Photo: Hyatt.com
I am looking forward to visiting Budapest next month and staying at the Párisi Udvar Hotel for three nights.
This stunning and opulent Art Nouveau hotel is part of the World of Hyatt. As a World of Hyatt Globalist member, I am entitled to use the hotel’s club lounge, which includes not only breakfast but also hot and cold appetizers and cocktails in the evening. I was previously advised that as a Globalist, I could choose to have breakfast in the lounge or in the hotel restaurant.
However, today I received an email notifying me that the club lounge is permanently shutting down in 5 days:
Warm greetings from Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest!
Thank you for choosing our hotel for your upcoming stay in the Hungarian capital.
We would like to kindly inform you that our Club Lounge area will be permanently closed as of March 9, 2020 due to operational reasons.
As a Globalist, we wish to honor your loyalty with a complimentary breakfast offer. You will be able to consume a combination of an extensive buffet breakfast with hot food and drinks as well as á la carte items. Our breakfast restaurant is located on the lobby level in the middle of the Passage, where we serve breakfast daily between 06:30 and 10:30.
While breakfast in a hotel restaurant is typically better than breakfast in a lounge, I always had the option to eat breakfast either in the restaurant or the lounge. However, I was really looking forward to visiting and enjoying the food and beverage offerings in the evening. This is a valuable amenity that was initially promised that has now been removed. What do you think?
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
When we were there they also gave us vouchers for dinner. I would ask them and see what they say.
This is getting to be a significant issue–closing of already constructed and operating lounges. I seem to be staying at many hotels and have reservations at other hotels (Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt) that used to have lounges but got rid of them in the last few years. The Hyatt in Indian Wells and the Hyatt Chesapeake Bay come to mind. It is not just Hyatt–I heard that the Hiltons in both Aruba and Barbados closed their lounges. The Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida used to be SPG and have a wonderful lounge, but it is now Hilton and the lounge is gone.
The real issue for World of Hyatt, though, is that anyone who isn’t top level (Globalist) doesn’t get breakfast included at a full service Hyatt unless there is a lounge, while mid-level Marriott Platinum and Hilton Gold guests get breakfast as part of their benefits.
Yes, I know about earning elite nights with the Hyatt credit card and I have the Hyatt credit card, but I earn 50% more World of Hyatt points on non-bonused spend with the Chase Freedom Unlimited/Chase Sapphire Reserve combo. Also, those free night certificates with the Hyatt credit card may be nice but most of the cat 1-4 Hyatts I enjoy are now cat 5 and I cannot combine a free night certificate with a club lounge certificate–it is one or the other. So not only is it hard to find a club lounge, but even if the hotel has a club lounge I can’t visit it while staying on a free night certificate.
Just had a lot of club lounge certificates expire at the end of February, and have 8 more expiring at February 2021–looking for a place to use them. Starting to feel like for World of Hyatt, it is go Globalist or forget about it.
I just stayed at this hotel. The lounge was lovely and had great food and drink, including wines, champagne, coffee and tea all day long. As globalist we had access to breakfast in the restaurant at no additional cost. This was offered to all globalists as other members reported the option available to them as well before we decided to stay. We booked the brudern suite back when it was 16k and loved it. The entrance was connected to the lounge and the staff always made wonderful coffees and teas for us and served it to us in our room. At the new rate of 20k points for an entry level room and no lounge, there are many better options in Budapest. I believe both Hilton locations are great, the one on castle hill with a great view and the one in Pest with a great location are only 30-40k/night. And the ritz carlton around the corner from the parisi is a better location and also just 40k during off peak.
I was looking at this hotel for a May trip but the recent category increase made me choose somewhere else. If I had made a reservation as you did, I would be sorely disappointed by the lounge closing. Hopefully they’ll offer more than a breakfast you would’ve had anyway due to status.
Guess I also could have added that the Marriott has a wonderful lounge with plenty of food for dinner and an outdoor patio directly overlooking the Danube. We thought it was wonderful.
I was there in December and can reaffirm this is a loss. The lounge was great. Good wines, great food, I loved the architecture as well.