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In the miles and points world, there aren’t very many city center hotels that are said to be genuinely aspirational, but the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme is one of them, and it’s a property that I’ve been wanting to visit for years.
A little earlier this year, an opportunity to visit Paris presented itself, and I knew that there was only one hotel at which I wanted Joanna and I to stay.
Thanks to a truckload of Chase Ultimate Rewards points (which I converted into World of Hyatt points), the booking was eventually made and I finally had the chance to review one of the most prestigious miles & point properties in Europe.
The admin
- Length of stay: 3 nights
- Actual cost of stay: 125,000 World of Hyatt points (Category 8 standard/peak booking)
- Cheapest nightly room rate for the same dates*: ~$1,878 (inc. taxes)
- Elite status at time of stay: Hyatt Globalist
- Points earned from the booking: Zero
- Upgrade instruments used: None
- Room booked: Park Room King (entry-level room)
- Room received: King Bed Deluxe
- Upgraded: Yes
*At the time of booking
The booking
At the time of booking, only two of the three nights that I wanted to reserve were bookable with World of Hyatt points, so I booked those two nights and crossed my fingers that the third night would be released closer to our date of arrival.
As the arrival date got closer, the third night was still not available for award bookings, so I contacted my Hyatt Concierge to see if she could help.
Within 48 hours she had somehow secured us the third night. I assume she contacted the hotel and asked them if they would open up availability, but I didn’t ask. I was just very grateful.
Location and getting there
The Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme is located on the Rue de la Paix (the street of peace) in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.
This places the property just yards from the Place Vendôme (a famous Parisian square featuring the Ritz Paris and the Vendôme column) and within easy walking distance to the Palais Garnier (the opera house), the Place de la Concorde, the Jardin Tuileries (a huge park), the Galeries Lafayette (famous department stores) and a lot more that Paris has to offer (even the Louvre is only a 15-minute walk away).
The hotel (which has been in existence since 2002) occupies a 19th century building which was once the home of the couture house of Paquin. A lot of the interior was changed to incorporate the hotel, but the façade is original.
There are various means by which you can get from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to the hotel using public transport, but as the options open to you will vary significantly based on the time of day you arrive, I’ll leave it to Google Maps to advise you on your options.
Be aware that all but one of your options will require you change somewhere on the route between Paris CDG and the Park Hyatt (the Roissy Bus service will take you all the way to Opera metro station from where you should be able to walk to the hotel in under 10 minutes), and all of your options will involve some walking.
We arrived into CDG quite late, so we decided to take a taxi rather than messing around with public transport.
Taxi fares for travel between either of the two main Paris airports and the city center are fixed and, at the time of our trip, looked like this:
- Paris CDG to Paris Right Bank (i.e central Paris north of the river Seine): €56
- Paris CDG to Paris Left Bank (i.e central Paris south of the river Seine): €65
- Paris Orly to Paris Right Bank (i.e central Paris north of the river Seine): €45
- Paris Orly to Paris Left Bank (i.e central Paris south of the river Seine): €36
If you have luggage with you, taking a taxi will probably be the least stressful way to get to the Park Hyatt from either airport, and as Parisian taxis have access to lanes that regular cars (including Uber/Bolt) cannot use, they’re often able to avoid a lot of the bad traffic.
Arrival, check-in & the upgrade
We arrived at the hotel as the clocked ticked towards midnight, and we were greeted by a bellman (I’m not sure that’s the right term) as we got out of the taxi.
Once through the front doors of the hotel, we passed by the concierge desk on the left before heading down a hallway to where the reception desks are to be found.
Given the time of day, it wasn’t much of a surprise to find that there was no line of people waiting to check-in, so check-in didn’t take long at all.
After taking a credit card for incidentals and recognising my Hyatt Globalist elite status, the very friendly check-in agent told us that we had been upgraded to a King Bed Deluxe room*.
Just a few minutes later and after having had our 4pm check-out time confirmed and after having been given a brief overview of the property, we were on our way to our room on the top floor (6th floor) of the building.
