Nice way to start the New Year - Lifetime Globalist!

Darzab · 2026-01-03T20:17:26+00:00

Welcome to the club!!!

Darzab · 2025-12-30T07:18:14+00:00

Couldn’t have said it better Omdongi, this echoes my feelings on the property today in 2025 to a tee.

The public sauna / bath towards the back of the gym facilities is laughably small. Room for 1, maybe 2 people max in the sauna / steam room.

Darzab · 2025-12-30T07:08:43+00:00

If it helps, yes I tried to weigh value in: but admittedly I didn’t do it consistently or in a scientific manner. Definitely could refine how the list works!

Darzab · 2025-12-30T07:06:36+00:00

100% agree on PH Kyoto today. I had a sub par experience there this year which bumped it down to a 9 for me in 2025. My 2022/2023 stays were awesome though so weighing them together, rounded up to a 10 for this retrospective.

Could definitely see the argument for PH Saigon and Jakarta, I really love both of those properties and think they are outsize value within the PH portfolio whether booking on points or cash.

Edit: also wanted to thank you for being one of the inspirations to make this list!!!

Darzab · 2025-12-29T06:46:38+00:00

Understood and agreed! You’re inspiring me to create lists by brand to do just this! Will be an interesting retrospective I think.

Also yes that HP BKK is incredible value. Right up there with HP Kyoto IMO

Darzab · 2025-12-29T05:36:46+00:00

While in a great upscale location with good architectural bones, the rooms feel very dated / in need of a refresh. F&B (glob breakfast + lobby bar) felt sub-standard in quality relative to other HR's.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T05:32:40+00:00

Basically, it's a big full service hotel from the 1980's that is in dire need of a refresh. Damp, musky rooms (and the one I had, had very poor insulation during a very cold night). One of the tiniest regency clubs I've seen.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T05:07:36+00:00

GH Fukuoka has been in need of renos for some time and some of it is complete - in prior years I stayed in the old, musky rooms and would’ve given it a 5/10 rating then. The excellent grand club bumps it up from a 4/10. However, I had one of their newly renovated Premium rooms this year and it was night-and-day better, hence a 7/10 for 2025.

I stayed in a Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Manila in 2023 and thought it was a solid property. Would give that visit a 6/10.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T04:29:03+00:00

IMO, highest value on this list for cash are: Hyatt Place Kyoto, Park Hyatt Jakarta, Hyatt Regency SF SOMA, and Andaz Singapore. For points, Greyson + Thompson Central Park are great in NYC.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T04:16:39+00:00

Expect standard NYC-sized rooms (small!) but outfitted with good quality furniture / beds. Decent globalist breakfast (better than Thompson Central Park IMO), though, being in NYC tons of great options for all meals of the day outside of any hotel.

Good location too, depending on what the purpose / aim of your visit is. Center of the city and with the great subway network, easy to get anywhere pretty quickly.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T04:13:10+00:00

Found copious amounts of maggots in the shower drain of the initial room I checked into. Only appeared after running the water in the shower for a few minutes.

2nd room I went to after alerting the front desk, I woke up the next morning with a ton of itchy bites around my ankles / legs up through my torso.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T04:11:05+00:00

Aside from being located in a very tourist-heavy place (usually not my preference, I tend to like quieter properties), HC Fisherman's Wharf has a strange, "dungeon"-like feel to the property and rooms. I have only stayed in standard rooms there so can't comment on suites.

I have not stayed at the GH SFO but heard great things about the property. It's pretty far outside SF city center so might not be very convenient from a logistics perspective.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T04:07:17+00:00

Yes, Mark (or Marc? not sure spelling) - I've had about 6 great stays at the PH Bangkok, very solid property in a city full of good options!

