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Which hotel brand is best, Park Hyatt Vs. JW Marriott? Certain cities and resorts house both a Park Hyatt and a JW Marriott hotel. The list becomes even longer if you look at cities with Park Hyatt and just a standard Marriott.
These locations include New York, Washington, and Tokyo. We have also compared Park Hyatt Vs. Ritz-Carlton in case you are looking into the Ritz-Carlton brand within the Marriott umbrella for your next trip.
Park Hyatt hotels and JW Mariott hotels both tend to be very luxurious. JW Mariott hotels usually have a club lounge, and high-status Marriott Bonvoy loyalty members usually get free access to this lounge. Park Hyatt hotels don’t. Both typically have excellent facilities, extensive grounds, spas, and often pools.
We have outlined the best Park Hyatt hotels and best Marriott hotels in case you want to delve further into each hotel brand.
1. Loyalty
JW Marriott is a high-end brand under the Marriott umbrella. It shares this elite spot with Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, BVLGARI, EDITION, and The Luxury Collection. These brands occupy a 5-star luxury category, with room quality and size, service, restaurants, and the hotel as a whole offering an ultra-luxurious setting. JW Marriott is, therefore, part of the Marriott Bonvoy brand loyalty program.
Park Hyatt is part of the World of Hyatt loyalty program, and you can earn and redeem points for free nights in either of these programs.
Whether you are staying at a JW Marriott or a Park Hyatt, you will earn useful loyalty points, which can be collected towards free nights.
It’s worth mentioning that these loyalty benefits are nowhere near as good as the benefits you get by booking via luxury travel concierge agents. If you book with our concierge agents, you will also get all your usual World of Hyatt or Marriott Bonvoy points during your stay.
Our travel agency partnership with JW Marriott and Park Hyatt Hotels means you will also get brilliant free benefits, usually including breakfast for two, prioritized room upgrades (subject to availability), hotel credit, and more if you book with one of our agents. Our deals are almost always better than booking directly on the hotel website for both brands.
In Paris, New York, and London, you also get free club lounge access when you book an InterContinental hotel via our agents, regardless of your loyalty status.
2. Style
Park Hyatt offers a very high-end finish. Of all the major branded hotel chains (excluding Four Seasons), we think Park Hyatt hotels offer the most luxurious setting.
Take the Park Hyatt Zurich pictured above that we reviewed last year. This hotel offers swathes of black marble throughout the double-level foyer. There’s a beautiful lobby lounge with a sophisticated clientele, a large fireplace, and art spattered around. The rooms are large, with lovely bathrooms that open to the bedroom, and everything is immaculate.
Particularly great JW Marriotts include the JW Marriott Venice which is an outstanding property.
A JW Marriott and Park Hyatt are within walking distance of each other in New York. The Park Hyatt New York is a new property and is based in one of the skinny new skyscrapers overlooking Central Park. It has a great pool, fantastic large rooms, oversized bathrooms, and is just up the sidewalk from the Ritz-Carlton.
By contrast, the JW Marriott Essex House is not a particularly luxurious property in New York, although it has historic aspects that are interesting, such as its lifts. If you are looking for an alternative to the the Park Hyatt or the JW Marriott in New York, the St. Regis NY is also worth considering and has a very good breakfast. We have compared the Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and JW Marriott New York.
We have also reviewed the Park Hyatt Vienna, which is another stunning refurbished Park Hyatt hotel, this time set in a tasteful conversion of the headquarters of an Austrian Hungarian Monarchy Bank, right in the heart of The Golden Quarter.
This conversion retains many features of the 100-year-old Neo-classical building, including marble staircases polished by the leather of countless bank clerks’ scurrying brogues. Like many Park Hyatt hotels, this hotel is completely unique and is well worth a visit.
There is a Vienna Marriott hotel, but it is simply not in the same league as the Park Hyatt Vienna, and there is no JW Marriott in Vienna.
3. Location
As a general rule, Park Hyatt and JW Marriott hotels are both centrally located in cities. JW Marriott Cannes is right on the seafront; in Berlin and Frankfurt, the JW Marriotts are in the city centers; in San Francisco, the JW Marriott is right on Union Square, and in Los Angeles, the JW Marriott is perfectly positioned for LA LIVE.
