Tagging Miles

Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei

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We were excited to have the chance to stay at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, as we’ve enjoyed many of the other Grand Hyatt properties across Asia, like the Grand Hyatt Tokyo and Grand Hyatt Singapore. But I have to say, this hotel was just a little different.

Arriving at the Grand Hyatt Taipei

Grand Hyatt Taipei

Arriving at the Grand Hyatt Taipei

The lobby was airy and very open.

Grand Hyatt Taipei Lobby

Grand Hyatt Taipei Lobby

Grand Hyatt Taipei Lobby

Grand Hyatt Taipei Lobby Check-in

Of course, we were whisked up to the Grand Club for check-in.

Unfortunately, our room wasn’t ready — we had arrived into Taipei at 6am, and made good time, so it was not even 9am when we had gotten to the hotel. So we were invited to enjoy breakfast in the lounge. This wasn’t ideal, but, it was certainly comfortable.

Breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Taipei’s Grand Club

The spread was reasonable – perhaps not as exhaustive as some hotels, but certainly more than sufficient.

Grand Hyatt Taipei Grand Hyatt Taipei

The Room at the Grand Hyatt Taipei

When we finally got to the room–after a short breakfast–we were happy to the space.

Grand Hyatt Taipei Sitting Room

Sitting Room

Grand Hyatt Taipei Sitting Room

Sitting Room

There was a wall separating the sitting area and the bedroom.

Grand Hyatt Taipei Bedroom Room

Bedroom

There was a nice sized television too. 

Grand Hyatt Taipei Bedroom Room

Bedroom 

Grand Hyatt Taipei

Control Panel by the bed

The bathroom was well adorned as well.

Grand Hyatt Taipei Sink

Sink

Grand Hyatt Taipei Sink Amenities

Sink Amenities

Grand Hyatt Taipei Shower

Shower

Grand Hyatt Taipei Bathtube

Bathtub

Overall, we found the room to be comfortable, and more than sufficient for our two night stay in Taipei.

Evening Drinks at the Grand Club

One thing that we tend to enjoy, is spending our evenings at the Grand Club. I realize that we’re missing out on some of the nightlight, but it always ends up being a relaxing environment to talk about the day, plan for the next day, and catch up on e-mail (a necessary evil).

Evening snacks at the Grand Hyatt Taipei's Grand Club

Evening snacks at the Grand Club

Evening snacks at the Grand Hyatt Taipei's Grand Club

Evening snacks at the Grand Club

Grand Hyatt Taipei

Conclusion

Overall, the hotel was more than satisfactory. I thought the Grand Club was great, although as I went through my photos, I missed the little kitchen area that they would prepare omelettes in the morning and warm dishes in the evening. The location wasn’t perfect, its in the business district, but, I really found the city to be walkable, and certainly hospitable, so the location was more than fine. The hotel had all the amenities you’d expect for either a vacation or a business trip.

Weekend in Taipei: Introduction

By 2 Comments

  • Weekend in Taipei: Introduction
  • Review: Eva Air 777-300ER Houston to Taipei
  • Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei
  • Weekend in Taipei: Touring Taipei
  • Weekend in Taipei: Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Taipei to Hong Kong
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Chicago
  • Weekend in Taipei: Conclusion

To set the stage, I was yearning to get on a plane. It was the end of October, and I hadn’t been on a true long haul flight since the end of July. The end of July! I was getting stircrazy. Searching the British Airways Search tool, Searching United.com, Searching ExpertFlyer, searching for flights someplace that we could do a reasonable visit of in no more than 2 days off of work.

I was originally looking to go to Cambodia, but the flights just didn’t want to line up. I also really, really wanted to fly EVA Air. So, rather than make things complicated—as I am known to do—I decided to go the simple path. EVA Air is one of Taiwan’s more widely known airlines, they are a Star Alliance member, which meant I could redeem some Ultimate Rewards points via United, or Membership Rewards points via Aeroplan, or nearly any transferrable currency via Singapore KrisFlyer.

My next concern was where to stay. Despite the World of Hyatt news, this frequent leisure traveler is determined to requalify Diamond and become a Globalist—I think I’m going to put that on my business card. So, my next concern was that the Grand Hyatt Taipei was rumored to be haunted. How appropriate that we were staying there over Halloween weekend!

A quick turn to the Oracle of Twitter allayed my concerns.

Weekend in Taipei

Next, I needed to get home. A week earlier, my wife had jumped at the chance to fly Cathay Pacific First Class, we had done that last year and very much enjoyed it. Alas, that space was phantom, but, I ended up finding space in the 4 days between when we booked Business Class, and left. I only found 1 seat though, and ExpertFlyer was showing F2 (and went down to F1, meaning Cathay Pacific was only selling 1 seat in First Class). I put my wife up in First and accepted my likely fate in Business Class.

Alas, the day before we were due to leave, I took to twitter on my T-Mobile Apple iPhone 6, and low and behold, the American Air team was awesome, just proving that if you don’t ask, you don’t know.

Overall, the trip was a great weekend, if only 50 hours on the ground in Taipei, it was well worth the miles, and proved to be a very memorable trip. 

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