Six Reasons I Continue To Stay At The Park Hyatt Whenever I’m In Paris
I realized recently that I’ve spent over month of my life at each of the Park Hyatts in Paris, Maldives and Sydney. I focus on nice hotels where I can redeem points, and I very much enjoy familiarity away from home. It helps me relax more quickly, ‘knowing how everything works’ and knowing the neighborhood that I’m in even as I’ll travel far beyond that neighborhood when I’m staying in a major city (indeed, in Sydney my primary destination is the lower North Shore suburbs).
I don’t usually write formal trip reports, over and over each time, for hotels I’ve been to and reported on several times. Many travel bloggers will choose new places just for the content, while my writing tends to be about the things I see and learn organically.
However I was giving some thought to the Park Hyatt Vendome after my recent stay – why do I keep returning here?
- It isn’t the single best hotel in Paris, but it’s certainly one of the best you can stay at using points.
- It’s great value for a Hyatt top tier elite – confirmed suite upgrade, 4 p.m. late check-out, and complimentary room service breakfast (54 euro per person credit) or buffet in the restaurant.
- Very responsive staff, to every request. It’s no problem to ask for full housekeeping while I’m gone at dinner, and customize to ensure I receive six bottles of water in the room each evening complimentary. Whenever I speak to the desk, to room service, or to the concierge they thank me for calling and it doesn’t come across as perfunctory.
- There’s no real lobby to speak of – which means that, unlike many other hotels, this one isn’t populated so much by outside visitors. That helps give it a residential feel, and I’m more at ease the moment I walk in the door.
- I sleep really well. They have better blackout shades than almost any other hotel, so I’m able to sleep in – something I can’t really do anywhere else.
- Though many of the rooms are small, I love the large bathrooms, the great showers, and the Blaise Mautin toiletries as well as scent pumped into the hallways.
The property is far from perfect. As I mentioned, many of the rooms are small and though I’ve confirmed a suite in advance (with a suite upgrade certificate) on 75% of my stays I’ve only one time ever received separate living room from bedroom (Park Executive Suite, two categories above the base or junior suite) one time – a decade ago. Many rooms have a view of the hotel’s interior courtyard rather than the street (the end of hallway base suite does have a view of the Eiffel Tower… from the bathroom).
Hyatt’s points have let me stay at a property that charges north of $1,000 per night at times, in a suite, being well-treated and with one of the most opulent breakfasts – featuring great quality French pastries, outstanding preserves, and an endlessly-customizable set of yogurts, cereals or muesli, juices, eggs and sides like bacon, mushrooms, sausage, ham and spinach imaginable. So even as the points cost of the hotel keeps going up, I’ve continued to pay the price – even if I wouldn’t ever spend so much if I were paying cash.
In the end I am comfortable here, despite any imperfections. I’m comfortable as a creature of habit, which is also why I suppose I’ll usually have dinner a short walk away on my first night at L’Ardoise – reasonably-priced, good French comfort food that has way too many Americans because of its location right by the Westin but still delivers a consistent archetypal Paris experience every time. It was first recommended to me by the concierge at the Park Hyatt over a decade ago! And no one I’ve ever sent there with the proper expectations has been disappointed.
