Review Hyatt City of Dreams Manila
Overview & Pricing
The Hyatt City of Dreams Manila is a five star hotel located along with two other hotels in an integrated resort project called City of Dreams not far from Manila’s International Airport. The complex includes a shopping mall, casino, several pools and a Dreamworks themed play area.
Key Stats
- Base Room Prices: ~11,000 PHP or $220 plus tax
- Award Costs: 8,000 points per night or 4,000 points + $55 USD
- My Stay: 2 nights in an Aqua Suite for 16,000 points total
Location
Despite being only a couple of miles from the airport, City of Dreams takes awhile to reach. Manila’s traffic is notoriously bad and opting not to take the new toll Skyway (~$1 USD) will mean waiting in a lot of traffic. Staying off the Skyway will allow you to see some of Manila, but riding high above the city means no traffic!
From the airport your options for getting to the hotel are: Yellow metered taxi (About 150 PHP – ~$3 USD), Coupon taxi (About 300 PHP – ~$6 USD) or Uber which is slightly cheaper than both. You can also arrange transport from City of Dreams, but it is quite expensive starting at about $15 USD.
It is also important to note that City of Dreams is pretty far from the city center and is one of many Casinos being built in this area of Manila. Currently there is a ton of construction, but eventually there will be a mini-Strip area of hotels/casinos. Currently the properties that are open are separated by vacant lots and contstruction of new hotels.
Lobby & Check-In
The Hyatt’s lobby is quite small, especially when compared to its sister property, the Grand Hyatt in the City of Dreams Macau. Despite its size, it is well appointed, contains several seating areas and a lounge and conveniently is connected to both the buffet and casino.
When I arrived there were several people working the front desk and I was able to walk right up without waiting in a line. After identifying myself as a “Globalist” World of Hyatt member, I was escorted to the 7th floor Club Lounge for check-in.
The staff in the lounge was amazing (more on that later) and I was given a welcome drink while they explained all of my benefits. As a top-tier elite I was upgraded to their largest room, the Aqua Suite and was given a choice of taking my breakfast either in the lounge or downstairs in the buffet.
Room Review
Strangely enough, the Hyatt Manila City of Dreams doesn’t have any true suites. This is probably because the other two hotels located in City of Dreams (Crown Towers & Nobu) both have a lot of them! Either way, their largest room is called an Aqua Suite, but it is more like a very large Junior Suite.
At 900 square feet the Aqua Suite is more than large enough. With a huge bathroom and a large bedroom including several seating areas, you really can’t ask for more. My only issue with the room was the incredibly long walk from the bedroom to the bathroom. From the bed you had to turn right down the hall, then turn right through the closet and into the bathroom. Once in the bathroom it was at the very far end on the left. Quite a trek!
As for the room itself, it was quite comfortable with modern decor. The bathroom was large with both a soaking tub and a huge shower. My only nitpick is that I am not a fan of the faux wood finish they used EVERYWHERE including the rooms. It looks good from afar, but to me felt cheap up close. With that said, the materials did seem to be of a high quality for the most part and the bed was perhaps the most comfortable I have ever encountered in Asia.
I am not sure if this is standard or because I was a Globalist, however my room had a welcome amenity of fruit, chocolates and sparkling water. I also received turndown service nightly which was accompanied by various tarts. A nice touch!
Food & Drink
As part of my Globalist benefits, I had access to the Club Lounge. For two hours each night the lounge serves hot dishes along with alcoholic beverages. I was able to experience the evening service twice and enjoyed it both times. There was a decent selection of cold items such as sushi and cheeses along with two hot items cooked up to order by a chef. Delicious!
The best part of the Club Lounge was the staff. They immediately learned my name and even what I liked to eat/drink. In my opinion they provide among the best levels of service I have seen in a lounge anywhere including Asia. There were perhaps 5 or 6 workers in the lounge and they were all amazing.
With an early flight on my departure day, I was only able to enjoy breakfast once and chose to eat in the buffet. The buffet normally costs 1,300 PHP (~$26 USD) per person but was free for me as a Globalist. It had a fairly amazing selection of both Western and Asian dishes and I left impressed!
Facilities & Amenities
The Hyatt also has a very nice pool area and a well equipped but very undersized gym. Among the other things on-site are a high-end shopping mall with a wide variety of stores, about a dozen restaurants and a very cool Dreamworks themed play area/amusement park for the kids.
City of Dreams offers transportation to both the nearby Mall of Asia and Chinatown in Manila. Unfortunately this transportation needs to be booked ahead of time, a lesson I learned the hard way. After seeing the shuttle schedule I headed outside to see a tiny packed van of people and no room for anyone without a reservation. I wasn’t too upset because that van didn’t look like much fun anyway!
Conclusion
A couple of years ago I declared the Grand Hyatt in the City of Dreams Macau as my favorite Hyatt hotel anywhere. While I still think I prefer the GH Macau better given its overall scale and location, the Hyatt Manila City of Dreams comes close in every way. I can’t praise the lounge staff enough and the room was great as well. For only 8,000 points per night, this was a great redemption!
Have you been to the Hyatt City of Dreams Macau? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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loving the new trip report format via the new website structure. really cool to see support for photos and overall rating summary. super nice! so jealous of all your adventures man!
Thanks Ninja man!