Had a delightful long weekend staycation at Grand Hyatt Manila in BGC, Taguig. Check out my room tour video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Jg8EoX4JA9c
Stayed two nights here with my husband from Sunday to Tuesday cos wala lang hehe we didn’t have anything better to do to for the upcoming holiday so I look a leave last Monday to just enjoy the long weekend. I booked through Agoda cos may discount and they have an ongoing deal called The Grand Escape Offer where we get ₱2k dining credits per night, flexible check-in and check-out, plus some other things (I forgot cos we didn’t avail every perk). We still paid almost ₱10k per night so it’s not really that big of a deal (pun intented) haha.
There’s early check-in and check-out but it’s not what I thought it was. Basically you’re only allowed to check-out as late as you checked-in, giving you a full 24-hour stay. So if we checked in at 5pm which is late, we can check-out as late as 5pm din. Ganun sya.
Alright let’s look around!
This is their lobby. It’s pretty expansive but it feels very bare at the center where you approach the reception desks. The lounge area though is very elegant where all the seating areas are.
They have these glass staircases connecting each level of the lounge and they’re very nice to look at, except that sometimes they just strike me as fancy jalousie windows lol.
The pool is just one big lap pool. Maganda pa ata condo pool namin haha. There are lots of cabanas and seating areas, and there’s also a pool side restaurant which serves really good food (we’ll get into it next!). We didn’t plan on swimming though.
So we had dining credits right? That gave us ₱4k to spend on food which I thought is more than enough, but it also means getting 4k off on this bigass lobster from the pool side restaurant!
So that’s what we did. That marvelous sea creature is an ₱8,900 worth Live Australian Rock Lobster, which we complemented with a ₱2,000 worth meat platter to give us the most indulgent surf and turf yet.
We shared this. Just the two of us. And we finished it. It was super good. The lobster may be huge but the bulk of the meat is just enough for two. My favorite part of the meat platter would be the sausage cos it’s so flavorful!
They also served us this super delicious salad with lemon mustard dressing and greens groceries don’t usually carry. We loved everything on this bowl so much we had two of it. Good thing it was free-flowing lol
This tomato soup is also very good. It’s not creamy, sarap higupin habang mainit! I love it. The sourdough on the side is also very very good. I’ve always been curious about it so it’s feels nice that I finally got to try it. ♥
Room
Let’s go to our room!
We got 1 King Bed / Grand King from Agoda. It’s 45sqm big and we loved it! Everything checks out as far as 5 star hotels are concerned (wait I’m not actually sure if this is 5 star haha).
Bathroom has a bathtub which I love. It’s kind of something I’m looking forward to now when it comes to hotels hehe. Dipping in a warm bubble bath is one of my new found luxuries, apart from hotel dining, and regular staycations hehe.
If there’s one thing I’m waiting for every hotel to offer eventually, that would be SMART TV ACCESS. In this day and age of widespread digital streaming content, I don’t know how it still makes sense to ONLY offer cable channels to your guests. We always have to bring our Xiaomi Mi TV Stick on hotel staycations just so we could watch Netflix or Youtube on their TVs. Okada has Netflix and Youtube access on top of their cable channels, hope it becomes a standard soon! Victoria Court nga may Netflix eh! Hahaha
Also! I hope they offer drip coffee instead of nespresso machines because honestly, people who use nespresso in their homes have an entire station of condiments that go along perfectly with flavor of the pods. Ako lang naman yata to. I prefer brewed coffee over espresso. Or if I’ll drink espresso I prefer it to be in latte form. Coffee mate barely does anything haha.
In-room Dining
Obviously, we’ve maxed out our dining credits but that doesn’t stop us from trying out their in-room dining (which isn’t covered by the deal). It’s kindof tradition now for us to try in-room dining whenever we’re at hotels cos we know it’s always good haha
This one kinda disappoints though. That’s their Indian Butter Chicken and it’s very bland and malabnaw. A far cry from any butter chicken we’ve tried. Okada has an unexpectedly amazing butter chicken so when we found this on Hyatt’s menu I assumed it’s a staple in-room dining dish and couldn’t go wrong. Sadly it did.
We also ordered buttermilk fried chicken which is just okay. The fries however are perfectly cooked. Evenly sliced, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and well seasoned. Love it!
The following night we ordered a burger and a sandwich. I got a Reuben Sandwich after seeing it uses sourdough bread and I loved it! It’s got corned beef (not the usual kind), swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and some kind of dressing. Tastes very European. My husband got a bacon cheeseburger which tasted good, thankfully! The fries, as usual, are perfect!
Gym
We also tried the gym cos we didn’t wanna miss a lot of days in the week. Their gym is open 24 hours which is great and it’s pretty well equipped too. It’s got towels and drinking water for the guests and a good array of exercise equipment and free weights. They also have a private yoga room which they allowed us to use since we’re doing routines and we’re the only people in the gym hehe.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served daily at The Grand Kitchen between 6:30 and 10:30 in the morning. They don’t offer buffet yet so you have to choose one set from their menu. There’s Continental, American, Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese. The small portions you can order as much as you can; there’s fresh fruits, bread basket, pancake, cheese and cold cuts, etc.
I got the Filipino breakfast (tapa) and loved it! The pancake I ordered on the side was weird though. They gave me honey instead of maple syrup and they don’t go well together.
And that’s it!
Overall, I really enjoyed our staycation. Definitely got a much needed rest. You’d think I’d be all refreshed and ready to work hard, but here I am procrastinating yet again!
You reached this part? Wow thanks! 😀