My wife and I previously stayed at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco shortly after its renovation over two years ago. At the time we had a suite upgrade that we liked very much. On this trip I had only a short one-night stay by myself, so I booked a standard room using 25,000 points to see how that compared. (Note: You should also check out the Hyatt Centric at Fisherman’s Wharf.)
The short story is that the standard room is easily sufficient at this property, and if anything I may have liked it better than the suite. I originally complained that the suite made poor use of the bathroom space since the master bath was no larger than normal and the guest bath doesn’t need a shower. Because there was no need for a connecting path between two rooms, the bathroom felt larger and had space for a vanity that I’m sure my wife would have liked.
I also discovered that the balcony door opens all the way — even on the 33rd floor!
But let’s get back to check-in. I arrived at 10 AM after an early morning flight from Las Vegas. There’s still lots of traffic and construction in the area as San Francisco expands its underground Muni system, and the old Nike flagship store was being dismantled when I approached. Fortunately I never heard any construction noise during my stay.
Despite the early hour, the agent was able to find me a room right away and check me in. I was given a choice between rooms and asked for the room with a better view even though it was on a different floor from the Grand Club. This is the sensible choice anyway. Elevators are relatively quick at this hotel, and there’s no reason to put yourself on the same floor as all that foot traffic.
The bedroom was similar to what I remembered from the suite, except now the desk was much smaller and integrated into the same space. I appreciated that it was built into the wall as a shelf. Desks that stick out at a perpendicular angle seem odd to me. The entire room was nicely decorated, neither too busy nor too empty, and had a small foyer with full-length mirror and potted “plant.”
My bathroom, as I mentioned, was separated from the bedroom by a nice area for the closet and vanity. The bathroom itself had a similar — but different — oblong sink as in my suite. I found it simultaneously wasted counter space and was too shallow to do anything useful, but at least there was a walk-in shower rather than a tub combo.
One of the nice features of all rooms at the Grand Hyatt is that they feature push button controls, so you can control the lights from your bedside. The clock telephone is also pretty fancy. It has multiple adaptors so it doesn’t matter what model phone you need to recharge, although I found it annoying that the clock’s display light turns on while charging …which means it was on all night.
There is apparently some way to integrate the room phone, your phone, and the room’s audio system that I have not yet figured out. This hotel does have a keyboard if you’d like to surf the Internet from the television, which is not as outdated as it sounds. I’ve used the feature here and at several other Hyatt properties to watch Netflix while on the road.
After a quick survey of the room I headed down a few floors to the Grand Club and found they were just wheeling out the breakfast spread. I made a cappuccino before taking seat by the window in this now empty room to get some work done. But — surprise! — one of the attendants noticed my untimely arrival and came by with a few slices of left over banana bread. There are some more photos in my earlier post.
I recall on my last stay that there were many bottles of water and juice at this lounge, perhaps too many since it was a common sight to see people grab a few before heading out to play tourist. The water system seemed to be replace with an on-demand filter (still and sparkling), so someone caught on. Or they’re just trying to be eco-friendly, which is all too common in San Francisco.
Eventually the stormy weather cleared and I headed out to play tourist for a few hours before my first meeting. On this trip I had the good fortune to visit with Hipmunk, LoungeBuddy, Hotel Tonight, and PointsHound. All good chats. I even got to see LougeBuddy’s own private office lounge!
But this meant I missed the evening canapés and desserts at the Grand Hyatt. It was a similar story last time.
I didn’t spend a whole lot of time in my room on this stay, but there was a nice bowl of fruit and sparkling water waiting for me when I returned after dinner. I also took some time to explore the breakfast spread before heading out the next morning. It was better than average, with scrambled eggs, garnish, and a few other hot options. After seeing the breakfast menu decline at the Regency Club across the city, I would definitely recommend the Grand Club as the better lounge. Besides, you can’t beat the views.
If you’re not a Diamond member or don’t have access to the Grand Club (remember, you can redeem points or pay a premium for a Grand Club room), then I recommend you visit the meeting space on the top floor. There was an oncology conference at Moscone Center during my stay, and some companies were hosting breakout chats here. Still, there is a large open space just off the elevators that was publicly accessible and provided a great view.
