During my 6 marathon runs on 6 continents in 5 days, I had the great pleasure of staying at the Grand Hyatt Santiago. I was only going to be using it as a base for my run and to keep my bags so was very happy that I got in on an American Express Platinum “deal” where the currency had some issues and the rooms ended up costing between $2 – $5 per night. American Express honored the deal (well done, Amex) and I had my $5 suite for a total of 15 minutes in the actual room!
The Grand Hyatt Santiago was so incredibly welcoming to me for this run and they treated me in just the most incredible way I would have ever imagined. Part of that was moving me from my Diplomatic Suite that I had booked to the palatial Presidential Suite. Though I only had a few minutes in the room before and after my run, I had to get some photos to show you all what it is like!
The Incredible Presidential Suite At The Grand Hyatt Santiago
Part of the spacious living room | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
Location Of The Grand Hyatt Santiago
The Grand Hyatt Santiago is about a 20 minute drive from the airport (SCL) and is located in the Las Condes district. I cannot comment personally on the ease of access to all areas around Santiago from there but I can tell you about a 3.5 mile loop near the hotel and how many stores, shops, and public transit stops there are! After all, I covered it about 8 times!
There is a beautiful park that is nice for walking or running and it has some more shops within the gates (as well as restrooms). That is just a short walk from the front door of the hotel.
Public transportation is available all around the area so you should have no problem getting to the hotel. Since I was in a hurry, I had used the hotel’s transportation (which does cost – it is not complimentary) to get back and forth between the hotel. In a normal situation, I would have used one of the many forms of public transportation to access the hotel.
The Presidential Suite – Entrance
Unfortunately, I did not have time to even check out the rest of the beautiful hotel other than the area I saw as I walked to the elevators and the Club Lounge where I checked in on the 16th floor. The most I saw of the hotel was the Presidential Suite and it was definitely worth the view! I only wish I could have spent more time in this beautiful suite.
The Presidential Suite is located on the 19th floor and the details of the room state that it encompasses a total of just under 2,600 sq ft! That is larger than the house I grew up in and it is all in one suite!
Each room had fantastic floor to (very high) ceiling windows that put the wonderful city of Santiago on full display. During my few moments in the room (and actually the whole several hours of my stay in Santiago), it was rainy and cloudy. Still, you could easily enjoy the view that was present and imagine how majestic it must look on a clear day.
The Entrance | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The photo above shows the awesome welcoming spread that the staff had laid out for me before I began my run. This photo is taken from an angle, so you would walk in and see the mirror in front of you with access to the living room from both sides (and a bathroom off to the right side).
The Living Room
Part of the spacious living room | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The living room was perfectly laid out with great views of the city. The furniture was comfortable and there were more enough seating arrangements for a large group of people to relax.
Living Room | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
Another view of the living room showcasing the view you get through the large windows. In the drapes in the center of the room are the speakers for the sound system in the living room. The room off to the right is the dining room.
Living Room | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The Dining Room
When you continue through the right of the living room, you gain access to the simple but elegant dining room.
The beautiful dining room | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
As you can see, the dining room seats 8 people at the elegant table. With dinner views like the windows present, it would be hard to concentrate on food! The door on the far right leads to a fully-equipped kitchen. All the necessary things are there to prepare your own meals or you can order from the hotel and have them deliver your meals to your room (which I imagine most guests of this suite do).
The Dining Room | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The Office / Study
Moving on from the dining room, you go back through the living room to the best work “area” I have ever had in a hotel. Again, this is just one part of the suite that I wish I could have taken advantage of! It looks like the perfect place to study and would have been a very comfortable place to sit down to bang out some blog posts.
The Office | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
For working in this room, I was glad that the desk was not facing the windows. It would have made concentrating on work a little difficult! Of course, if you wanted to just relax in here as well, they did have a nice large TV positioned on the wall.
The desk in the office/study | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The size alone of the office was what a decent sized hotel room would be so you can imagine how nice and open it felt!
The Bedroom
Moving back out of the office and taking a right brings us to a long hallway that leads to the bedroom. That’s right, bedroom – singular. While many suites I have stayed in will have more than one bedroom or sleeping arrangement, given the name of this suite – Presidential Suite – and the fact that the Grand Hyatt says that this is the suite “where heads of state and celebrities stay” you can understand that only the principal in such an entourage would be staying in the suite.
The Hallway | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The hallway is a little tantalizing as you can see the bedroom and imagine what it must look like but the views again and the room itself will still surprise.
The beautiful bedroom | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
While I did not get to sleep in the bed (oh how I wish I had time to sleep in a bed on this trip!), I did try it out briefly and it was very comfortable, as you would expect. I loved the placement of the TV as it still let you enjoy the view outside while you watch whatever you had on.
The Bedroom | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
I know I keep mentioning it, but, seriously, that view was just incredible! Even with the weather being cloudy and rainy, it still had such a great element to it.
The Bathroom
It doesn’t feel fair to simply call this a “bathroom” as it is almost like a bathing suite for its size and doors! While the center piece of the bathroom is the large jacuzzi, there are also doors off to the side (across from the sinks) where the toilet, shower, and changing room are all located. That leaves the large open space in the bathroom that, again, could almost be about half the size of some hotel rooms.
The Bathroom | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
That jacuzzi was just killing me! Being able to sink into that after running 26.2 miles would have been the biggest treat (as well as the massage that came with my room rate that I also had to skip) but what you are seeing is the most I got to see and experience of it as well!
The Bathroom | Presidential Suite Grand Hyatt Santiago
The Bathroom with the toilet and shower rooms
Summary
As far as booking the suite yourself, it is not a suite that a Diamond Suite Upgrade will get you! In fact, you cannot book it or find the rate for it on Hyatt’s website. So, you would have to call the hotel to reserve it. I honestly cannot even tell you what it would cost.
The one thing I know for sure is that this was certainly the best suite I have ever been in! Everything in it was done right. Couple that with the amazing staff and manager and I could certainly see why heads of state and celebrities would want to use this hotel as their “home” while in Santiago.
If you would like to see a more detailed review of the hotel itself as well as a review of the room that you would likely get, check out Ben’s review over at One Mile At A Time for a great report.
[…] We had booked three nights at the Grand Hyatt Santiago. Rooms were available for only 8,000 points per night. That was so cheap that we actually booked two rooms and requested that they be next to each other. When we arrived, I was disappointed to learn that our rooms were on the 3rd floor. I had read that rooms on higher floors at Grand Hyatt had fantastic views of the Andes mountains. For the first time ever, I pulled the “elite card”. I pointed out that I have Diamond elite status and that I usually get an upgrade, at least to a higher floor. Unfortunately, the hotel was fully booked and there were no other options for two rooms close to each other. The desk manager, though, came up with a great solution. There was a suite available on a high floor. We traded in our two basic rooms for a single suite and a roll-away bed. It wasn’t until we were finished checking in that the manager revealed the really great part: the suite was a Diplomatic Suite on the top floor. Only their Presidential suite is bigger or better. […]