats me well because I know it’s for real. Our first room was miraculously ready for a very early check in. Hallelujah and bless them for getting us into beds after a redeye. We were so thrilled to see those beds, even if the room was small and a bit cramped for us.
Then the television went out. Try spending four days in a hotel with teenagers and no tv. Not happening.
We lost a better part of the day to playing host to a crew of repairmen who valiently tried to fix and/or replace the tv to no avail (it was the cable). They were extremely nice guys, but we just weren’t comfortable leaving with the door propped open and that many people coming and going. These things happen, I do realize and it was a very rainy day so we probably didn’t miss as much as we felt like we were missing. I just wish we’d opted for an immediate room switch, rather than waiting to see if the problem could be fixed.
The hotel loans umbrellas to explore the rainy city with and this sure came in handy when we did head out!
On the plus side, the second room is larger and has a nicer view. I love the big bay windows – perfect for city storm watching. They actually open up if you want to do a temp check or get some fresh air.
I shot this NYC time lapse video out the window of our second.
I would definitely recommend and return to the Grand Hyatt and no question about it, I’d add on the Grand Club access for sure.
Even if the hotel sometimes feels a little like it is Grand Central, and not just located right next door, the location and convenience couldn’t be better. This is a pretty perfect place to stay for a NYC visit.
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