In Florida, the JW Marriott Grand Lakes and Bonnet Creek are both located close to the Disney parks. There is also a JW Marriott on Brickell Avenue in Miami. There’s a centrally located JW Marriott in Washington, and the New Orleans JW Marriott is close to the Ritz-Carlton.
Clearly, the location of the hotel is property-specific. The Park Hyatt Seoul, for example, is located in the business center of the city and not in the tourist center. If you are heading to Seoul, you might also want to consider the Andaz, which we compared with the Park Hyatt Seoul.
In London, a new and fabulous Park Hyatt has opened, but it does not have a very good location and is a tube ride away from the tourist sites, top shopping spots, and the West End.
The JW Marriott Grosvenor house on Park Lane in London, which we have reviewed, has a fabulous location within walking distance to Knightsbridge with Harrods, Oxford Street, the West End and Picadilly circus. While it is likely the new Park Hyatt will have more snazzy interiors (and a pool) the location of the JW Marriott can’t be beaten.
4. Size
Park Hyatt hotels tend to be smaller than JW Marriott hotels, which can be very large.
5. Rooms
Rooms at Park Hyatt hotels tend to be larger and more stylish than those at JW Marriott hotels. Park Hyatt rooms tend to have a more modern design, whereas JW Marriott rooms can be more traditional and generic in decor. The rooms at Park Hyatt, New York, are between 500 and 620 ft². They are large and stunning. We particularly like the views from these rooms.
6. Pool & Gym
Whether there is a pool and gym is very property dependent, but as a general rule, JW Marriott hotels and Park Hyatt hotels tend to offer similar facilities, and the presence of amazing pools is usually dictated by the location of the hotel rather than the brand.
The Park Hyatt New York has a gorgeous swimming pool, jacuzzi, and sauna on the 25th floor on the opposite side of the building to Central Park. This is a reason to choose this hotel over both the JW Marriott and the nearby Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis.
Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour has a gorgeous pool and beach.
The Park Hyatt Vienna has a deliciously warm swimming pool situated under the barrel ceiling of the old bank vault.
The Park Hyatts in Paris and Zurich don’t have pools. In London, the new Park Hyatt does have a pool, so each property is very different.
7. Ski
The best Marriott ski hotels are Ritz-Carltons and St Regis hotels, and they can be found in Bachelor Gulch and Lake Tahoe. There are no JW Marriott ski hotels that we know of.
The best Hyatt ski hotels are at Park Hyatt hotels, including Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort which is a gorgeous ski hotel.
8. Club Lounge
JW Marriott Club lounges are excellent. These club lounges can be accessed with high loyalty status. We personally reviewed the club lounge at the JW Marriott in London. Most Park Hyatt hotels don’t have a club lounge.
9. Family Facilities
Park Hyatt and JW Marriott hotels are similarly family-friendly. If you want the best brand for family-friendly luxury hotels, it is usually best at Four Seasons or some Belmond properties like the Hotel Cipriani.
10. Price
Park Hyatt hotels tend to be some of the most expensive hotels in a city, but with a Park Hyatt, you tend to get what you pay for with large rooms, a higher level of luxury, and often unique surroundings.
Park Hyatt Sydney is usually the most expensive hotel in Sydney, and while you can’t argue with its location, right on the waterfront in the rocks, the prices here can be eyewatering.
The same is true for JW Marriott. They are expensive and excellent. However, JW Marriott hotels tend to be cheaper than Park Hyatt hotels.
For a more reasonable Ritz-Carlton or Park Hyatt stay, check out our review of some of the cheapest Park Hyatt hotels and the cheapest Marriott hotels.
11. Conclusion
While both Park Hyatt Hotels and JW Marriott are excellent hotels in any city or resort, Park Hyatts are more luxurious and unique. JW Marriott hotels are often used as high-end conference hotels and tend to have a more generic decor and feel. JW Marriott wins over the Park Hyatt hotels for their cheaper price and excellent club lounges.
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