Last week I posted the details of Hyatt’s first quarter promotion, which offers bonus points for Hyatt stays through April 30, with the following bonus rates:

So basically if you spend 16 nights at Hyatt hotels between now and April 30 you would earn 44,000 bonus Gold Passport points. Beyond that, those with the Hyatt Chase Visa card (all that matters is that you have the card — you don’t have to use it for your stays) earn an additional 1,000 bonus points for staying four nights, 2,000 bonus points for staying eight nights, 3,000 bonus points for staying 12 nights, and 5,000 bonus points for staying 16 nights.

Registration is now open through March 31, so be sure to register at your earliest convenience.

Posted on February 1st, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Hyatt | 2 Comments »

When I arrived at the Park Hyatt Shanghai on Friday, my bedroom looked like this:

Today I went to the gym, and upon my return my bedroom looked like this:

Hey, better than my ticket being canceled, though anyone want to play Scooby Doo and guess what happened?

Certainly one of the few not fun parts of being a travel blogger! Though I did find it ever-so-slightly comical.

Posted on January 28th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels, Hyatt | 28 Comments »

I’m told that in the housing market there are three things that are important to buyers — location, location, and location. Well, in the afternoon tea market, there are also three things that are important — view, view, and view.

Yesterday I met a blog reader and in addition to exploring the city for a while, we had afternoon tea in the 87th floor lobby lounge at the Park Hyatt Shanghai.

While afternoon tea was rather expensive (not as bad as at the Burj Al Arab, but still), it was well worth it given the panoramic views of Shanghai from the lounge. To say the views were heavenly would be an understatement. Here are just a few pictures:


Afternoon tea


View in one direction


View in another direction

Posted on January 28th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels, Hyatt | 22 Comments »

This was a first for me. It’s my first morning in Shanghai and before touring the city I figured I’d do a quick hotel tour to get some pictures. All was well till I made it to the pool, where the employee informed me “I’m so sorry, but you can’t take any pictures of the pool or gym unless you’re in them.” Fair enough, though there wasn’t a single person at the pool or gym, so if their goal is to protect peoples’ privacy, there really wasn’t a need for it.

So given what she said I responded with “okay, do you mind taking my picture then?” And she proceeded to snap pictures of me at the pool, at the hot tub, and in the gym. I always stood in the sides of the pictures so I could crop myself out, and she kept suggesting I move to the center of the pictures.

So apologies in advance for the lack of quality pictures of what may very well be the most stunning pool I’ve ever seen. I’ll probably go back later with my iPhone…

Has anyone run into a similar situation at a hotel?


Park Hyatt Shanghai exterior

Posted on January 27th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels, Hyatt | 17 Comments »

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

Before this trip, the Park Hyatt Tokyo was on my top five list of hotels I desperately wanted to stay at. Like everyone else, it’s due in part to the movie “Lost in Translation,” which is largely filmed at this hotel.

It has been a while since I’ve been to Tokyo, so when the opportunity presented itself to spend a couple of nights here there wasn’t even a question as to where we’d be staying. I booked the hotel just a couple of days before our arrival for 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points per night, which was a complete bargain compared to the revenue rate of $600USD+ per night.

I emailed the hotel the day before our arrival to request early check-in, given that our flight was arriving so in the morning. They emailed me back within a couple of hours to say they’d do everything in their power to ensure a room was available, though couldn’t guarantee it.

After a 90 minute ride on the “Friendly Airport Limousine” we pulled up to the Park Hyatt, where we were immediately helped by a host. She crossed my name off the arrivals list and assisted us with our bags. You have to love Japan hospitality, because this lady was probably 5’3″ and 100 pounds, yet insisted on rolling my carry-on for me, despite not being motivated by tips.


Hotel entrance


Park Hyatt Tokyo


Entrance


Elevator to 41st floor

The lobby of the hotel is actually on the 41st floor, so the host took the elevator up there with us. Upon exiting the elevator we were in the rather airy lobby area, which is where the lobby lounge is located.


Lobby bar

We were then escorted past the hotel’s French restaurant, Girandole, and through the library, to the reception area.


