Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei

For our trip to Taiwan in May, the Grand Hyatt Taipei was an easy choice. I had plenty of points at the time, and an award stay would allow me to keep progressing toward my goal of achieving Hyatt Globalist for $0 out of pocket. I thought about booking using free night certificates, as the Grand Hyatt Taipei is a Category 4 property. But using certificates would not allow me to attach a Club Upgrade award, which I planned to do. Burning points, it was. Cash rates were right around $220 over our dates, making 15,000 points a decent value.

The Grand Hyatt Taipei is located near Taipei 101. You can walk between the two in under three minutes. From the front, you can see Taipei’s tallest building towering over the hotel.

Arriving at the Grand Hyatt Taipei

We headed into Taipei after an early morning arrival at Taoyuan International Airprot. The MTR brought us to the hotel by 8:00 AM after a single transfer at Taipei Central station. I consider the MTR to be the best option for getting into Taipei, although there is a bus option that is likely more convenient. The Grand Hyatt has a very large and beautiful lobby.

This was my second Grand Hyatt stay ever, and already this one was impressing far more than the one in downtown San Francisco.

We attempted to check in at 8:00 AM, but the hotel turned us down. Guests who have Grand Club Lounge access are able to check-in at the club lounge desk on the 22nd floor. The previous night had a very high occupancy rate, from what the desk said, and they had a lot of rooms to turn over that day. Nothing was ready. We showered in the fitness facilities and then dropped our bags, ready to take on our first day in Taiwan!

Club King Room

After spending the morning and early afternoon sightseeing, we were finally able to check in around 2:30 PM. There still weren’t any two twin rooms available. There are a very limited number of twin club rooms, and it was still going to be a wait. I ended up settling for a king plus sofa bed. We were given room 2107.

I’ve loved the aesthetic of every international Hyatt hotel I’ve visited. This one was no different.

A king club room is not especially big, but it is certainly comfortable. Besides the bed, there is a nice sitting area with a table and sofa.

The desk is nice and large, and there are plenty of outlets. All the outlets in the room were universal, which is a great feature. I’d only brought one adapter. The toy cars are not included.

I hardly notice hotel room art in general, but this piece popped out at me a bit more.

There is a selection of snacks and alcohol, as well as coffee and water. The former come at a cost while the latter are free. The Grand Hyatt rooms have Illy coffee machines that use the tiny pods.

The view wasn’t so bad either. We didn’t end up with a view of Taipei 101, but we could still see out across the skyline of Taiwan’s capital.

The note in our room informed us of an important detail during our stay. On Monday there would be an air raid drill, and we were to be inside. Even with the heads up, this ended up being a problem, and we were caught between sights and had to hole up in a random building with a public lobby. It would have been nicer to be stuck back at the Grand Hyatt for the half hour.

And On To The Bathroom

The bathroom is just as excellent as the room. It features a universal outlet, too, as well as a nice sink and a large metal box of pretty much any bathroom amenity you might have forgotten. You’ll probably find like five of whatever you need in there.

The bathtub is a decent size, and quite nice. My daughter complains if there isn’t a tub in the hotel. Neither my son nor I care. What I don’t like is an old, grungy tub/shower combo.

The shower and toilet are on the other side of the bathroom. The rain shower is fantastic. If we ever get to build our own house, one of these is going in.

The toilet, however, has altogether too many buttons. And the heated seat was quite the surprise! This is altogether too much fanciness. I would say I’m spoiled, but I would honestly rather have a normal bowl with a lever like, you know, normal everyday folks.

Here are the bath amenities, in case you are interested in that sort of thing. The only hotel shampoo I’ve ever fallen in love with is from the Park Hyatt Milan.

Overall, our room and bathroom at the Grand Hyatt Taipei were excellent. In addition to being a comfortable abode for two nights just based on those features, I also appreciated how well the blackout curtains kept the early morning light out. The climate control was also very quiet. One of my biggest complaints about older “nice” hotels in the U.S. is that the A/C is often quite loud. This was not the case here.

The Awesome Club Lounge

The Grand Club at the Grand Hyatt Tapiei is exactly that: rather grand. I’ve only been able to enjoy a few Hyatt Regency or Grand Hyatt lounges, so I’m really not sure how it compares to others. The cub at the Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing might beat this one, but its a close call.

There is a good amount of seating, with plenty of tables and seats near the windows. The lounge looks out to the south toward the hills.

Most of the food is located in the U-shaped area. The lounge offers breakfast in the morning, a light dinner and drinks in the evening, and snacks during the day. Even though we hadn’t yet checked in, the lady at the lounge desk let us grad a light breakfast before we headed out our first day.

The nightly happy hour offerings include salad and a few hot dishes. We just snacked our first night, as we’d eaten not too long before at the Ningxia night market. It was mainly for my son, as I’d eaten more delicious Taiwanese food than him. You gotta hit up the night markets in Taipei! Do NOT settle for onion rings and french fries in the Grand Club.

But I can’t knock the food entirely. There are a decent number of options during both dinner and breakfast.

The self serve bar in the evening has a small selection of wine and other spirits.

During the day the lounge only offers snacks and a few beverage options. We stopped in during our first day, as our room wasn’t ready. When they still didn’t have one after resting our feet for 30 minutes, that’s when I settled for the king room.

Just can’t say no to gummy bears!!

Breakfast in the Lounge

The Club Lounge at the Grand Hyatt Taipei offers a good breakfast. There is an omelet station where a friendly chef will make you eggs to order, and the other hot options include bacon and sausage, pancakes or waffles, and congee. Besides that, there are plenty of pastries. Other options include cold cuts, cheese, and even salad, if I recall.

It might not be the top hotel breakfast I’ve had, but it is among the better. Definitely glad that we burnt a Club Upgrade award here at the Grand Hyatt Taipei.

We enjoyed breakfast each morning with a view of the hills. Taiwan is quite a mountainous country, which makes for an awesome cityscape when the haze clears. I loved the views from nearby Taipei 101.

Other Grand Hyatt Taipei Facilities

Sadly (I think?), we never had the chance to visit the pool or exercise area. The Grand Hyatt Taipei has a nice outdoor pool. We were simply too busy to pencil it in. Typically, I like to plan some down time with my kids when we are traveling, but my son was a trooper through three straight days of exploring. We’d come so far, and I didn’t want to cut our time. Balance between what I like to do and what they like to do is an important consideration, though.

We didn’t eat at the hotel restaurant, either. With Grand Club access, there was no need. We could enjoy all our meals on the 22nd floor for free, so why pay? If you’re looking to eat on-property, the hotel has plenty of options. If you’re looking for a spa, the Grand Hyatt Taipei has you covered in this regard as well.

The hotel has a connecting walkway with nearby Taipei 101. You can be there in just a couple minutes. An MRT station is also a short walk away, providing easy access to pretty much everywhere else in Taipei. We found the public transportation to be cheap and convenient.

On our third day we checked out early and left our luggage with the front desk. This would give us all the flexibility we’d need to sight-see, while also allowing the hotel to clean the room early. I like to do this whenever possible, as opposed to using the late check out. With a 7:00 PM flight out of Songshan airport, we didn’t really need to take off for the airport until 4:30 PM.

Conclusion

Overall, we had an excellent stay at the Grand Hyatt Taipei. The rooms are very comfortable and appointed nicely, and I would happily stay here again in a heartbeat. Having Club access also really added to the value of our two award nights. My only complaint might be the lack of a room available by 2:30 PM, although this is technically still in advance of scheduled check-in time. The club king room worked for us, though.

Have you stayed at the Grand Hyatt Taipei? What are your thoughts about the hotel?