It’s been more than a little while since my last blog post but Chris really wants us to get back into writing these reviews, so here we are! As we start this back up, rather than reviewing points properties that are already heavily reviewed by major travel bloggers, we want to focus on non-points properties that might not have much coverage in other reviews.

We are starting with a review of the brand new Stanly Ranch in Napa, California. Stanly Ranch was a much-anticipated 2022 opening as part of the Auberge Resorts Collection and opened on April 29, 2022. We visited the weekend of May 14, 2022, so the resort had only been open for two weeks by the time we visited. While a physically stunning property, it was clear that service has quite a ways to go and I’ll share more on that below. Of course, because the property is brand new, we came into this stay expecting that service would be a bit of a miss, so our expectations were tempered, but it was still unfortunate given the overall cost of our stay.

Stanly Ranch is located just south of downtown Napa and while it’s relatively close to downtown, it still feels secluded and very quiet. The resort's location will either be a hit or a miss for you depending on what you're in Napa Valley to do and see. It's quite far from most Napa Valley vineyards and tasting rooms (Yountville, the approximate start of what visitors will normally consider "Napa Valley", is 25 minutes farther North, but if you're planning to visit Napa and also head west to Sonoma, you'll be well-positioned).

​After walking around the resort, I realized that Stanly Ranch reminds me of an updated version of Carneros Resort, which also offers single story bungalow rooms throughout the property, but Stanly Ranch has a bit more of a modern and polished aesthetic.

We pulled up to Stanly Ranch and skipped the valet to park in the lot beyond. With a single lot at the front of the property, the hotel doesn’t charge for parking, which is appreciated. As we walked up to the lobby, we were greeted by one of their “ranch hands” who asked for the name our reservation was under and then escorted us to the lobby, AKA "Ranch House". We skipped the actual front desk, were seated at one of the couches, and offered welcome drinks (a choice of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or lavender lemonade) while our check in was processed.

​Guest Reviewer: Chris

An avid traveler and obsessive points and miles hound, Chris is my travel buddy extraordinaire. I love him for his enthusiasm, his sense of adventure, and his many lounge access credit cards. Hope you enjoy his perspective!

Jen and I recently took a weekend trip to Los Angeles and spent a night at the W West Beverly Hills. Normally we're pretty loyal to Hyatt, but there aren't many good Hyatt options in LA: the Andaz West Hollywood is too "cool" for us, the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza recently closed, the LAX options are depressing, and the rest are just too far away. We decided to look at Starwood options instead, and found the W West Beverly Hills for $288/night using Jen's corporate rate, which seemed like a reasonable enough price.

We arrived at the hotel around 9 AM, and didn't have any expectation of getting a room yet (we just wanted to drop off our bags before heading Universal Studios). Surprisingly, our room was already available, so they were able to issue our room keys and they also asked what time we'd like to check out. I asked if a late checkout would be possible, and they were happy to give us a 4 PM checkout since I was a Starwood Gold member. Starwood Gold normally isn't worth much, so I was glad it at least counted for something in this case.

The hotel itself was very clearly an apartment complex in its former life and you can tell by looking at the structure from the outside and then again by seeing how the rooms are all laid out inside. Despite this fact, I think they did a pretty good job of converting the space and making it fit with the W brand. You'll notice there's a waterfall behind the stairs as you're walking up the front steps and the lobby is full of unique designs and colors, which sort of conflicts with the fact that there's a residential neigborhood outside the front door.

Review: Andaz 5th Avenue
Review: Park Hyatt New York
​Review: Andaz Wall Street

As a Hyatt loyalist, Manhattan offers quite a few options for Hyatt stays, but since it's Manhattan, you'll usually end up paying an arm and a leg. We've accepted this fact and since we are usually traveling over the weekend and only have one night in a hotel, it's a bit easier to deal with the hotel prices. Our favorite Hyatt brands are Andaz and Park Hyatt and New York City offers two Andaz properties and a Park Hyatt, all of which we've stayed at on different visits. 

The Andaz Wall Street is the third Hyatt property we've tried out in New York and the last of the more aspirational Hyatt properties for us to check out in the city. Admittedly, the Wall Street location puts it quite far out of the way for most non-business travelers, but we were visiting over Fashion Week and Valentine's Day weekend in February, so most hotels were booked out. Incredibly, the weekend we visited happened to be one of the coldest in the past 100+ years, so being really far from anything we needed to see that weekend was extra fun! ;)

You'll find the Andaz at the corner of Wall and Water and since you're surrounded by forgettable looking high-rises, it can be tricky to spot from the street. 

After entering through the revolving door, you'll find yourself in the lobby with the "front desk" to your left. Andaz has a more non-traditional front desk arrangement and employees can often check you in using an iPad rather than needing to be behind a computer.

Per usual with Andaz properties, the hotel offers coffee and tea 24/7 in the lobby and there was a large table set up in the rear left side of the lobby where you could help yourself. Since it was so unbelievably cold outside while we were visiting, I definitely had a few cups of tea and hot chocolate throughout our stay. 

We decided to apply a Diamond Suite Upgrade that was due to expire soon, and when we arrived around 8 AM, we were lucky enough to find that our suite was available. 

The associate explained that the breakfast hours were from 7 AM to 12 PM at the hotel's restaurant, Dina Rata. Dina Rata can be accessed by taking the stairs from the lobby or from the elevator. 

Since our room was ready, we made our way up to the 15th floor. ​

The halls were fairly dark and had some unique touches when it came to displaying the room numbers next to each door, which I thought was cool, but there was a humungous stain all over the carpet directly outside of the elevator. In general, the hotel was nice, but you could tell that it's been around for a while. 

