Andaz Prague

We booked a king room and used a suite upgrade award to get bumped to the junior suite. Just prior to arrival we were further upgraded to the Andaz Suite. Looking at cash prices, it wasn't much more expensive than the junior suite despite having a separate bedroom — I suspect that's because it's on the top floor, where the roof slopes, so the ceiling collapses on one side. That made the ceilings feel lower than they were, despite being otherwise very high.

The room was a mixed bag for me. On one hand it's beautiful, high quality, with wonderful finishes and luxurious custom furnishings that exude both class and youthful energy. On the other hand, some stretches of wall were completely blank, boring and disengaging. The TVs were also oddly positioned — offset so far that even the person sleeping on the TV's side isn't centered, let alone the person on the other side, and they don't pull out from the wall.

My wife raved about the workspace, saying it was something she wanted for our home — high praise from her. My favorite feature in the whole room is the coffee and fridge console, lined with their custom metal engraving, where the finish gives a great tactile feel. A lot of the features in the room have that same satisfying tactility — the door handles, lights and knobs. Things you wouldn't notice until you stay, and something I appreciate, because it shows they care about the guest experience rather than just "nice-looking" furnishings that lure travelers in and feel cheap in person.

The bathroom might be the weakest part of the room. I do love the general design — the paneling is quality and the vanity is aesthetically pleasing. The problems arise under the surface, especially with the shower. The overhead shower is weak and the jets are thin; I just didn't feel like I was getting enough water, which is unusual at a high-end hotel. If you turn the handheld showerhead on, it diverts hot water and pressure away from the overhead, so you get excessively hot water from the handheld and borderline cold water from above. This did not feel luxurious and makes me think the piping wasn't well thought out.

The shower door also doesn't leave enough room underneath for a bath mat, so you have to place the mat outside the path of the door. These are basics I expect mid-tier hotels to have down, let alone an Andaz.

I was generally happy with the linens and the mattress — not top tier, but far from the worst. Humidity control was great, especially during the particularly hot and humid summer when we went. There was also minimal noise leak from the hallway, despite our bedroom being right next to the entrance door without a closet or entryway to insulate it.

One thing I think was unique to our room: every time a tram passed on the street, our fifth-floor room would rumble and physically shake. I brought it up with the front desk and they told me I was the first person ever to mention it — I call BS, but whatever. It wasn't deal-breaking, just a curiosity.

Lights and curtains have automatic controls, but not as extensive or accessible as I typically see from the highest-end hotels. Wi-Fi was great, as always with a Hyatt. I had the same problem here as at the Park Hyatt Vienna: only European outlets.

The amenities were above average, I'd say, but nothing spectacular. There's no pool, though the spa seemed well equipped. No activities or programming were offered, which is fine for a city hotel. The gym was decently stocked but lacked heavier weights, only had one set of dumbbells per weight, and had no Smith machine or barbell; there were a decent number of treadmills and ellipticals, which was nice. There's no dedicated lounge, but there's plenty of space in the lobby and next to the bar that people can use as a third space.

Starting from the exterior, the hotel occupies a repurposed but beautiful building known as the Sugar Palace, built between 1912 and 1916 as the headquarters of the sugar industry insurance association, designed by Josef Zasche with Theodor Fischer.

The interior design showcases preserved stucco, paneling, fireplaces and a coherent folklore art program. Drawing on local history is a signature of the Andaz brand, and it's on full display here. The design is a combination of flashy and subtle, in-your-face and in the background, all while maintaining a coherent direction.

I stayed in August 2026 and this hotel opened in April 2022. Four years feels about right: it's maintained very well and I only noticed very slight signs of aging. The furniture doesn't feel fresh, but it feels far from worn. Most of the finishes in the room and lobby still have a newish feel to them and exude the lively quality Andaz is known for.

The hotel is located at the Hay Market, on the line separating the New Town from the Old Town. There's a tram right outside, which is a huge plus for most, though we had a car and most of the Old Town is within walking distance.

For first-time visitors like us, the location is good but not great. It took us anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes to walk to most key destinations, and could take over an hour to reach the other side of the bridge. We easily logged days of over 20,000 steps in Prague, with a fair bit of that attributable to walking up to 30 minutes just to get back to the hotel.

The check-in experience was the highlight of the service here. When we arrived, the valet (Peter, I believe) took our car keys and our luggage immediately and with a smile, directing us to the check-in counter. There we were helped through the process, and while I was waiting, one of the valets explained all the key sights in the city and suggested nearby restaurants. We were each offered a welcome drink — I chose the beer, my wife the champagne. Both were delicious.

When check-in finished processing, he helped us to our room with our luggage and settled us in, explaining everything and placing all our bags in the proper spot. What an incredible start to our stay. I'd love to say that was the standard for service here, but having stayed, I do believe it was a one-off and had more to do with the excellence of that particular staff member.

I think check-in set my expectations for service too high. After that, I really didn't experience exceptional service. Don't get me wrong, it was good, clean, professional service — but no one really smiled or felt warm when they served us; they were politely dealing with us to get on with their original task.

Breakfast service was especially average despite the incredible food. The servers almost never smiled at us, almost never came around to check on us, and would sometimes seem to hide so we couldn't find them to order more food or coffee. I didn't find anyone outwardly rude or unprofessional, but I didn't get a warm, fuzzy feeling from anyone either.

I probably would have rated this lower, since the baseline service wasn't exceptional, but I did love the check-in service, and there was another occasion that stood out. On our third day we needed food reheated, so we called the room service attendant. She was extremely pleasant, came to take our food, and returned it heated, on proper dishware, on a tray, with appropriate silverware. It made us feel taken care of and it's something we had to shout out.

There were no mistakes during our stay. Our status was recognized at check-in and our room was ready when we arrived, earlier than our expected check-in time. The breakfast team knew when to expect us every day and knew to give us our Hyatt member benefits (champagne). We were also able to receive our Andaz Hour benefits each day without issue. The elevators worked well considering there were only two and how many people were staying at any given time. We never felt the hotel was understaffed or overworked either.

I was surprised at the level of housekeeping, in a good way. I didn't expect them to run a turndown service, but they did, and to an excellent level. The primary service was great — beds made, minibar restocked, tables cleaned, cords organized — and turndown was excellent as well; they would even remake our bed if we'd taken a nap between the first and second service.

Breakfast at the Andaz is truly a treat and may be reason enough to stay at this hotel. Globalist breakfast is at ZEM and includes a full à la carte menu plus buffet. The food quality is easily on par with any brunch spot in the city, and I would have gladly paid real money to eat here.

My favorite was the French toast, which actually used a thick slice of brioche (the best bread for French toast, in my opinion) along with homemade custard, strawberries, blueberries and caramelized bananas. Aside from that, the pastries were great and the fruit was all very ripe and sweet — my wife particularly enjoyed the cherry tomatoes too. As World of Hyatt elite members, we also each received a glass of Veuve Clicquot at breakfast every day. Pretty good.

The hotel was quite busy most of the time and feels very lively, for better or worse. The bar and restaurant get packed at night, and breakfast can get so busy that it overflows into the bar and living areas. Maybe that's because the breakfast is so good that outsiders would pay to eat there, so it isn't necessarily a negative for us — but it did feel busy. The gym and spa didn't feel particularly busy to me, though I did go at odd times.

Standard departure. Checkout was fast and easy. We weren't assisted with our luggage for the most part until we got to the valet, who helped us load our suitcases into the car. As always, the valets were the friendliest staff on site.