Which hotel brand is best, Ritz-Carlton Vs. Park Hyatt? Certain cities and resorts house both a Ritz-Carlton and a Park Hyatt hotel. These locations include New York, Washington and Tokyo. We have also compared Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch Vs. Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in case you want to ski or enjoy mountain air at either of these two brands.
Park Hyatt hotels and Ritz-Carlton hotels both tend to be very luxurious. Ritz-Carlton hotels usually have a club 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 Ritz-Carlton hotels in case you want to delve further into each hotel brand.
1. Loyalty
Ritz-Carlton is a high-end brand under the Marriott umbrella. It shares this elite spot with 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. Ritz-Carlton 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 Ritz-Carlton 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. If you book with our concierge team, you will also get all your usual World of Hyatt or Marriott Bonvoy points during your stay.
Our travel agency partnership with Ritz-Carlton 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 our concierge. 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 concierge team.
2. Style
Our experience with Ritz-Carlton hotels is that they often offer a more traditional and generic finish, more in tune with the brand than the local area. There are some magnificent features of certain Ritz-Carlton hotels, such as the roof terrace at the Ritz-Carlton Vienna and the rooms and club lounge at the newly refurbished Ritz-Carlton Maui, Hawaii, are excellent, but overall, Park Hyatts tend to be more boutique and unique.
Park Hyatt offers a very high-end finish. In fact, 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. A beautiful lobby lounge with sophisticated clientele with a large fireplace and art spattered around. The rooms are large, with lovely bathrooms that open up to the bedroom, and everything is immaculate.
Particularly great Ritz-Carltons also include the new Ritz-Carlton Nomad in New York, which has exceptional views. We have compared the Ritz-Carlton Nomad Vs. Ritz-Carlton Central Park if you are debating where to stay in New York.
By contrast, the Park Hyatt New York is a new property and is based in one of the skinny new skyscrapers overlooking Central Park.
There is very little communal space at this Park Hyatt, with a very small bar and restaurant, unlike the Ritz-Carlton, The St. Regis, or the Waldorf Astoria, which have much larger communal space. In fact, I would probably pick the Ritz-Carlton Nomad as my first choice, even though I tend to rather like Park Hyatts because of the lack of communal space.
The rooms at Park Hyatt, New York, are between 500 and 620 ft². They are large and stunning. Park Hyatt branded hotels all seem to offer oversized bathrooms, much like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons hotels.
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.
Top 10 Best Park Hyatt Hotels In The World
Park Hyatt hotels are the most luxurious brand within the Hyatt hotel group. I love luxury Park Hyatt hotels because they blend elegant design, local flavor, sophistication, and gracious service. They are in a class apart. Guests enjoy beautiful surroundings, renowned art, and exceptional food and wine at Park Hyatt hotels. Park Hyatt hotels tend to be found in major city locations such as Milan, Paris, and Zurich in Europe, as well as cities across America (North and South), throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
3. Location
As a general rule, Ritz-Carlton and Park Hyatt hotels are both centrally located in cities. In Vienna, they are both in the center. In New York, the original Ritz-Carlton and the new Park Hyatt are both based on the edge of Central Park. In Geneva and Zurich, the Ritz-Carlton and Park Hyatt respectively, are both based slap bang in the center.
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.
4. Size
Park Hyatt hotels tend to be smaller than Ritz-Carlton hotels, which can be very large.
5. Rooms
Rooms at Park Hyatt hotels tend to be similarly large to those at Ritz-Carlton hotels. Park Hyatt rooms tend to have a more modern design, whereas Ritz-Carlton rooms can be more traditional 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.
Top 10 Best Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts In The World
The best luxury Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts in the world can be found below. We have already outlined the cheapest Ritz-Carlton hotels in the world, and the best Ritz-Carlton in Europe, now we outline the very best Ritz-Carlton hotels around the world for families, couples, and business, in the city and for pool and beachside luxury. The Ritz-Carlton company is part of the Marriott group, which means you can collect Marriott Bonvoy points during your stay or redeem them for a free stay.
6. Pool & Gym
Whether there is a pool and gym is very property dependent, but as a general rule, Ritz-Carlton hotels can offer more facilities than Park Hyatt hotels, which tend to be smaller and more boutique.
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 Ritz-Carlton hotels, neither of which appear to have a pool.
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 Ritz-Carlton ski hotels can be found in Bachelor Gulch and Lake Tahoe. Both are great hotels with loads of facilities.
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
Ritz-Carlton club lounges are some of the best club lounges in any city. We have outlined the best Ritz-Carlton club lounges. These club lounges cannot be accessed with high loyalty status. At Ritz-Carlton hotels, you must book a club room to get access to their club lounges.
Most Park Hyatt hotels don’t have a club lounge.
9. Family Facilities
Park Hyatt and Ritz-Carlton hotel rooms are similarly family-friendly.
The Ritz-Carlton Club lounges are very useful with young and older children due to the snacks that are provided throughout the day and the extra space to escape to. Ritz-Carlton hotels are often larger too which means more facilities which is better for families overall.
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 Ritz-Carlton hotels. They are expensive and excellent.
For a more reasonable Ritz-Carlton or Park Hyatt stay, check out our review of some of the cheapest Ritz-Carlton hotels and the cheapest Park Hyatt hotels.
11. Conclusion
While both Ritz-Carlton and Park Hyatt hotels are almost always one of the most luxurious hotels in any city or resort, Ritz-Carlton hotels are probably more family-friendly and tend to offer more facilities and a club lounge.
Conversely, Park Hyatt hotels are usually more unique and stylish and can often offer pools that are lovely to lounge around. Both hotel brands are excellent, and you can’t go wrong with either in my opinion.
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