What can you NY'ers tell me about the Grand
Hyatt NY? I think we are going to stay there,
I see it is right by Grand Central Station.
Is this a descent neighborhood? Don't know
anything about NYC. Is is convenient, is
it nice, safe, worth the 200 bucks a night?
Would the Helmsley or the Lucerne be better
for the money, or is location worth it?
PLEASE let me know, I have to get something
booked since I found real cheap airline tickets!!
Thanks!!

Grand Hyatt is in a fine neighborhood. Convenient to theater district, 5th Avenue and excellent public transportation.

Thanks rqf, but is it a nice hotel?
Worth the money?

The Grand Hyatt is an excellent hotel. It's where the away teams stay during the baseball season so you know it's good. The neighborhood is rather quiet though. Most businesses on that side of town shut down early and there's not a whole lot to do for late evening entertainment east of 5th Avenue. If you can live with that, it's a great choice.

Oh my god! I will definately be staying
there now, knowing the baseball teams stay there!!!!!!!!!!!That is why we are
coming to ny, is to see a mets game!!
Thanks for the GREAT news! You made up my mind!
THANKS

Have you checked quikbook.com for hotel deals? You might be able to get the Hyatt (or another very nice hotel) for less than $200/night

Laure, are you serious? If you're not being sarcastic, make sure you hang out at the hotel bar after the game and you'll be able to meet several players from the other team. Who are the Mets playing then, anyway?

$200 for the Hyatt is okay, not the greatest deal, but okay. The location is superb; the hotel has all the amenities one would expect of a flagship property. However, it's very, very big, and we found the front desk to be really annoying when it came to rooms being ready, even in the evening - lots of people (us included) had to wait up to 4 hours (7-11 PM) for rooms which were supposed to be available at 3 PM. People were missing theater or dinner reservations, jet-lagged Euros dozing in the lobby - inexcusable IMO for a class joint like the Hyatt. Customer service from the desk staff was nonexistant, we finally managed to score a comped room service dinner in our (non) nonsmoking room by getting macho with the concierge, otherwise the best they would do for us was a free drink in the lobby bar ($8 Cosmopolitan - take that.)

So come armed with a little NYC attitude and you ought to enjoy your stay there just fine.

Thanks for all the great info on this.
And yes I am totally serious about the
baseball thing. Main reason we are coming. I don't know who the mets play
that week, I am still waiting for the
schedule to come out to make the reservations!! Not coming till i'm sure
they are in town that week! So the other teams hang in the bars there huh?
Very interesting! Thanks

Excuse me,John, you say you got a free meal by getting macho with the concierge,and yet you advise to come "armed with a little New York attitude"??
Where did your attitude come from?
My friends and I who live here in NYC, have never had the occasion to score free meals with our attitudes, maybe that would be a "Johns hometown" attitude..

Hey, attitude - no offense intended. I heart NYC. The full Hyatt story is longer and actually worse than I related above, and it was my early reluctance to speak up that resulted in a rotten night for my wife and me. So I'll just advise Laure to be assertive, whether it's NYC assertive or El Lay passive aggressive. For a prepaid $200 your room ought to be ready, right?

Stayed at the Hyatt-rate with airline-have noticed it even cheaper on other webs. It is a great place to stay-beautiful hotel. Found the staff to be very nice,although it is a large hotel. We ejoyed Grand Central Station next door to catch subway -neat shops and places to eat in Grand Central Station.

If I might put my 2 cents in here,John --I have spent twice the $200 for a room that was not ready and did not feel the need to respond with attitudes nor did I require compensation..sometimes when traveling, things are not exactly on time,finished,ready,to your liking..that is life, so instead of advising others to be aggressive/macho/assertive-try advising to "roll with the punches"..Most people know that hotels are dealing with high volume and many demands, we cannot all expect them to be right on time and waiting at the door for us ....

I personally think that there are much better hotels of greater value if you want to be near Times Square/ Theater district. Although this hotel is generally quite good and is in a safe location on the east side, it is a long walk to Times Square. Although you can easily access the West Side with the Subway, i think that there are now many specials for great West Side hotels that will put you in the middle of everything.

As far as the baseball angle goes, yes it's absolutely true. An out of town friend, a huge baseball fan connected with the (dreaded) Braves turned me on to this. Met (and chatted) with several of the dreaded ones -- and it wasn't just players, the announcers and GM were there too. If you know what the other team looks like in street clothes you can have a fun time.

Of course you could always stay somewhere less expensive and just visit the bar area after the game...