Despite being assigned a "suite", I found that the room layout was very similar to the Andaz San Diego in which the "bedroom" wasn't fully separated from the "living room", but rather there was just a divider placed in the middle of the room. This was fine for us, since it was just the two of us in the room, but it's definitely a bit misleading to classify the room as a one bedroom suite.

​That being said, the most major problem I had with the room layout, however, was the bathroom. The bathroom had a similar look to the Andaz 5th Avenue, but unlike the 5th Avenue suite we stayed in, the bathroom was not able to be enclosed at all. There was a shower on the left, a toilet on the right, and the vanity was in the middle. To add insult to injury, the glass door on the shower wasn't even frosted, so anyone else in the room would have a full view into the shower with zero privacy whatsoever. I'm a person who really cares about my privacy in the bathroom and this bathroom was really just not acceptable for me. The entire time, I was very uncomfortable. 

Other than these issues, the room was quite nice. As usual, I enjoyed the minimalist style and loved that the room was so large, which is hard to come by in Manhattan. The living room had a couch and chairs with a view of the television on the room divider and then there was a desk/console with another television that could be seen from the bed. On the "bedroom" side of the room divider, there was a closet. The views from the room were unmemorable - you're looking at other Wall Street skyscrapers with nothing particularly interesting to catch your eye. 

Review: Andaz 5th Avenue
Review: Park Hyatt New York
​Review: Andaz Wall Street

As a Hyatt loyalist, Manhattan offers quite a few options for Hyatt stays, but since it's Manhattan, you'll usually end up paying an arm and a leg. We've accepted this fact and since we are usually traveling over the weekend and only have one night in a hotel, it's a bit easier to deal with the hotel prices. Our favorite Hyatt brands are Andaz and Park Hyatt and New York City offers two Andaz properties and a Park Hyatt, all of which we've stayed at on different visits. 

The Park Hyatt is Hyatt's newest property in New York City and it's absolutely stunning. Like the Andaz 5th Avenue, the location is excellent and it's right by Central Park and also convenient to several subway lines, etc. The Park Hyatt is located on W 57th St between 6th and 7th Avenues. 

The Park Hyatt New York is a category 7 property, which is the highest category designation Hyatt has. As such, a standard room can be booked for 30,000 Hyatt points (if there is points availability to be found) and will usually set you back between $600 and $700 a night. I had a free Hyatt night available after being approved for the Hyatt Visa earlier in the year, so we decided to use that for this stay, which was an excellent value.

As usual on our New York trips, we arrived at the hotel early Saturday morning after taking a red-eye from San Francisco. We took an Uber from JFK and arrived at the hotel around 7:15 AM. The bellmen who greeted us were friendly and offered to take our bags. We were directed inside where we were met by another employee who asked for the name on our reservation and directed us upstairs to the main lobby for check-in. 

The elevator to the hotel lobby is to the left when entering the building and the lobby is located on the third floor. You'll pass the hotel's restaurant and bar on the way to the front desk and I loved the modern and artistic decor throughout the common areas of the hotel. 

We proceeded up to the lobby where we were promptly checked in by a friendly associate and given the keys to our room, which was such a wonderful thing to hear after our prior experience at the Andaz 5th Avenue a few months prior. We were also proactively offered late check out, which is one of my favorite perks of Diamond status given that we take a lot of weekend trips where we land Saturday morning and fly home on Sunday night. 

Our room was located on the 15th floor of the hotel, so we grabbed our bags and headed upstairs to get settled in. True to Park Hyatt's style, the hallways were full of wood paneling and were somewhat dark, but still very comfortable and rich looking. 

We had heard so many good things about this hotel and were so excited to finally be checking it out. Park Hyatt is our favorite of Hyatt's brands and we love the minimal but comfortable design of most properties. The Park Hyatt New York definitely did not disappoint. The room was large by New York standards and offered a wonderfully large bathroom. Immediately upon entering the room, you'll notice a very nice cabinet directly across from the door, which houses the minibar and coffee/tea setup. The minibar has a huge selection of snacks and drinks and the attention to detail is incredible. You can find everything from Krug champagne to fancy sweets and chips and the water bottles throughout the room are even Park Hyatt branded with wonderful NYC vignettes.  There are closets to the right of the door and next to the minibar and the bedroom was on the right side. The bathroom is to the left. 

The bedroom had a king bed, a chair (which I really wanted to take home with me) and a desk. I loved the personalized details throughout the room (which Park Hyatt usually does very well), such as the welcome message on the television and on the iPad, which can be used to control things throughout the room and do things like ordering room service if needed. As with many of Hyatt's higher end properties, controls for all aspects of the room, such as drapes and lighting were located next to the bed. 

Review: Andaz 5th Avenue
Review: Park Hyatt New York
​Review: Andaz Wall Street

As a Hyatt loyalist, Manhattan offers quite a few options for Hyatt stays, but since it's Manhattan, you'll usually end up paying an arm and a leg. We've accepted this fact and since we are usually traveling over the weekend and only have one night in a hotel, it's a bit easier to deal with the hotel prices. Our favorite Hyatt brands are Andaz and Park Hyatt and New York City offers two Andaz properties and a Park Hyatt, all of which we've stayed at on different visits. 

First up is the Andaz 5th Avenue. The Andaz 5th offers one of the best locations out of the three and it's usually a bit more affordable than the Park Hyatt. The Andaz 5th is located across the street from the New York Public Library, right by Bryant Park and is on the corner of 5th and E 41st St.