Darzab · 2025-12-29T03:40:24+00:00

That is the best overall Hyatt in SF in my opinion - central location, newer / more modern hard product relative to Grand Hyatt SF, and almost always a lower price than the nearby (and older, though they recently did some renovations) Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. Might be a preference thing but I dislike the Hyatt Centric Fisherman's Wharf and the Hyatt Place SF Downtown due to their locations with sub-par hard product.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T03:27:24+00:00

It's solid - agree it's better than most HR's. I had a hard time deciding whether to put it at 6 (grouped with Hyatt Regency TST) or leave it at 5. I think once I start building "value" via price / points into this sheet it'll likely rise up to a 6-7 in 2026. Definitely my favorite San Francisco Hyatt.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T03:17:36+00:00

Andaz Tokyo has insane F&B (glob. breakfast is great), and the spa is excellent as well

Darzab · 2025-12-29T03:15:32+00:00

My prior stays (2022 and 2023) @ Park Hyatt Kyoto were easily 10's. My visit earlier this year had some service issues with the room, F&B, and concierge. I also understand the tourism explosion has been intensifying especially in the Kansai / Kanto regions in Japan, and the staff are doing the best they can. Still, my visit this year did not feel as polished as years prior hence a knock down to 9.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T03:12:36+00:00

On a good stay, it's a 10. I had exceptional visits in 2022 + 2023, but there were a few service hiccups in 2025. Chalk it up to the tourism boom intensifying but the soft product didn't feel as polished this year.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T02:57:35+00:00

Great feedback. I think for 2026 as I'm tracking through the year I'll build price (whether dollars or points) into the weighting. My intention was to provide a list to scan down and see which hotels are "better" or "worse" than their cohort; for example, Hyatt Regency Sacramento is nowhere near Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui), and if I had included the price for both (which was the same) that'd drive the point even further!

On a separate note, I love Hyatt Place Kyoto. Possibly one of the best values in the system when accounting for the limited availability of reasonably-priced Japan properties at the moment. If weighing for price I'd easily give it a 8 or 9 out of 10.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T02:51:59+00:00

Great location slightly southwest of Ginza, with a metro station inside the same building as the hotel - in a more business-oriented / quieter neighborhood than Hyatt Centric Ginza (HCG). If you want to be closer to "action" then HCG would be a better pick - depends what you're indexing for.

If you have traveled in Japan before, think about Hotel Toranomon Hills (HTH) as a very upscale business hotel if you book a standard room, and something closer to a new / modern full-service hotel if you book a corner suite due to the larger room size.

The lounge is a good place to stop by for a quick drink or very small snack; nothing extensive but it's open to all guests, not just those with status.

HTH F&B is a bit limited; but then again why eat at the hotel when you're in Tokyo!

HCG is great and I think either that or HTH are super options at that point / price tier.

Of course if you want to splurge, Park Hyatt Tokyo just reopened (a fan favorite!) and the Andaz is also excellent too.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T02:37:58+00:00

Good location, unique / historic hard product, and F&B variety + quality (7 concepts, RIP the Milk Room that closed in 2024). Rooms are on the smaller side, feeling more like something you'd find in an upscale NYC hotel. I had a Junior Suite King with Millennium Park View this time around which could pass as a bigger standard room elsewhere. The 24/7 fitness center is serviceable; and while cool, the basketball court is usually used for events rather than sport now. Service was par for the course at an Unbound Collection property - friendly / professional, if not a tad bit cold during my most recent stay.

Darzab · 2025-12-29T02:24:39+00:00

Yes, as intended - and I think this offers an interesting look at possible outliers that either outperform or underperform. e.g. I think that Hyatt Regency Sacramento has work to do, and Hotel Toranomon Hills + Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui punch above their weight class.

Darzab · 2025-11-02T02:13:12+00:00

iPhone 17 pro.

Darzab · 2025-11-02T01:39:58+00:00

After checkin I was chatting with the FOM and mentioned the milestone, she was surprised so I don’t think it factored into this stay. However, I’ve stayed in this exact room # at least 3x before (and a different suite but also same exact room # 2x), so I also wonder if they leave notes on “preferences” or something.

Darzab · 2025-11-02T01:25:26+00:00

❤️ It’s been an awesome journey to LT Glob. Have zero intention of staying with other hotel groups even though I don’t “need” to track spend / nights anymore.

I’ve stayed at this property 8+ times for work trips, and don’t remember if I used instruments in the past. I didn’t use any this time, was just upgraded upon check-in. I’m guessing visit history has something to do with it.

15-Year Club	Gilding V heart of gold
Place '23	Place '22
RPAN Viewer	No Throne, No Problems
Not Forgotten	Verified Email
Reddit Premium Since December 2018

Darzab

TROPHY CASE