I recently had a one night stay at a property I used to use a great deal, the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.

Well located on Union Square for shopping and China Town, it is only a 10 minute walk to the BART station with direct service to San Francisco Airport. I have written before about a suite upgrade which I used for an upgrade. However, this stay booked in to a normal room and I thought you might like to know what this is like. I think my Diamond status got me a nice corner room overlooking Union Square.

I arrived early but my room was not ready so I popped out to Macys and the hotel called me once my room was ready. One of the agents at Check-in who was on duty when I arrived was a familiar face. We’ve known each other since I first came to stay here. I always like it when a property makes you feel welcome, and we chatted for a few minutes – how long we’ve known each other, thinking about retirement and our plans for the years until then. It did feel like being home.

I hopped the lift to my floor, which was the same as the Grand Club – always nice!

The room had a King Bed and is a renovated room. Although I used to love the old rooms, they felt almost like home at one point, these are much fresher and feel modern. The bed was comfortable and the room clean and bright. The electronic shades kept the room quiet, although solar gain made it pretty hot on the sunny days I was there.

And the comfy chair:

The bathroom featured a shower but no tub. The large new sink is nice, but mine had a major crack in it. There was plenty of hot water when I needed it and towels in the bathroom. (Anyone else wish Hyatt would use slightly larger bath towels, or is it just me?)

The Grand Club at this property is fairly small although it has great views of the city as it has large windows on two sides.

 

Views toward Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz are spectacular from the lounge. If you can snag a window seat you get to watch a beautiful city from a unique vantage point.

In the ‘old’ days the Regency Club was on the 34th floor and had similar views. It had a nice atmosphere where as now it seems so many people have access that a quiet drink watching the sun set over the city isn’t an option. People hover to get chairs and tables and you feel rushed. It is shame but I guess it is a factor of the pace of life, number of elite members and properties managing to sell the service.

The staff were universally friendly, as I always find them. It was nice to see that some of the doormen are still there, probably 15 years after my first stay.