*I think this is what the room was called, but I can’t check as none of the rooms shown on the Park Hyatt Paris website looks like ours!
The room
From the moment you enter the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, you can’t help but notice just how elegant everything feels, and how beautifully designed the interior of the building is. Even the hallways look upscale and classy.
On the top floor, the architecture of the building dictates that the walls slope inwards, so the hallways you see above are slightly different to the hallways on the hotel’s other floors.
Upon opening the door to this room, you’re faced with a drinks area on the left, two twin beds pushed together (to form a large King bed) on the right, and two of the room’s windows directly ahead with a small sofa and a table between them.
Having two twin beds pushed together to form a King-size bed is standard operating practice at a lot of European properties, but based on the images on the Park Hyatt Paris website, it looks like the property offers regular King-size beds as well.
If you’re keen to avoid two twin beds pushed together, make sure you make that clear when you book.
On the night of our arrival, the hotel had kindly left us a nice welcome card, some delicious macarons, a couple of chocolates and a great bottle of wine (French, obviously).
Opposite the bed is the room’s flat screen TV together with a desk + chair combo.
The desk offers guests access to USB outlets while both sides of the bed offer access to European-style 2-pin power outlets as well as to the room controls.
There are two seating options in the room.
There’s a small sofa between the two widows (the sloping wall won’t interfere with its use unless you’re very, very tall).
And there’s an armchair in the window bay opposite the bed.
Back by the door to the room is the drinks cabinet I mentioned earlier.
This is where you’ll find a coffee maker, complimentary water (replenished daily), glassware, cups, and the room’s mini bar (with the standard eye-watering prices – a regular can of coke cost €15/$17.50).
Both of the windows in this part of the room open up to reveal a mini balcony and both look out onto the Rue de La Paix.
If you take a look to your right (from the mini balcony), you’ll see the famous Vendôme column.
And if you take a look to the left, you’ll be looking toward the Place de l’Opera (where the nearest metro station is).
Back inside, the entrance to the bathroom area is between the flat screen TV and the armchair, and as you walk in, you’ll find a set of drawers on the right and the first (of 2) sinks directly ahead of you.
The fixtures and fittings look great (somehow, the use of gold everywhere doesn’t make things look gaudy), but it’s here where things get a bit complicated because the bathroom facilities are split across a number of small areas.
Next to the sink is a bath with a separate shower area adjacent to it.
And next to that, is a small room where you’ll find the toilet.
If you pass between the sink and the bath, you’ll find another small area with an open closet (it’s probably more of a hanging area than a closet), some robes, and a second sink.
All the toiletries on offer here are by Blaise Mautin (the same brand as the toiletries you’ll find a the Park Hyatt London River Thames), and they’re mostly full-size.
The only Blaise Mautin product that isn’t full-size is the small bar of soap.
That rounds off the tour of the room, so now it’s time for some thoughts, and I have to admit that I’m conflicted.
The beds were comfortable (the fact that we had two twin beds pushed together didn’t both us), we didn’t notice much noise from the street outside our windows (it was surprisingly quiet on all the days we were in Paris), the welcome gift was very kind, the bathroom areas looked great, and being able to look out of our windows to see one of the most famous squares in Paris was fantastic.
But …
The room didn’t feel spacious (it didn’t feel confining either) and it felt a little cobbled together.
Because the Park Hyatt Paris sits within a beautiful old building, some of the hotel’s rooms (rooms like this) are at the mercy of the building’s architecture, and that can mean that they can feel a little disjointed.
The sloping walls make the room feel smaller than it probably is and the bathroom is a good example of what I mean when I say that things feel a little disjointed.
The shower sits right next to the bath but is on slightly higher level, you have to get into the shower to get into the bath, the two sinks are not next to each other, there isn’t really enough space for a proper closet (so you’re left with an open hanging area), and there’s no door dividing the bathroom from the bedroom (there is, however, a door on the toilet cubicle).
