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Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei, Grand Club Deluxe Twin
After a great flight on China Airlines Business Class and a quick 6 hours nap (oops) we were ready to hit the ground running in Taipei. I had no idea what to expect with the Grand Hyatt Taipei, but I was really excited to check it out. I knew it was in an incredible location, looked pretty dope online, and we were staying for relatively nothing….with club access. How could you not be stoked about that?
We booked the Grand Hyatt Taipei with 15,000 points and a Hyatt credit card night.
Asia has some incredible category 4 hotels. In fact, this trip incorporates 3 of those hotels: Grand Hyatt Taipei, Park Hyatt Saigon, and Park Hyatt Siem Reap. Whenever possible I always try and stretch points out and use cash+points rates, but the Grand Hyatt never released cash+points rates…Still, not a bad deal.
And what it would have cost out of pocket…( we get club level cause of the diamond status) Look at that Hyatt credit card redemption level! $75 annual fee ended up in a $400 free night room. BYAH!
The Deets:
- Where: Taipei, Taiwan
- When: December, 2016
- Loyalty: Hyatt Gold Passport
- Status: Diamond
- Rate: 15k + Annual Free Night from the Chase Hyatt credit card
- Upgrade: Yes to a Grand Club Deluxe Twin
Check-in
Grand Hyatt as brand brings a very strong lobby game. No matter where you stay, the lobbies are always large and in charge. A big contrast to the Park Hyatts we would be staying in later in the trip which are always smaller and more refined. The Grand Hyatt Taipei is no exception – the lobby is impressive. There is a certain feeling that you did something right in life when you enter a hotel and the lobby is on point…I mean look at fountain – Miles is just kicking it like a boss. And it cost NOTHING!
Dave and I had combined combined forces on this trip and put our joint points and status to work. We emailed, messaged, and had a phone agent put notes on the account that we would like to use a suite upgrade, but to no avail. We were staying from December 29th to the 31st and the hotel was booked solid. We even asked again at check-in. Our buddy Fritz was staying with us and the extra space would have been nice.
The Room
We needed an extra bed. We didn’t think that would be a huge deal and up until a few days before we arrived our buddy wasn’t 100% sure he’d be there, and for how long. It’s kind of crazy to cross paths with your stateside friends half way around the world. Thanks Points!
Ultimately, they had to downgrade us from a Grand Club Premier room because they couldn’t make the rollaway work. I actually felt kind of bad because the desk agent was frantically searching to accommodate us, and ultimately found us a nice deluxe room that was already outfitted with 3rd bed.
Fantastic Diamond welcome gift – wine and chocolates.
Typically I never would recommend getting the welcome gift. But, the club was closed when we checked in, and the told us it would be a bottle of wine. 3 dudes that have known each other for a long time needed some vino to catch up over. Thanks Diamond status!
Yeah…the view as ok
The bathroom was quite nice too. It’s always nice when a hotel recognizes the universal desire to make it rain.
I also loved the outlets. I don’t think I had to use an adaptor once on the trip.
The Grand Club offers great options throughout the day. Even though we had a 3rd person in the room, at check out, there wasn’t any additional charge. Quite nice.
Grand Club Breakfast
Tons of space in the lounge as well
And then the evening offerings
The lounge is on point… so on point I’m going to do a separate review on it. If you’re considering spending a bit extra…it’s worth it.
It wasn’t the warmest so we didn’t spend too much time by the pool. But it looked nice.
The Gym facilities are solid
There are lots of nice hotels. The calling card of the Grand Hyatt is the number one attraction of Taipei, The Taipei 101. It’s accessible via a skybridge, or just crossing the street. That’s unbeatable.
The bottom right corner has part of a building in it. That’s the Grand Hyatt. It’s THAT close.
This review is a part of the Trip Report: Miles Traces his roots in Southeast Asia
- Delta SkyClub Indianapolis IND
- Delta First Class IND-LAX
- Amex Centurion Pop-UP TBIT
- China Air Business Class 777-300ER LAX-TPE
- Grand Hyatt Taipei
- Grand Hyatt Taipei Club Lounge Review
- Taipei 101 Tour
- EVA Air Infinity lounge TPE
- Plaza Premium Lounge TPE Zone A1
- Plaza Premium Lounge TPE Zone A
- EVA Royal Laurel Business Class TPE – SGN
- Vietnamese Visa on Arrival Experience
- Park Hyatt Saigon
- Park Hyatt Saigon Breakfast
- Cu Chi Tunnels Tour Ho Chi Minh City
- Orchid Lounge SGN
- Cambodian Visa on Arrival Experience
- Park Hyatt Siem Reap
- Viator Ankor Wat Private Tour
- Afternoon Tea Park Hyatt Siem Reap
- Plaza Premium Lounge Siem Reap
- Intercontinental Hanoi
- Dragon Legend Ha Long Bay Cruise
- Hanoi Hilton
- ACV Business Lounge Hanoi
- Qatar Airways Business Class 777-300ER HAN-BKK
- Louis Tavern CIPFirst Class Lounge Bangkok BKK
- Louis Tavern CIP Business Class Lounge Bangkok BKK
- Japan Airlines Business Class 787-8 BKK-NRT
- American Airlines Admirals Club Tokyo NRT
- Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Tokyo NRT
- Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge Tokyo NRT
- Japan Airlines First Class 777-300ER NRT-ORD
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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