What I liked

• The hotel grounds were beautiful. Impressive architecture
• Breakfast had a wide variety of Indian and western options
• The swimming pools were visually impressive
• The apartment contained all of the modern conveniences that you need in a home
• Hotel is well located for Mumbai’s business district

What could be improved

• Design of the rooms is functional at best

The Location

The Grand Hyatt Mumbai is located in the Santa Cruz area of Mumbai. It’s 4km from Mumbai’s business district – making it an excellent option for business travellers. The hotel is just 3km from the airport.

Santa Cruz is located in the sprawling suburbs of Mumbai. This is basically the area north of the original city.

The hotel is about 20km from south Mumbai - which contains the best tourist attractions. If you plan on sightseeing, then you shouldn’t stay here. In rush hour, it can take 3 hours to travel 20km. There’s some terrific hotels in South Mumbai, and the typical room rate is $150/night.

The Hotel

The most impressive part of the Grand Hyatt Mumbai are the grounds. A lot of thought was put into the design of the hotel. The hotel has the following features

• Grand area in front of the hotel
  
• The lobby is large and impressive
  
• Stunning water feature outside the breakfast restaurant
  
• There are large and well maintained gardens at the centre of the property
  
• 3 swimming pools
  

The hotel is large and impressive – I definitely recommend to look at the photos in the slideshow. There’s a number of unique design features, and the hotel is a popular wedding venue. As you walk round the hotel, you appreciate how well maintained the gardens are.

I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels in Mumbai. The Hilton Mumbai is a lovely little hotel. It’s right next to Mumbai Airport. The lobby is really nice. It has a grand piano! I also liked the swimming pool.

My favourite hotel in Mumbai is… The St Regis! The lobby looks like a grand French ballroom! The food was amazing. The service was phenomenal. I also loved the rooftop terrace on the 37th floor.

The Apartment

I was staying in a 1 bedroom apartment. The apartment décor was rather spartan – functional, rather than impressive. This was disappointing, given how nice the public spaces were. The apartment was as follows:

• 500 square foot
• Property was carpeted! Very strange as most homes in India have floor tiles due to the heat
• Kitchen contained ample drinking water, fridge, hob, dishwasher and washing machine
• The living room contained a small dining table, 3 + 1 sofa and a TV
• Bedroom contained a super-king bed and en-suite
• The view from the bedroom allowed us to view the hotel gardens in the interior

From the photos in the above slideshow, you’ll see that there’s nothing wrong with the bedroom. It just doesn’t match the grandness of the public areas.

The Main Pool

The Grand Hyatt Mumbai has a large pool for all guests, and a separate pool for the residence guests. As I stayed in a 1 bedroom suite, I had access to the residence pool too. The main pool had both an adults pool and a kids pool. If you look at the photos above, you’ll see that the pool was really nice! I liked the pool a lot. It was large and visually appealing, much like the rest of the hotel.

The Residences Pool

There’s a separate pool for residence guests. This is a smaller pool without the architectural flourishes of the main pool. This pool was nearly always empty and I used it frequently. I like to swim and enjoyed using this pool.

The Breakfast

I ate breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Mumbai for 2 weeks, which gives me a lot of authority on this matter! There’s a wide variety of western and Indian options. However, while most of the options were solid, nothing was amazing.

• Cook to order Eggs
• Waffles and pancakes
• Paratha
• Dosa
• Uttapam
• Bacon and sausages
• Fresh juices
• Fresh fruit
• Muffins and pastries
• Pav Bhaji
• Singapore noodles
• Miso soup

• Orange
• Guava
• Watermelon
• Carrot
• Beetroot

The Family Friendliness

The Grand Hyatt Mumbai has a couple of things dedicated to kids:

• Small indoor play area for kids
  
• Small outdoor play area for kids
  
• A separate kids pool
  

To be honest, these things felt like an after thought to the hotel’s design. They probably shouldn’t have bothered! None of these activities were especially good.

Conclusion