These two nights in New York were both stayed by LD himself, and the experience was written entirely by LD. His writing is naturally much better than mine, so I hope everyone enjoys it. This post focuses on the Hyatt Regency Jersy City that LD was very satisfied with, and then briefly mentions HGU New York under SLH.

Introduction to Hyatt Regency Jersey City

Hyatt Regency Jersey City faces Manhattan across the river. Its location is safe and convenient, right next to the PATH station at Exchange Place, and it’s only 10 minutes to the World Trade Center. Because it’s along the river, stepping outside means you’re right by the waterfront, and on nice days you can take a walk while watching the sunset, which feels very pleasant. Overall, it was a great stay, and it’s a good choice if you’re visiting New York or New Jersey.

Redemption

This booking used the FN from the Chase World of Hyatt credit card. The room rate at the time of booking was $300+, and even if booked with 15,000 points, it would still have been a very good value. This hotel is one of the three hotels near Manhattan that can be booked with an FN. The other two are the Hyatt House Jersey City next to it and Gild Hall a Thompson Hotel near Wall Street.

Although I’m only at the lowest member tier, I was very generously upgraded to a City View room at check-in. However, since breakfast wasn’t included, I can’t review that part for everyone here.

Hotel entrance and lobby

After getting off the PATH, the hotel is easy to spot, and check-in is on the second floor.

Guest room

When you open the door, there’s a full wall mirror right in front of you, which makes the already spacious entryway feel even longer. Turning left into the room, the first thing you see is the shimmering Hudson River and Manhattan in the distance. The view is unbeatable, and there’s even an unidentified large bird that likes to perch on the balcony. As for the room itself,

The king bed was soft and comfortable, and the extra-long desk made working easy. On the mini bar counter sat a coffee machine and Starbucks coffee. The room also had an extra-long sofa where you could curl up and rest, listen to music, read, or just stare out the window and daydream. The other amenities were also very complete, except there were no slippers =.=

The welcome gift was very sincere, and the overall impression was perfect.

The bathroom was also fully equipped. The toiletries were from Pharmacopia; I wasn’t familiar with the brand, but they were pretty good. And, there was toothpaste! A whole large tube of toothpaste! That’s practically a breath of fresh air in the U.S. hotel world.

Gym and pool

The gym and pool are on the first floor. I heard they face Manhattan directly and have a great view, but it looks like I didn’t capture that effect in the photos.

Introduction to HGU New York and stay experience

Since I had a very good experience at Hotel Éclat Beijing before, I wanted to try more SLH properties. For the booking method, I used the Hotels.com 10 Nights Get 1 Free offer introduced in KUKU’s previous article, and the room rate that day was $170+. Because this was a third-party booking, there were no elite benefits at all, and no breakfast either. The hotel is a Cat 5 property, requiring 20,000 points for an award stay, which is very poor value and not recommended for points redemption.

The hotel is located in Ktown, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in New York, with very convenient transportation (the 6 train is right outside), lots of activity, and Korean food everywhere as soon as you step out the door—a paradise for food lovers. But the price of that unbeatable location is that the room is really, really small (of course, part of that was because I didn’t get upgraded). The hotel probably doesn’t have many rooms either; from a quick glance at the floor I stayed on, there seemed to be only about ten rooms? The elevator is a bit old, but the stairs are kind of fun—the spiral, winding design looks cool, though it’s tiring to walk up and down.

The hotel’s overall design feels rather dated (or maybe it really is old...). From the website, the exterior isn’t especially eye-catching and blends perfectly into New York’s old streetscape, like one of the many galleries in New York waiting for you to push the door open and walk in.

Once you open the room door, the view is basically just a bed. One side has a bedside table, and the other side has a small vanity desk. The bed is covered with a black blanket, giving it the thick, weighty feel of old New York from the movies. The refrigerator and mini bar are both hidden inside the closet, making excellent use of the limited space. Outside the window is an air shaft, so there’s no street view, which makes the room feel a bit cramped. It also poured rain in New York on the day I checked in, so watching the heavy rain in the air shaft had its own appeal. The bathroom is a very simple tiled space—clean and understated. The toiletries are large bottles fixed to the wall inside the bathtub area, and as usual there were no slippers and no toothpaste =. = (There was also no kettle. After asking the front desk without success, they said they could send some hot water, but in the end it never arrived...)

The morning call was very diligent. In the morning, half asleep, I kept hearing a young lady come by every so often to wake up the neighbors. The first time, because the soundproofing was poor, I thought she was knocking on my door, so I yelled and rushed over to open it. It turned out she was knocking on the room diagonally across from mine, and she gave me a look like she had seen a ghost...

Conclusion

Overall, I highly recommend Hyatt Regency Jersey City. Although it’s not on the island, it’s convenient to get to, has beautiful views, and the rooms are likely much larger than those on the island, making it worth redeeming with an FN or points. HGU New York is much less impressive. It has its strengths, but also plenty of drawbacks, so I wouldn’t recommend using points for this hotel.