Oops, I did it again. Despite wanting to try a hotel brand other than Hyatt or Hilton for a quick trip to New York City, I couldn’t resist booking the Hyatt adjacent to Times Square. It looked fantastic, and knowing what I know about how consistently good Hyatt can be (especially in tourist areas), it was an absolute no-brainer.
A full review of my 1 night stay at the Hyatt Times Square in New York City
Honestly, I wasn’t anxious at all as the taxi driver sped and weaved his way through Manhattan traffic. I had full confidence that the Hyatt Times Square was going to be a good hotel, and (as expected) I wasn’t disappointed as we pulled up to the main entrance. It looked very high-end (and stylish) from the outside.
The lobby
The main lobby was nothing like I had seen in a Hyatt before. Don’t get me wrong – it looked fantastic. I guess I wasn’t expecting something like you’d see at an Aloft property, that’s all. Anyway, the lobby was small and crowded – a far cry from the huge lobby of the Grand Hyatt at the Incheon Airport in Seoul.
Entrance of the Hyatt Times Square (tourists and all).
The illuminated signage on the exterior of the building was a nice touch (and confirmation that I was indeed at the correct hotel).
The style and design of this Hyatt was on-point. Every little detail looked as if someone thought really hard about it, which makes the designer in me a happy guy. This was nothing like the cheap-looking lobby of the Bellingham Holiday Inn Express I recently stayed at (which didn’t match the style and sophistication of the guest rooms).
Main lobby and check in desk.
The lobby was actually kind of small (the check in desk is on the right), but I found it to be very stylish. It looks like an art gallery!
Getting to my room
The attention to detail was awesome – here is the signage on the wall indicating floor numbers (as seen immediately exiting the elevator).
Walking down the 30th floor hallway to find my room.
The door to my room (3009).
The view
I normally don’t post the view pics first, but hey – this is New York, and the view is the most important part of the room! IMHO at least…
For those of you who are curious, this is what the view was like during the day. And before you complain about it, just know this this was far better than the view I had at the InterContinental Barclay here in NYC not too long after this.
The room
My room was 3009, which was on the 30th floor with a decent view of the city. And since it was located so close to Times Square, I did have to deal with some of the bright neon lights flashing on the walls all night even though the curtains were fully closed. But it wasn’t overly annoying. I was still able to sleep very soundly.
And now for pics of the room: this is the king size bed.
The colors and textures in the room were really nice – it’s amazing how a splash of color here and there can help liven up an ordinary hotel room!
I really want a chair just like that. Like, really bad.
View of the room from the other direction, looking towards the entrance.
Although the room was small, the furniture fit perfectly and nothing felt cramped.
It’s a decent size work space, though I don’t think I’d like to sit in that chair for very long.
Here’s a wide-angle view of the entire room which might help to visualize the space better. FWIW, this is basically a “lite” version of the room I had at the Hyatt Regency in Hong Kong recently.
It’s a very basic floor plan!
The bathroom
The bathroom was really nice and very well designed. I consider this to be a “lite” version of the bathroom in the room I had at the Grand Hyatt in Taipei. Same design (almost) but less fancy.
Again, the colors and textures here in the bathroom are just about perfect.
There was no tub in this room, but at least the shower was very large and spacious.
The restaurant
The attached restaurant was pretty good as well. I had thought about ordering room service for dinner on my only night here, but I wasn’t in the mood to pay the ridiculous fees for it. I trudged on down to the restaurant, which ended up being a pretty good decision. The atmosphere was nice and the food was good!
View from my table at the attached restaurant.
I highly recommend the mushroom risotto!
I had planned to have breakfast the next morning in that same restaurant, but I was being lazy and I woke up a bit later than I had hoped to. Therefore, I decided to skip it and just head to the airport instead. They would have food there, for certain.
Final thoughts
The density of hotels in Manhattan is simply mind blowing. It’s pretty much impossible to make a bad choice due to the sheer amount of competition between them, so any hotel that is sub par doesn’t usually last long in environments such as this. That’s awesome for travelers – but stressful as all heck for the property owners (I’m sure).
Yours truly, hard at work putting together another luxury hotel review. It’s grueling.
I would highly recommend the Hyatt Times Square to anyone traveling to New York. The location is pretty much perfect – it’s not right in the heart of Times Square, but the fact that it’s two blocks away means that it is much quieter than it would be if it was situated right in the middle of that chaos. I’d definitely stay here again!
