The Grand Hyatt Taipei is celebrating its relaunch this month after a top-to-toe renovation that fleshed out the hotel from its concrete bones. Each of the luxury hotel‘s 853 rooms and suites was stripped to the fundamentals, redesigned and rebuilt.
Baths clad in half-square-meters of marble, sophisticated lighting, muted colours, goose down duvets, deep-soaking tubs, suites that feel like apartments, and rooms that elicit surprise and a wow from guests are hallmarks of the the Grand Hyatt’s brand new day in Taipei.
The hotel’s guest rooms range in various sizes and the new presidential suite offers storybook views of the iconic Taipei 101 Tower.
Beyond the rooms, the all new luxury hotel is trumpeting two completely new restaurants, a Chinese restaurant, Yun Jin, and a western venue, The Steakhouse, each a completely new concept and a ground-up build. Yun Jin’s debut was in February. Work on the Steakhouse begins later this year.
Likewise, the club lounge is an all new experience. High counters cultivate opportunities for convivial breakfasts with fellow travellers while window-side alcoves preserve a certain measure of privacy. A new, open show kitchen whets appetites for eastern and western comfort food all morning long.
As a complement to the hotel’s substantial changes in hardware, its software has undergone a similarly dramatic transformation as the property asserts itself as a happening hub. In recent months, the hotel has hosted a boxing event, a European Christmas fair and flash mob dance.
The new, less formal vibe at the hotel is evident at check-in. Where hotel staff once greeted guests from one side of a high, grandiose counter, staff and guests gather at any of five low slung desks for a less officious introduction.
Beyond check-in, the lobby replaced its souvenir shop with ‘baguette’, a bakery and gift shop designed to stimulate more social interaction as guests resort to a new seating area. Where a business center catered to men and women at work, a new retail shop invites more casual interaction.
What hasn’t changed in the lobby is its grandeur. The elegant space remains the only grand lobby in Taipei. In front of the luxury Taiwan hotel, a dramatic pruning has pared back a certain cultivated guardedness and opened up the hotel to casual inspection and passive invitation.
Grand Hyatt Taipei, 2, SongShou Road, Taipei, Taiwan, 11051, taipei.grand.hyatt.com