To a large degree, all of this is probably down to the fact that the designers had to, somehow, find a way of incorporating everything they wanted the rooms to have into an existing historic space which they could not change. Concessions had to be made (understandably).
Having said all of that, the fact is that we actually had a really nice stay in this room, but there was a reason for that – we didn’t spend very much time in it. We spent most of our time walking around Paris.
If you’re primarily using the room as a place to sleep and a place to relax for a few hours between a day’s walking and an evening out, this room will be just fine for you.
If, however, you’re planning on spending considerably more time in your room than we did, you may find that it’s less than ideal.
Dining at the Park Hyatt Paris
There are two main dining options at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme – there’s PUR’ (a Michelin starred restaurant overseen by head chef Jean-François Rouquette) and Café Jeanne (an all-day-dining lounge).
PUR’
PUR’ is open Tuesday through Saturday between 19:00 and 21:15 and given the short opening hours and the relatively small space that it occupies, reservations are recommended.
Guests have the option of an a la carte menu or a tasting menu (5 courses or 7 courses).
At the time of writing, the 5-course menu costs €250/$290 per person and the 7-course menu costs €320/$370 per person not including drinks.
A la carte options start from €58/$67 and go up to €145/$168 (for the “Japwagyu” beef smoked with grape vine shoot).
Café Jeanne
Café Jeanne is on the same level as the lobby and is located between the front entrance and the check-in desks.
It’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it sits across three sections which sit next to each other.
The main area of Café Jeanne looks like this.
The overall vibe is one of an upscale salon (as in a relaxation space in a large house) and aside from the comfortable seating, a key feature here is this area’s huge glass ceiling which allows natural light to flood in.
It would be hard to overstate how nice it is to have so much light coming through from outside as it gives the area a wonderful feeling of space.
Sitting next to this glass ceilinged area is a second part of Café Jeanne which looks and feels a little darker because it’s covered by a regular ceiling.
This area feels more like an extension of a high-end lobby than part of a restaurant, and although I saw a few people dining here, it appeared to be used more as an overflow area than a principal dining area.
The third and final area of Café Jeanne is set in a beautiful courtyard which (for obvious reasons) is opened only when the Parisian weather allows.
All three spaces offer the same menus but all three offer a different vibe. Personally, I’d choose the courtyard when the weather is fine and the glass-ceilinged area when the weather isn’t playing fair, as the area in between is the least appealing.
Aside from breakfast (which I’m coming on to in the next section), we didn’t dine at the Park Hyatt Paris, so I can’t comment on the quality of lunch or dinner.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in Café Jeanne between 07:00 and 10:30 Monday through Friday and between 07:00 and 11:00 on Saturday and Sunday.
There are a lot of options open to guests at breakfast with an a la carte menu and a buffet both available.
At the time of writing, this is what the menu looks like this:
Link to the current breakfast menu
For World of Hyatt Globalists, breakfast is complimentary, so the menu offered comes without prices and you’re invited to enjoy whatever hot and cold drinks you’d like, you have access to the full range of buffet items, and you can select a savoury or sweet dish made to order.
You’ll also be provided with a bill (at the end) which shows that your breakfast is included.
The buffet is located at one end of Café Jeanne and contains a large range of hot and cold items ranging from smoked salmon, cold meats, and French cheeses, to Shakshuka, quiche, bacon, sausages, and breakfast potatoes, and on to a wide variety of breads and pastries.
A couple of a la carte options:
Avocado toast with pomegranate grains and candied shallot.
Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon (a.k.a. eggs royale).
A couple of nice quirks of breakfast at the Park Hyatt Paris is that the butter in the buffet is served in large blocks from which you serve yourself (one block for salted and one for unsalted) …
… and all the preserves are served under the Park Hyatt Paris brand.
Overall, the breakfast was excellent (if expensive).
The hot buffet items were an obvious weak spot (they feel like they have been included to keep a certain type of American guest happy), but the rest of the buffet offering and the a la carte options that we tried were wonderful.
