An upcoming birthday gave us the perfect opportunity to check out one of the best new hotels in Auckland – the gorgeous Park Hyatt, which opened in September 2020. Being our home city, it’s actually the first time we’ve stayed in an Auckland hotel, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
There are very few 5 star Auckland hotels, and this fabulous new hotel is a welcome addition to the city – a truly international class hotel that’s perfect to explore all that downtown Auckland and the Wynyard Quarter restaurants have to offer.
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The Hotel
This luxury hotel in Auckland is located on Halsey Street in the heart of the vibrant Wynyard Quarter and is one of the few truly Auckland waterfront hotels. It has 195 guest rooms, numerous event spaces including a rooftop bar, restaurants and bars, a gym, spa (which unfortunately wasn’t open when we visited) and a 25-metre infinity pool looking out over the Waitematā harbour.
The Park Hyatt infinity pool
The view over the Americas Cup bases from the infinity pool.
The seven-story hotel was designed by New Zealand and Singaporean architects, who worked closely alongside local Māori iwi (tribe) Ngāti Whatua on design aesthetics throughout the hotel.
The hotel lobby
We opted for valet parking – which at $60 NZ dollars is quite steep – but parking is difficult to come by around the area (you would likely spend $40 to park in an open air carpark for a night anyway). It’s super easy to pull up to the entrance and the staff take care of parking your car in the hotel’s secure underground carpark.
Entering the hotel you arrive at the central atrium and immediately the true New Zealand flavour is visible, with beautiful traditional Māori carvings and artworks. Behind the reception desk are a series of beautiful tukutuku panels (traditional woven flax panels found within Māori marae). The friendly reception staff were very efficient, and Ana who checked us in, offered to show us around and explained some of the meaning behind the artworks and hotel design.
Unique artworks at the hotel by Māori artists
In another nod to local heritage, large silo-like structures housing the lift shafts recognise that the area around the hotel was once a busy working port housing cement silos.
The giant silo structure encasing the lift shaft
The staff are really impressive for a hotel that’s only been open 3 weeks. They’re super-friendly without being over the top and seem genuinely super excited to finally have the hotel open and be able to show it off! (the Park Hyatt Auckland opening was delayed due to Covid lockdown measures in Auckland). Ana took notice that it was a birthday celebration and shortly after our check-in sent some delicious chilled tea and shortbread up to our room along with a lovely personalised note.
The Eastern side of the Hyatt Auckland hotel opens out towards the Viaduct and has stunning views out to the harbour, superyacht marinas and the city skyline. The hotel’s signature restaurant Onemata, Living Room dining and the Captain’s Bar all open our from this side of the building also.
Gorgeous views of the city from the hotel
The Room
We booked a standard King room and at 47 sq m it felt very spacious (well compared to a lot of places we stay anyway!) Echoing the Māori design throughout the hotel, the showcase of the room is a beautiful New Zealand wool panel hung on the wall.
Beautiful Māori artwork in each room.
The super-comfy bed has lovely linen and pillows, perfect for a great night’s sleep. A large screen TV with numerous stations is provided, and conveniently on a hinged bracket if you want the ultimate indulgence of watching TV in bed. If not, the room has a comfortable sofa.
The luxe bed
The comfortable in-room sofa
A tucked-away wardrobe provides great space for storing all your bags, with plenty of hangers for clothes. An iron and ironing board is provided, along with a safe.
The toilet is separate to the main bathroom which is a great touch. There’s a floor to ceiling mirror in the room too which is perfect for when you’re getting ready to go out.
The main bathroom is gorgeous, and we had serious bathroom envy. A large walk-in shower with a choice of waterfall shower head or standard shower head was beautiful. It comes with Le Labo New York toiletries including shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, shower gel and soap.
The beautiful bathroom
Also in the room was a lovely bath which was perfect for a soak before dinner.
Double vanities were excellent when we were both getting ready for heading out on the town – as I said serious bathroom envy! The lighting was adjustable so you could dim it if you were relaxing in the bath or have perfect makeup light when getting ready.
Each room comes equipped with a Nespresso machine and capsules for a DIY coffee, there’s also tea provided. A selection of glasses come with the room along with a reasonable choice of beverages in the mini bar.
Finally sliding doors open to a covered verandah and two comfy chairs. Our room was west facing so it was lovely to sit out and enjoy the afternoon sun.
The covered balcony
Food and Beverages
There are a number of food and beverage options available at the Auckland Hyatt.
Onemata
Onemata is the Hyatt’s signature restaurant and it looks divine. Firstly the setting, looking out over the Viaduct makes it high in the running for one of the best waterfront Auckland restaurants. An outdoor table for summer lunch or dinner would be one of the prime picks of anywhere in Auckland.
The ethos of Onemata is on showcasing New Zealand produce, and the menu certainly does that. They utilise many of New Zealand’s well-known as well as bespoke producers, keeping it simple to let the food speak for itself. The prices are very reasonable too for prime waterfront dining.
We’d already made other dinner plans so didn’t get the chance to dine here, but we will certainly come back for a meal as it looks great – as does their Sunday lunch options.
The Living Room
The Living Room provides more casual dining, and is open for a la carte breakfast and lunch throughout the day. However, the showcase is the delicious afternoon tea which we’re definitely going to come back and try – five courses of sweet and savoury deliciousness alongside delicious tea (the Forage and Bloom ones I mentioned earlier which are amazing) or champagne.
The Pantry
The Pantry Cafe
The Pantry is more cafe style, with a menu and cabinet food, along with great eight thirty coffee (one of our personal faves). We were still full from dinner the previous evening so grabbed our breakfast from here – a delicious apple, yoghurt and granola pot and a bacon and egg soda farl (like an Irish crumpet). The coffee was excellent and the food delicious. Again the staff were super friendly and helpful and looked delighted to be there.
The Captain’s Bar
Perfect for a pre-dinner drink or an after-dinner tipple the luxurious Captain’s Bar overlooks the Viaduct and oozes sophistication. The speciality is rum from around the world but they also make a great cocktail.
Room Service
If you can’t be bothered with getting dressed up and heading out, then you can order food from the room service menu. It’s reasonably priced and has a good selection. We were looking around for the in-room compendium, but it’s all available via QR code from your phone or device.
The in-room services menu
Check Prices and Book The Park Hyatt Auckland Here
We booked our stay through Booking.com – check prices for the Park Hyatt Auckland here.
The Verdict
Even though we’re grounded in New Zealand for the foreseeable future, our little staycation made us feel like we were staying in some glamorous overseas destination!
The hotel is shiny, sparkling and truly five star. It’s beautifully designed, the staff are brilliant and it was a real treat. It’s such a fantastic location too for experiencing some of the best that Auckland’s CBD has to offer – the gorgeous harbour, sleek new shops and fabulous dining options at Commercial Bay and Britomart.
The Park Hyatt by night
The only tiny niggles we had were that the pool isn’t very heated and is in the shade, so it’s really only good on the hottest summer’s day. Also we could hear a little bit of traffic noise from outside (when late-night boy racers went past) – perhaps the double glazing or soundproofing isn’t quite what it could be.
Also a general rant about large hotel websites – they’re pretty hopeless on details. We get that it’s a one size fits all model that has to service hotels all over the world, but the information provided on them is so sparce it’s really hard to know what to expect.
But these are really picky points compared to the overall amazingness of the hotel. It has to be rated as one of the best hotels Auckland New Zealand and is certainly the cream of the crop when it comes to luxury accommodation Auckland. We hope we can stay again one day!
