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 minutes 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 and is entirely unplanned. The suburbs of Mumbai are frankly a mess, with poor infrastructure and massive construction work ongoing. Most roads don’t have sidewalks and pollution is a massive issue. This will change as a 13 line metro is being built, but it’s taking time!

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.

My Mumbai businesses

I spend a lot of time in Mumbai, as I have business interests there. I even spent 2 years working and living there. My main business is with web design. I’ve partnered with a talented web design agency in Mumbai, and we can build awesome websites for 1/3 of the price of the US. If you want more details, go this this page. Since the coronavirus lockdown hit, we’ve had a lot of interest in our services.

I also have another business, where I help foreigners to invest in Mumbai property. I provide access to the best deals and the best professionals. Full details are on this page. I’ve also written lots of free guides on how to invest in Indian property.

Because I visit Mumbai frequently, I’ve done a number of reviews there. Like the reviews of the GVK Lounge and the Loyalty Lounge at Mumbai airport.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

There was a coffee machine, but sadly it wasn’t good. The coffee was bitter. They also had fresh Indian tea (masala chai). Both my parents were born in India (I was born in London), and it’s an unwritten rule that you must love masala chai! That being said, I really don’t like it! For the purposes of this review, I did try the chai. It seemed perfectly passable.

I took loads and loads of photos of breakfast! So make sure you look at the above slideshow!

Fresh juices

I enjoyed the variety and the freshness of the juices

• Orange
• Guava
• Watermelon
• Carrot
• Beetroot

Pancakes and waffles

The pancakes were cooked to order, but weren’t great. However, I love pancakes, so I did enjoy them. Also, they didn’t have syrup! The waffles were also a little disappointing. They didn’t have enough toppings.

Dosa

This is a south Indian dish. Basically a savoury pancake with a spiced potato filling. It was decent, without being amazing.

Paratha

A paratha is similar to a chapati, except that it’s stuffed (with cauliflower, potato etc.), and then fried. The paratha were cooked to order and I enjoyed them a lot.

Pav bhaji

Pav bhaji is a popular Indian street food. It’s an aubergine curry with fresh onions and lime, that’s eaten with a bread roll. I enjoyed it.

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

The Grand Hyatt Mumbai is an excellent option for business travellers visiting Mumbai. There’s not too many hotels close by, so this is the best choice. The public areas of the hotel are beautiful, the breakfast is varied and the staff are helpful.