Library

At reception, our arrivals host handed us over to the agent that would be checking us in, who immediately escorted us to our room.


Reception


Hallway

Our room was a Park Deluxe room on the 48th floor.


Room entrance

The room featured a hallway, which led to the bed, seating area, and desk.


Hallway


Park Deluxe room


Desk and TV console


TV

Next to the flat screen TV was the Diamond welcome amenity, which were some sort of rice cakes, I think. I couldn’t decide whether they tasted like chocolate or barbeque sauce.


Diamond welcome amenity


Diamond welcome amenity

In the drawer below that was a tea set, and in the drawer above it was liquor.


Tea


Nice setup


Desk

The room featured amazing views of Tokyo, including Mount Fuji in the distance.


View from room


View from room


View from room at night

The bathroom was also large, featuring a tub, shower, sink, and high tech toilet with more buttons than an Airbus 380 cockpit.


Bathroom


Tub


Shower


Toilet


Closet

While the room wasn’t quite as modern as some other Park Hyatts (like the Park Hyatt Seoul), I thought it was tastefully decorated and huge by Japanese standards.

The agent quickly processed our check-in, explained the amenities of the hotel and Diamond benefits (free breakfast, free internet, complimentary access to the spa, etc.).

But what impressed me most, as I wrote about here, is the fact that there was a continental breakfast on the desk waiting for us, consisting of mango juice, pastries, and muesli. The agent said “we knew you had a long flight from Frankfurt, so figured you might enjoy a light breakfast.” It’s entirely minor, but this attention to detail is what separates a good hotel from a great hotel. So huge kudos to the hotel for this.


Continental breakfast

As I mentioned earlier, as a Diamond member we received complimentary breakfast in Girandole, the hotel’s French restaurant, which is served daily from 7AM to 11AM.


Restaurant


Restaurant

We had the buffet for free, along with eggs however we’d like them. The buffet itself wasn’t all that extensive, certainly not like the Le Meridien Bangkok, but it was still good. Then again, I don’t necessarily expect an outrageously huge buffet in a luxury Japanese hotel, but rather a smaller and high quality buffet, which it certainly was.


Buffet


Buffet


Buffet

The most impressive part of the dining experience was when a waiter that I hadn’t previously interacted with brought me my omelet and addressed me by name. I’ve never had my waiter address me by name, let alone one I hadn’t interacted with. Amazing.


Omelet

As a Diamond member you can also have room service breakfast instead, which we had the second morning. We had to leave the hotel at 6:30AM to catch our flight and the restaurant wasn’t open yet, so we ordered room service for 5:30AM. Sure enough at exactly 5:30AM there was a knock on our door. The quality of the food was excellent.


Room service breakfast

The coolest part of the hotel has to be the pool and gym, though, located on the 47th floor. Not only did they boast fantastic views, but the service was more attentive than in first class on most airlines.


Pool


Gym


View from pool

As a Diamond member I also had complimentary access to the spa, including the pretty impressive whirlpools they have. It really is a nice facility, though it’s worth noting that nudity is required. I’m used to the option, but it’s the first I’ve been told word-for-word “please take your clothes off.” Hopefully I didn’t run into any of you guys there!

The first night we were tired pretty early so went to dinner at Girandole, the same place breakfast was served. We should have probably gone to the iconic New York Grill, but I didn’t feel like dropping $300USD+ on a dinner when I was dead tired. Then again, dropping $150USD+ on dinner isn’t much better, though it is Tokyo we’re talking about, so…

The service in the restaurant was hilariously Japanese. They followed the same procedure every time they served anything. Even if it was just a fork, they would place it on the tray, place the tray on the serving station (sliding it on there as if it somehow “latches”), and then walk the item over to our table. So inefficient, yet so consistent.

My Diet Coke with lime cost a mere $12USD, so you can bet I enjoyed every last sip of it (no free refills, after all).

The meal came with bread, which, given the cost of food, was a blessing (and they even had free refills). ;)


Bread

As a starter I had the soup of the day, which was a corn chowder.

