Park Hyatt Doha: A Nice Hotel I Won’t Return To (Update)

I find Hyatt to be the most loyal hotel group because I find that I am treated well as a World of Hyatt Globalist member. Hyatt is consistent, and not many hotels try to play games when it comes to benefits.

I’ve been wanting to stay at the Park Hyatt Doha

When I stay in a city with a Park Hyatt, I always go out of my way to check them out. The Park Hyatt Doha opened in December of 2019.

There is a reason I wanted to stay at this property. The hotel's first general manager, Stefan Gaessler, seems to be an awesome guy. Both guests and employees loved him. He was in the FlyerTalk thread about the Park Hyatt.

He answered almost every question that was asked by prospective guests in the thread, and told them he would love to meet them, show them around, and get their feedback. He invited people to contact him directly if they needed anything, and was good about elite recognition.

After 33 years with Hyatt, Stefan retired earlier this year. I've seen that the new general manager is not as pro-World of Hyatt as the old one was. I was curious to see if that was the case.

Upgrade games at the Park Hyatt Doha

I don't like to argue, so I don't stand up for myself often. I think it's important to stand up for yourself.

I try to have reasonable expectations as an elite member. I don't think I'll get suite upgrades as a member of the Hilton Honors Diamond program. I don't expect much of an upgrade if I travel to Hawaii as a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum member.

I don't think I was being over entitled when I was hoping for a suite upgrade at the Park Hyatt.

• The hotel has 187 guest rooms, 28 of which are Park Suites (the standard suites here); 15% of the rooms where are standard suites, which must be one of the highest suite to guest room ratios anywhere
• On the day of arrival not only was Hyatt’s website showing at least two Park Suites available for sale (the most hyatt.com will show), but online platforms like Expedia showed eight Park Suites still for sale, which is the most that can be displayed (in other words, there were likely even more than that)
• Doha isn’t exactly a destination with a high concentration of Globalist guests, or all that many tourists, for that matter

I called the hotel in advance

We booked our stay at the Park Hyatt on the same day. We were upgraded from a standard room to a deluxe room about an hour after booking. I decided to call the front desk because the hotel is not obligated to upgrade further in advance.

• I wanted to let the hotel know we’d be arriving very late, since hotels often like to know your arrival time, including for room allocation
• I also just wanted to note that I’d appreciate a suite upgrade if it were available at check-in; I was trying to make everyone’s life easier here, because I didn’t want them setting up a welcome amenity in a different room (which is a standard perk through the Hyatt Privé program), and then having to move it around in the middle of the night
• The associate was friendly; she said that my request for a suite upgrade had been noted, and that every effort would be made to honor it, but she also said that the hotel was very full due to Eid (more on that in a bit… I think we have different definitions of what constitutes full)

My ridiculous 2AM check-in experience

We arrived at the hotel at 2AM and were greeted by a friendly front office agent. This isn't an exact quote since I wasn't recording, but it's pretty close.

I would like to know if you have any Park Suites available.

Give me a moment to speak to my colleague and see what I can do.