Hotels in New York were pretty heavily booked, there weren’t any standard rooms for points even at the Andaz 5th Avenue where I love to stay. I wasn’t going to spend over $600 for a room there. I couldn’t get a standard room at the Andaz Wall Street, either. But I could burn points at the new Hyatt Union Square.

It’s Hyatt Gold Passport category 5, or 18,000 points per night. With room rates a bit over $400 (an tax applying to paid rates but not awards) that seemed a reasonable redemption. And I’d get to try a new hotel in the city.

The day before my arrival I received an email from the hotel asking my anticipated arrival time. It was going to be a bit after 3pm. I suspect they were pretty chock full, and perhaps they were emailing Diamond members who they were pre-blocking into rooms. I’m not sure the reason — I asked in my reply, but never heard back.

Check-in was smooth, and the hotel’s lobby small but inviting.

I got the room I was entitled too which was also the smallest room I’ve had in Manhattan since I stayed at the Hudson back in December.

The bed though was super comfortable, I prefer this bed over the one at either Andaz in New York.

The bathroom was small, though with decent counterspace.

The shower was small but stylish and functional and with good water pressure. Bath amenities were C.O. Bigelow (as at the Andaz 5th Avenue, but in bottles like I got at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas).

Wishing snacks from the minibar were included here like at an Andaz..

Looking out over Manhattan from the room

Turn down service featured a different treat each evening — such as biscotti, chocolate, and fortune cookies (with customized fortunes like ‘New York is the city that never sleeps, but you should’).

Off the lobby is a bar to one side, restaurant to the other.

Diamond breakfast is taken in the restaurant. At the front desk they explained the benefit as $25 per registered guest. Now, if it’s $25 plus tax and tip that would cover an entrée and coffee or juice (but not both, and no side item). That’s fine, but not super generous

Here’s details on the restaurant, with the menu:

The menu is fairly small, but the food is high quality. Here’s ‘The New Yorker’ … an everything (!) bagel, lox, smoked whitefish, and a very modest amount of tomato. I tried their bacon, heard it was very good, and it’s fantastic bacon. Their barista is also pretty knowledgeable, though it’s not a choice on the menu he made me a flat white. (Trying it the next morning, I can also vouch that the orange juice is pretty good.)

One morning my breakfast bill came with a pre-printed note that an 18% gratuity was already added to the bill. This wasn’t for a “party of six or more” it was for a party of one.. me. Oddly the next morning that note wasn’t included, and the 18% tip wasn’t pre-added to the bill.

You can work off the breakfast in a surprisingly large fitness center in the basement.

I had no problem getting 4pm late checkout even though the hotel was heavily booked. The only glitch was when I asked if my room could be serviced while I was down at breakfast (I didn’t expect them to be done by the time I finished eating, but it would have helped to have housekeeping in the room during the morning time). I went back upstairs after eating but no one had touched the room yet. Talking to the front desk again got this sorted.

Ultimately the hotel was fine, though I found myself frequently in the lobby waiting quite some time for one of the two elevators servicing guest floors.

The property was probably pretty good by New York standards, and I’d stay again if rates are too high at the Andaz 5th Avenue and reasonable here. I like it better than the Hyatt 48 Lex, the Parker Meridien and the Grand Hyatt New York. But it’s not joining the ranks of my favorites.

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