For the main course I had the tagliatelle bolognese, which was fairly tasty.


My main

My friend had the lamb chop, which he enjoyed as well.


Friend’s main

For dessert we shared creme brulee, which was delicious.


Dessert

Anyway, I have nothing but positive things to say about this hotel. While the facilities are very nice, it’s the service that sets this place apart. I don’t think I’ve ever received such personalized and sincere service at any hotel anywhere. The next time I’m in Tokyo I’ll return to the Park Hyatt without thinking twice.

One thing to keep in mind is that while a standard room is 22,000 points per night, a suite is only 33,000 points per night. While it might not be needed given how big the Park Deluxe rooms are, it would be pretty cool, and at only a 50% premium is a good value in my book. The only restriction is that you can only redeem for suites for a minimum of three nights.

Posted on January 26th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels, Hyatt, Travel, Trip Reports | 43 Comments »

Unlike the cool kids I’m not at the OneWorld Mega Do. I’m not actually sure why I didn’t go (I guess I’m not cool enough), though I’m quickly starting to regret it. That’s not preventing me from following along, though, and passing along things I see that might be useful.

It looks like Hyatt unveiled the details of their first quarter Gold Passport promotion at the launch party this evening. The Points Guy Tweets:

So based on what he wrote along with the attached photo, it looks like Hyatt’s first quarter promotion will run from February 1 through April 30, 2102, and look as follows:

Stay 4 Nights, Earn 4,000 Bonus Points (1,000 Bonus Points with Hyatt Visa)
Stay 8 Nights, Earn 8,000 Bonus Points (2,000 Bonus Points with Hyatt Visa)
Stay 12 Nights, Earn 12,000 Bonus Points (3,000 Bonus Points with Hyatt Visa)
Stay 16 Nights, Earn 20,000 Bonus Points (5,000 Bonus Points with Hyatt Visa)

That means that without the Hyatt Visa you’re looking at 44,000 bonus Gold Passport points for 16 nights (not 16 stays), which translates to 2,750 bonus Gold Passport points per night. With the Hyatt Visa you’re looking at 55,000 bonus Gold Passport points for 16 nights, or ~3,400 bonus points per night.

This promotion is by no means earth shattering (after all, historically Hyatt is the king of earth shattering promotions with their faster free nights promo that they used to run annually), though I’d say it’s actually the best first quarter promotion offered by any hotel program. The other program I’m loyal to, Starwood, is offering double base points of stays of two nights and triple base points on stays of three nights. You’d have to have some pretty expensive stays to come out ahead with that promotion vs. Hyatt’s.

If you mattress run strategically this promotion can actually work out pretty well. For example, my local Hyatt often has rates of around $100 per night, and the club lounge is closed on weekends. When you’re a Diamond member and stay over the weekend when the club lounge is closed, you get 2,500 bonus Gold Passport points. That means I’d be earning 2,750 bonus points per night through this promotion, 2,500 points for the club lounge being closed, 1,000 points as my Diamond welcome amenity, and then maybe 650 base points, for roughly 7,000 Gold Passport points for a one night mattress run. Not great, but not bad either for someone that needs to requalify for Diamond status.

I’ll gladly knock out a dozen stays with a deal like that.

What do you guys think? Happy with the promotion? Will it drive any additional business to Hyatt? Or do you prefer Starwood’s promotion?

Posted on January 25th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Hyatt | 35 Comments »

Through March 15, 2012, Hyatt is offering a bonus on the purchase of Gold Passport points, as follows:

Purchasing 1,000 – 9,000 points earns a 10% bonus
Purchasing 10,000 – 29,000 points earns a 20% bonus
Purchasing 30,000 – 40,000 points earns a 30% bonus

Points usually sell for 2.4 cents each, and you can purchase a maximum of 40,000 points per calendar year.

With this bonus you can purchase a total of 52,000 Gold Passport points for $960, for a cost of ~1.85 cents per point. If you’re planning on redeeming at a high end property, that’s not a half bad deal.

