The Grand Hyatt San Francisco was our pick for the Bay Area trip we took in early April. At the time, the hotel was still under renovation, and recent reviews on the hotel were average. The rates however, were much better compared to the other Hyatts in the area. This was surprising since this hotel has the "Grand Hyatt" branding, yet companies like Zagat rate this hotel below the other Hyatt properties in the area, which include the Hyatt at Fisherman'sWharf and the Hyatt Regency.
(Check-In Area)
(Elevators)
(Information)
(Concierge)
Our check in experience was fine; the employees were friendly, if not as professional as in some other hotels.
Joanna Husk, the concierge (also part of Les Clefs d'Or Concierge) which helped us later during our stay, was really helpful in providing us an overview of the San Francisco area. She answered all of our problems with ease and even gave us her business card just in case if we had any other questions. When we asked for maps, she gave us two for convenience-- one with a closer scale of the area and one with a larger scale to easily comprehend locations, and went through all the major neighborhoods and highlighted key transportation/neighborhood zones.
Regarding parking, the Grand Hyatt employees guided us to the 450 Sutter Garage, which the hotel has a deal with (at the time of writing, 36.48 USD inclusive of tax with in and out privileges). Although stated as a self-parking facility, we felt that the Sutter Garage operated more like that of valet parking; the employees there took control of driving the car into a parking spot and driving the car back to the garage entrance when we wanted to drive somewhere.
A relaxing mood was created with the various decorations placed throughout the hotel to create ambiance.
During our last day of the trip, the hotel also offered free saltwater taffy; this was a nice way to end our San Francisco trip.
(old, not renovated floor)
(current: newly renovated)
(cracks are a result of photo stitching software)
This time, when photographing the room, I took a different approach. Besides the usual detail pictures, I took some pictures for photo stitching purposes.
In addition, I decided to take pictures of the room from four different corners. Here are the results. The rooms are definitely much fresher in feeling and are now consistent with the modernness that Hyatt tends to have among its renovations. Like its Hyatt peers, the renovated rooms have a special color scheme; with these rooms it is red and brown and grey in various tones as well as some blue tinted glass found in entrance area. There's a lot of globalization here; so many of the items in the room that I did not suspect were actually manufactured in other parts of the world. You can probably find the various manufacturers if you look closely, but I am not going to release their names on the blog. Hyatt probably would hate me if I did.
The mattresses in the rooms are Hyatt's own "Grand Beds," which are really soft thanks to a thick pillow-top layer. I'm not a reliable source on these beds since I prefer the opposite, but the bed was certainly comfortable and in good condition.
Really convenient in the room is the phone placed at the nightstand (there's also a second phone placed on the desk next to the television as well). The Grand Hyatt San Francisco calls this the "Dual line Uno-Bitell Media phone with AM/FM radio, alarm clocks and MP3/iPod docking capabilities." This phone, situated at the nightstand, is certainly that functional, and is really easy to use. The speakers are also quite substantial; music is easily heard in the room even when the phone is not placed on maximum volume. Neither of the two phones found in the room are as pretty or high-quality as this Bang and Ofulsen phone that I saw in the floor's hallway, but their functions are quite amazing.
The nightstand itself is also functional, offering two outlets on the side. A twisty Hyatt pen, paper pad, light, and wired internet cable can also be found there. I found the location of the internet cable to be awkward; wouldn't the desk be a better spot for those who need a wired internet connection?
These rooms also offer automated blackout curtains, which is quite convenient. A plasticky wire like curtain serves as the day curtain and runs on three tracks.
Reading lights, like those found on some airlines, also provide additional convenience.
The television and desk combination offers ample room for placing items as well as plenty of work space for those who need it! There are also books located on the above shelf, which have really diverse topics ( Civil War, Savage Pilgrims, and Colors and Swirls) for a hotel room.
This "jack pack", which offers connections to the television as well as outlets for charging devices, is also another really convenient feature of the room. Along with the other two outlets found at the nightstand, I had no problem charging the different devices that I used during the trip.
A fridge, safe, and the usual Hyatt coffee items are located below the LG LCD television.
The bathroom likewise continues the same design features found in the other parts of the room; the modern design of the Kohler and Grohe products found in the bathroom is beautiful but does not let practicality suffer. The sliding door likewise provides a convenience by saving much needed space in the bathroom. Water pressure for the shower head was somewhat weak; on the other hand, the toilet flushed with vigor.
Toiletries here are the standard White Ginger Portico toiletries and Aquafresh toothpaste found in other Hyatts in California. The soaps have gotten smaller over the years, but that's not really a problem.
Our view was not spectacular, but that was because we were on the ninth floor. Higher floors at the time were not renovated yet, but definitely request one, as the view of San Francisco from the Grand Hyatt is quite amazing.
During our trip we also visited the Grand Hyatt's Stay Fit Gym, which is nicely outfitted with a vast amount of different Life Fitness machines (treadmills, leg press, leg curl, leg extension, bench press, vertical chest, et cetera) and weights. For comfort, headphones are also provided to attach to the machines for music, and water dispensers and wet towels are provided.
For 129 USD a night, this is a fine room; it is not large but quite decent for one or two guests. The simple modern design is quite pleasing, and the room is very functional; the designers certainly put a lot of thought into creating the room. However, I do advise in getting a room with a higher floor, or away from traffic, as my companions commented that they could hear street noises from their room (we were on the ninth floor). Their room also had a problem with the black-out curtain, of which the employees did not fix as quickly as other hotels in the same caliber would have done. During our trip we also visited the Grand Hyatt's Stay Fit Gym, which is nicely outfitted with a vast amount of different Life Fitness machines (treadmills, leg press, leg curl, leg extension, bench press, vertical chest, et cetera) and weights. For comfort, headphones are also provided to attach to the machines for music, and water dispensers and wet towels are provided.
People who want a king bed room should also book early, perhaps a month or more before booking. We got double bed rooms for both rooms since all the king bed rooms were fully booked.
Here's a video of the double/double beds room also, if you prefer watching a video instead of viewing the pictures. Apologies for some blurry/out of focus moments!
Grand Hyatt San Francisco
345 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel: (415) 398-1234
Thanks for reading. Wishing all a happy new year!
Find the rest of the posts in this series at this trip's TRIP INDEX.
P.S. The lobby area is now being renovated, and the hotel will have a port-cochere as part of the renovation. See the renderings on Hyatt's Youtube page.
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