Posted Nov 12, 2021, 10:09 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,914
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https://thepointsguy.com/news/stayin...or-demolition/
Nothing ‘Grand’ about it; What it’s like to stay at a hotel that’s set for demolition
Nov 12, 2021
Clint Henderson
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The no-longer-grand Hyatt is set to be demolished. You can tell.
You may remember this monster Midtown property formally known as the Grand Hyatt New York. It’s right next door to Grand Central Station — a 1980s icon brought to life by a then-young Donald Trump in his first major Manhattan real estate deal.
The glass facade by architects Gruzen Samton and Der Scutt became a city hot spot. Over the years, the first Hyatt property in New York has seen many highs, but in 2019 it was announced the massive hotel would be torn down to make way for a brand-new mixed-use development, including a new skyscraper and a brand-new Grand Hyatt at 175 Park Avenue. The 83-story tall hotel complex would also make massive improvements to access to Grand Central Station.
In fact, the hotel was shuttered early in the pandemic, and the plan was to keep it closed until demolition time.
Enter the City of New York.
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The City passed a law that ordered any hotel that shut down during the pandemic and laid off more than 75% of their workers to either reopen and rehire those workers or pay $500 a week to those employees for at least six months.
The property decided it was cheaper to reopen than to pay out all that severance. Unfortunately, that also means it rebranded as a more generic Hyatt. Of course, TPG had to find out what exactly that entailed from a guest point of view. A work trip to Manhattan a week after it reopened was the perfect opportunity to see what it’s like staying in a hotel not long for this earth.
It went about as well as you’d expect. There is, indeed, nothing “grand” about this hotel anymore.
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The Hyatt is in a great New York City location connecting to the beautiful Grand Central Station. I walked in the grand lobby off the 42nd Street entrance to check-in at 5:32 p.m. and there was a long line. There was no separate line for elites. I ended up waiting about 15 minutes.
A young man behind me in line told me that he’d just checked in, but when he got to the room and used his key card to enter, he found the belongings of a woman inside the room. Uh-oh.
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The man who finally checked me in was great. He had literally just been called back to work two days before after a long furlough.
He confirmed to me the hotel reopened only because of that new city law, and said the hotel is supposed to be demolished sometime next year, but he said there is some rumblings that the plans are not firm.
He said only half of the rooms were occupied at the moment — about 700 of the 1,298 rooms.
He also said once the hotel does close for good, the current employees will be offered a severance package, or they can take a partial severance and will be called back to the new hotel once construction is completed.
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There is no club at this property, no daily housekeeping, no room service and no real amenities except for the gym. The concierge is also part-time only.
Essentially, it’s no longer a full-service property.
The Hyatt feels like the half-empty hotel it is right now. Once you leave the lobby, it’s a bit like a ghost hotel with empty hallways and random boxes in spots lining the walls. It definitely felt like I was the only guest on my floor. I didn’t hear or see anyone else on the 20th floor during my stay.
….. On my final morning at checkout, the woman who helped told me she’d take the “destination fee” off the bill. We chatted a bit and she also said they weren’t sure when the demolition of the hotel would actually happen since the plans appear to be changing.
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