Hyatt’s most expensive properties go for 22,000 points per night, so at that rate you’re looking at $400 per night for the Park Hyatts in Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Maldives, etc. That’s a pretty spectacular deal, given that revenue rates are often double that. I’m not saying everyone should go out and buy 52,000 points through this promotion, though if you have a specific use in mind, this could be a very good deal.

Posted on January 20th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Hyatt | 20 Comments »

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

Back in May I had the opportunity to fly first class on the Qantas Airbus 380 (see this trip report), and ever since I’ve been obsessed. I remember first seeing pictures of the Airbus 380 when it was in production and thinking “okay, what’s the big deal?” It wasn’t until after I flew it that I realized just how passenger-friendly the plane is. Not only is it spacious and does it usually have cutting edge first class products, but what really sets it apart for me is how quiet the plane is and the awesome tail camera, which takes the flying experience to a whole new level.

The thing is, I’m not just obsessed with first class, miles, and travel, but my first passion was actually aviation and planes. I started working on my private pilot’s license at the age of 14, and my love for planes hasn’t died off one bit since.

So I’ve made it a personal mission to stalk fly the Airbus 380 every opportunity I get, at least in a premium cabin. Hell, if there were an Airbus 380 with first class award availability flying to Topeka with a forced six day layover I’d take it in a heartbeat.

Which brings me to this trip. With the exception of Qantas, no airline consistently releases first class award space on the Airbus 380 to partner loyalty programs. That doesn’t stop me from looking hourly every now and then to see if there’s a mistake or change in policy. During one of my late night sessions with the ANA tool and Continental award search tool, I happened to stumble upon some Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class award space between Frankfurt and Tokyo. It was a complete coincidence, though woke me up pretty quickly. I was actually shocked to see that most dates in late December and early January had multiple first class award seats on the Airbus 380.

I assumed it was a glitch, so opened a different browser to verify availability with ANA, Aeroplan, and Continental. Yep, the space was actually there.

Now, admittedly there’s probably a reason there was first class award space to Tokyo right after Christmas — Tokyo isn’t exactly the warmest place that time of year. But still, this trip was about the Airbus 380, and even if it would be cold in Tokyo, I’d deal with it and still enjoy the city.

After playing around with availability I found a flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo with first class award space, and then two days after arriving a flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt with first class award space. Since there were two seats, I convinced a friend to come along.

I should mention that this all occurred just three days before departure, so there wasn’t all that much time to plan. Now the challenge became finding award space between the US and Germany. Since I was only planning a few days in advance I was confident the space would open up, as Lufthansa is great about opening up unsold first class seats to awards last minute. So for the time being I just held the flights between Frankfurt and Tokyo using US Airways miles. They allow a three day courtesy hold, so I left the reservation like that until Christmas Day, the day before I knew we’d have to depart.

And sure enough, award space did open up that day between the US and Europe. For the outbound, Swiss had space between Chicago and Zurich in first class (their new product no less!), while Lufthansa opened up award space from Frankfurt to Orlando for the return. I really lucked out with that, since US Airways doesn’t allow any changes after the original departure flight, and that return award space opened up literally the night before I was leaving. The stars had aligned and it was meant to be… or something like that.

In the end my itinerary looked as follows:

12/26 Swiss 9 Chicago to Zurich departing at 7:10PM and arriving at 10:55AM (+1 day)
12/27 Lufthansa 1191 Zurich to Frankfurt departing at 1:45PM and arriving at 2:50PM
12/28 Lufthansa 710 Frankfurt to Tokyo departing at 1:25PM and arriving at 8:35AM (+1 day)
12/31 Lufthansa 711 Tokyo to Frankfurt departing at 10:25AM and arriving at 2:15PM
01/01 Lufthansa 464 Frankfurt to Orlando departing at 1:35PM and arriving at 5:55PM

Given that we were looking at travel the day after Christmas, it’s no surprise that there was no award space to Chicago. However, as some of you may remember, I was 13 miles short of requalifying for Executive Platinum with American, so this worked out perfectly. While American charged $200 for the one-way ticket from Tampa to Chicago, it was well worth it to lock in Executive Platinum status for the following year.

