While visiting New York for New Year’s Eve, I stayed at the Wall Street Hyatt Andaz. On this trip I also visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and downtown New York. I chose to stay at this particular hotel during my second night in New York because of its proximity to the Statue of Liberty and the fact that I was able to take advantage of Hyatt’s Best Price Guarantee. I’ve previously wrote about how you can get up to 25% off a published room rate by taking advantage of a hotel’s Best Price Guarantee. I successfully invoked that policy here.
Booking the Hotel
Hyatt usually lists the price of the Wall Street Hyatt Andaz at $149+ and the cheapest time to book appears to be 1-2 weeks in advance, but you’ll want to check this yourself before booking. Since I wanted to book the room on a higher priced evening, New Year’s day, the price was listed at $180 on Hyatt’s website. Expedia ended up running a sale for $155 so I immediately took a screenshot of this price. After booking the room on Hyatt for $167, I filled out Hyatt’s Best Price Guarantee form. They emailed me that my claim was denied because they could not open the picture I submitted (a JPEG) but I could email them the image file. After emailing the image file, my claim was approved. I paid approximately $125 for this room.
But it gets better! Hyatt accidentally sent me two room confirmation emails–one for a standard king and one for a large Andaz king. The large Andaz king is a nicer room so I flagged this inconsistency to the attention of the nice lady who checked me in. She apologized for the confusion and gave me a complimentary upgrade to the large Andaz king. The large Andaz king typically costs $169+, but that day it was listed at over $200.
Finding the hotel was harder than I expected. The grey flags say “Andaz,” if you were wondering.
The Room
The room (large king) was truly the highlight of the hotel. Aside from a complimentary upgrade that I unexpectedly received at the new JW Marriott in Houston, this was the nicest hotel room I’ve ever seen. It is worth mentioning that there were a few areas of obvious wear in the room, scuffs on the wall and worn down corners.
The wifi clocked in at 46.46 Mbps download rate and 26.25 Mbps upload rate, more than sufficient for watching Netflix.
I’m 6′ 2″ and I could fully submerge myself in this tub. There was a glass wall (no curtain) between the tub/ shower and the bedroom.
The sink area was surrounded by mirrors and doors separated it from the toilet and tub/shower areas.
This view was my best attempt to show the shower area as seen from the bedroom. The tub and shower were included in the same room which was an impressive set up. The shower had a large rain head and jets on the side. I made the mistake of turning on the jets mid-shower and was briefly blasted with freezing water.
The bed was excellent, no complaints here. A fairly complex lighting system can be controlled from the switch to the right of the bed. Easy to reach 110v plugs are available on each side of the bed.
The closet, located between the bedroom and the sink, rotated. This side shows the free snacks (the alcohol was not free) and the comfy robe.
A desk with plentiful plugs. One of my biggest gripes with Hilton’s Tru brand that targets millennials is its lack of desks. This desk is small but sufficient for me to answer emails or spread out paper document while traveling.
The closet contains another comfy robe, comfy matching slippers, ironing board, and iron. Of course I tried out the robe and slippers.
Everything except the alcohol was complimentary. There was sparkling water in the fridge.
The soap, lotion, shampoo, and conditioner.
Amenities
The building had amenities that included a gym and complimentary coffee and cookies in the lobby. The gym was underground and empty when I worked out in the evening.
It’s a little dark but there are dumbbells in the back room. 50 lbs max.
The lobby was crowded so I snapped a picture with my aging cell phone. The coffee exceeded my expectations and I would say that it was better than Starbucks. While I was looking forward to eating cookies for breakfast, Hyatt switched out the complimentary cookies for muffin tops.
Conclusion
For its value, the Hyatt Andaz is my new favorite hotel chain. I would not pay $200 per night for this room but if the price is right I’ll likely stay here when I return to New York.
How was the “free mini-bar?” They advertise that heavily but when I have experience I was underwhelmed. I am surprised they accepted the screen shot as the evidence of the lower rate? I typically get push back saying they cannot verify the rate online. Even if you still see it. That is awesome it worked out for you.
Not everyone accepts a screenshot but Hyatt apparently does. I only drank the sparking water but I would definitely have preferred a more extensive mini-bar.
The Andaz Wall Street is tired and old, and located far away from the better parts of NYC, being that it is in Wall Street, and not near any convenient subway stops. After staying there for a couple of days, decided I will not return, even for the $100ish rates.