Tony U.
Yelp
My stay here was frustrating. It had a lot of amazing qualities,but when it came to basic things, it failed and sincerely needs improvement for it to be 5 Stars.
When I think of a Five Star experience, I think of perfection. I didn't get that here.
First of all, I flew in from Tokyo, a very uncomfortable 6 hour plane flight and arrived in Singapore at midnight. When I checked in at the hotel, I was tired, exhausted and just wanted to get to my room. At midnight, despite getting full attention from the staff, it took more than 10 minutes to get me into my room which is just flat out unacceptable. To make matters worst, the staff seemed incompetent. The credit card used to charge my room is also a debit card and for some reason, the person behind the counter could not understand that debit cards can also be credit cards and must have selected the "debit" card option when swiping my credit card. When you check in at a hotel and the card is swiped as a debit card, an actual charge has to be taken from your card for incidentals (like a deposit). Then, when you check out, the card is then credited for the initial charge used.
At the Hyatt, for debit cards, a $400SING charge is made (about $300). The problem with that when swiped as a debit card, the process takes longer. Because this staff person saw my credit card and saw that the card said "debit card", they swiped my card as a debit card.
I am in hotels all the time and use my debit/credit card an 99 times out of 100, my card, at all hotel establishments, even in other hotels I've checked in at in Singapore, is swiped as a credit card, NOT A DEBIT CARD.
Because of this hassle, which could have been averted by the hotel staff, a lot of time got wasted. They also tried to argue back with me when I told them it was a credit card by telling me "well, the card says it's a debit card." This all would have been averted had they swiped my card as a credit card like most hotels/resorts do.
The whole incident was Third World to me. I've been in hotel all over the world and in those countries and never had a problem like this (including other hotels in Singapore).
After that snafu, they took a very long time choosing my room and asking me pointless questions like, "you want a non-smoking room?" Why the hell would I want a smoking room? I know I'm being picky, but I was tired and wanted to be in my room.
My guess is that the person at the counter was on their first day on the job. If that's the case, I understand, but to the Management of the Grand Hyatt: For late check ins, have an experienced person doing the checking in.
I mean, because this experience, I doubt I'll check into the Grand Hyatt Singapore again because there are other comparable resorts in Singapore that will have me in my room in 2 minutes.
After that, getting to the room was problematic. First the elevators were rather slow, even at midnight. Then when I got off at my floor, the room was a very long walk. Both of those aren't significant issues to me but at the time they bothered me because I was tired.
Once I got to my room, I will say that I was impressed. Super clean, a robe, soft, comfy disposable slippers, a huge, stylish room with complimentary water and all the things necessary so that I didn't have to open my luggage to find my own toothbrush. The bathroom had everything: toothpaste, mouthwash, shaving cream and a shaver, lotion, etc. Very nice.
The shower was huge and had this great rain forest feature where the water fell on you from the ceiling. Loved that. One thing I hated about the shower was the scrub for the body wash. It didn't lather the soap. It was a rough device more for rubbing off dead skin and not for cleaning. While that is ok, why not offer a sponge that lathers the soap too? I showered and practically got little soap on myself which was problematic. The vanity area was rather silly. You have a chair and the large space in front of the chair was a wall with tiny mirrors to the left and right side. That made no sense.
The king sized bed was very comfortable, BUT,, the mattress is too short. Anyone over 6 feet tall will have a problem. Also, the pillows were too puffy and didn't sink enough and weren't comfortable enough.
All in all, the Hyatt was good, but could have been much better. It seems like they have thought of all the sexy features needed for a hotel experience, but neglected on the practical needs LIKE the wi-fi which wasn't reliable here.
I will say that the room service was perfect. They cleaned the place up perfectly every time.
The checking out process, because they charged it like a debit card, took too long as well. Normally, checking out takes 30 seconds. It took 5 minutes getting out. Had I been late for a flight, that would've been a serious problem. Another reason why I might not consider staying here again.
Improve on checking in/out & u have a 5 star experience here.