My favorite thing about the whole trip was the cost. I used just 120,000 US Airways miles, which I had purchased through one of their mileage purchase promotions for under $1,800. Taxes and fees were roughly $200, so I paid about $2,000 for four longhaul international first class segments on some of my favorite airlines, including two on the Airbus 380. I always live in fear of US Airways devaluing their award chart, so this was a nice way to burn some miles guilt free.

As far as hotels go, in Tokyo I redeemed 22,000 Gold Passport points per night for the Park Hyatt Tokyo — an absolute no brainer, given the number of good things I’ve heard about this place (and it didn’t disappoint). We also had two overnights in Frankfurt, one in each direction. I decided to book the InterContinental for our outbound stay at a rate of 107 Euros, and the Westin Grand Frankfurt on the return at a rate of 129 Euros.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy, and see you in Chicago tomorrow.

Posted on January 13th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Hotels, Hyatt, Lufthansa, Priority Club, Travel, US Airways | 30 Comments »

Introduction
Etihad Check-in & The Lounge JFK
Etihad Airways First Class New York to Abu Dhabi
Park Hyatt Dubai
Exploring Dubai
Afternoon Tea at the Burj Al Arab
InterContinental Abu Dhabi
Touring the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Etihad Check-in & First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Abu Dhabi to New York
Conclusion

This was another eye opening trip on many levels.

On the airline front this was a trip I was really excited about, since I had heard so many great things about Etihad Airways. While the seat and entertainment were phenomenal, I didn’t think the service or food was as good as that of many Asian/European airlines. Having now tried Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, I have to say that Middle Eastern airlines are a bit overrated, in my opinion. I’d still like to try Emirates and Gulf Air, though, to see if either of them are a bit more consistent on the service front.

As far as destinations go, the UAE was fascinating. It’s certainly not at the top of my list if I’m looking to explore history and culture, though it’s an exciting place nonetheless. Most surprising to me was that I actually found Abu Dhabi to be at least as exciting as Dubai. It’s a city that’s growing quickly, and has much more to offer than Dubai, in my opinion. I also had no clue that Abu Dhabi is actually a beach destination, especially Saadiyat Island, where the Park Hyatt is located. There are literally about a dozen resorts under construction on Saadiyat Island, and I’m certain it’ll be come a world class beach destination when construction is complete.

At the same time, the UAE is a bit like Disney World, in that there’s not a whole lot of substance to it. So while I’m sure it’s a destination I’ll return to, I’m not rushing to book my ticket.

Thanks again for reading, and stay tuned — next up is my quick trip to Tokyo on the Lufthansa Airbus 380..

Posted on January 6th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Hotels, Hyatt, Priority Club, Travel, Trip Reports | 5 Comments »

I’m paying $315 per night to stay in a hotel instead of using points, and don’t feel all that bad about it (while I’d usually never pay that much). Let me explain.

One of the questions I often get asked by readers is when to use hotel points vs. paying for a stay. This is probably something I could write a 200 page book on, since there are so many things that factor into it.

Instead of getting into a bunch of theoretical stuff, let me explain the painful thought process my little brain went through when trying to choose a hotel in Shanghai for my four night stay in a couple of weeks.

The first challenge with the new year is that I have a minimum of two top tier hotel elite status levels to requalify for — Starwood Platinum and Hyatt Diamond. That translates to roughly 50 stays or 100 nights across both chains, which is a lot for a leisure traveler. Then again, I don’t really mind mattress running at my local hotels, especially if there’s a good promotion running at the time. So in that sense I’m not too worried about requalifying.

Still, the main challenge I face is whether to stay in the same hotel for four nights (which earns me one stay credit and four nights), or switch hotels every night (which earns me four stay credits and four nights). Staying in one hotel is obviously much more convenient, though the longer my stays, the more mattress running I’ll have to do at my local hotels when I get back home.

The next question is whether to pay for a hotel or use points. Fortunately this is starting to become less of a concern, as Starwood has started to count award stays towards elite status, though Hyatt has yet to follow.