As importantly, the service levels were fantastic.
The staff were pleasant, helpful and friendly, and they managed to be attentive without giving off the impression that they were hovering around you – a staff member always seemed to appear (almost out of nowhere) just when we needed something.
The bar
At certain times of day, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Park Hyatt Paris doesn’t have a bar because there’s no bar to be seen anywhere.
The reason for this is that the area that the hotel uses as a bar is the same area that it uses for the buffet portion of breakfast and that it uses for part of the lunch service.
At breakfast it looks like this:
And in the evening it looks like this:
As you would expect from a high-end hotel bar in one of Europe’s more expensive cities, prices here are on the steep side (a single glass of 2022 St Joseph will cost you €26/$30 and cocktails start from €31/$36), but if your wallet can put up with that kind of assault, it’s worth trying … if only once.
The ambience here is surprisingly nice (given that it could be classified as a temporary set up), and the bar staff emulate their colleagues from breakfast with excellent and friendly service.
The snacks that come with the drinks are pretty good too.
The gym
The hotel gym sits one level below the lobby level and, as is so often the case with city centre hotel gyms, that means that it’s devoid of natural light.
It’s also not particularly big, but unless you happen to be in town to get in shape for the next Olympics, the equipment on offer should be more than enough to keep most people happy (especially as it’s open 24/7).
It’s not a gym that’s going to get anyone working out who wasn’t already planning to work out, but it’s plenty good enough.
The spa
Le Spa at Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme is open daily between 07:00 and 22:00 (for guests) and spa treatments are available from 11:00 to 20:00 daily.
At the time of writing, treatments start at €190/$220 (for a 60 minute relaxation massage and go up from there to €350+/$405.
We didn’t use the spa on this trip, but you’ll find more details via this link.
Final thoughts
It’s hard to know how to sum this hotel up.
The levels of service were fantastic as every member of staff seemed intent on making sure our stay was as good as possible, and that went a long way to making this a very memorable visit.
The breakfast was another highlight (albeit an expensive one), with a plethora of fresh and flavorful options.
It’s also worth reiterating that the property’s location is as fantastic as the levels of service it offers, with so much that you’ll probably want to see within easy walking distance, and dozens of cafes and restaurants around the local area.
The room, however, wasn’t impressive.
I can’t help but approach my opinion of the room from the point of view of someone who is paying over $1,250 per night for their stay, and for that sum of money, I think you’re entitled to expect a bit more.
Yes, the designers have been constrained, to a degree, by the nature of the beautiful building within which the hotel sits, but I’ve read quite a few other reviews of this property, and the images in those reviews show that a lot of the room deficiencies that I’ve highlighted are present in other rooms types and on other floors of the property.
That tells me that more than one type of room here may feel smaller than it should and that more than one type of may feel a bit disjointed. That’s disappointing.
The fact is that at the prices that the Park Hyatt Paris changes, I shouldn’t be discussing deficiencies of any kind. I should be discussing near perfection. But I’m not.
If the rooms were as great as the staff and the service levels that the staff offer, I would recommend this hotel in a heartbeat. But I don’t think they are.
What that means is that as good as certain aspects of this Park Hyatt are, I have to suggest that if you’re spending $1,250+/night on an entry-level room, you should make to do some research before choosing the Park Hyatt Paris as there may be a number of better options open to you.
Related (reviews of other Hyatt properties in Europe):
- Review: Park Hyatt London River Thames (a high-end Hyatt in the wrong location)
- Review: Park Hyatt London River Thames – Park Suite River View Deluxe (I was right!)
- Great Scotland Yard Hotel London review (Hyatt Unbound Collection)
- Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars review
- Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill review (Regency Suite)
- Hyatt Regency London Albert Embankment review
- Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport review
- Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin review
- Review: Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale (Terrace Suite)
- Review: Hyatt Place Kraków (a great base from which to explore the city)