I’ve always wanted to stay at the Park Hyatt Shanghai, which is one of the tallest hotels in the world, occupying the 79th to 93rd floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center. The hotel is a bit on the pricey side, so initially I was going to use points for the stay, at the rate of 18,000 Gold Passport points per night for a standard room. I was planning on maybe staying there for one night, and then mattress running between that, the Grand Hyatt, and some of the Starwood properties.

But then I said to myself “hmm, why don’t I pay for the hotel and instead use one of my confirmed Diamond suite upgrades?” Diamond suite upgrades can only be used on revenue stays, so it’s always a bit of a toughie for me. On one hand I want to use points for my hotel stays that would be expensive, but at the same time I’d really love to pay for them and use suite upgrades so I can get a huge room. Still, for hotels like the Park Hyatt Paris, Zurich, etc., we’re talking $800+ per night, at a minimum.

Now, at the Park Hyatt Shanghai, the suites are roughly 1,400 square feet, which is massive. The revenue rate for a Park King room was $270 plus the 15% service charge (roughly $315 total). Now, given that the Park Suite King sells for about $1,500 per night, I actually felt like I’d get pretty good value from using a suite upgrade.

The next challenge quickly became how many nights to spend at the Park Hyatt. On one hand I should just spend one or two nights there so I can maximize the number of stay credits I earn, but then again, if I’m already using a confirmed suite upgrade, why not maximize the value of it?

In the end I just booked all four nights at the Park Hyatt and am confirmed in a suite for all of them. Not only will I have a 1,400 square foot suite for my stay, but free daily breakfast and internet thanks to my Diamond status. Beyond that I’ll earn 6.5 Gold Passport points per dollar spent, which I value at about 1.5 cents each, which basically equates to a 10% rebate. That means my total cost per night is roughly $280. The alternative would have been to use 27,000 points per night for a suite, getting me just over a cent per point in value.

So as you can see there’s no science to deciding when to use points or pay for a stay, at least not for me. On one hand I feel like an idiot for paying $300+/night when I could be maximizing stay credits instead, but then again, isn’t part of the fun of elite status actually enjoying the perks instead of just running around to maintain them?

Am I crazy for paying that much for a stay? Should I have used points instead? Gone mattress running at four different hotels?

Posted on January 1st, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels, Hyatt | 28 Comments »

A couple of days ago I wrote about how impressed I was by the Park Hyatt Tokyo, and how it’s the small things that separate a good hotel from a great hotel. In the case of my arrival, the fact that they had a light breakfast waiting for me in my room (without asking) was amazing, and blew me away, as minor as it might be. I figured it was an anomaly, but the service I experienced at this hotel (on a points stay no less) was unlike anything I’ve experienced anywhere else.

While I’ll save most of the details for the trip report, here are just a few more examples of the little touches that blew me away:

  • In the restaurant we were seated and the waitress addressed me by name and explained to us the breakfast we were entitled to due to Gold Passport Diamond status, which I expected. However, a completely separate waiter who later served me my omelet addressed me by name as well, without any prior interaction.
  • Every time I left the hotel to go sightseeing, the bellman offered me bottled water to take with me.
  • The hotel’s lobby is on the 41st floor, while the entrance is on the 2nd floor. After checking out on the 41st floor I took the elevator down to the 2nd floor, where I was addressed by name by the bellman, who handed me my airport bus ticket without asking for my name.
  • I took the elevator from my room on the 48th floor to the lobby on the 41st floor. The elevator stopped on the 45th floor, and stupidly I tried to get out, thinking it was the 41st floor. As it turns out an employee was getting on the elevator, so I apologized for almost running into him. He apologized, and after he got off on the 44th floor he stood just outside the elevator and bowed until the door fully closed.

On a somewhat unrelated note I shared the elevator at the Park Hyatt with at least two pretty well known people, including a certain founder of Facebook and a certain start of “The Office.” The latter even commented “they’re so friendly and they won’t even let me tip them.” Hah, oh boy…

If you have the chance to experience the Park Hyatt, you absolutely must. Staying at this hotel should be required for anyone looking to work in the hotel industry, in my opinion.

Posted on December 31st, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels, Hyatt | 21 Comments »

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