Hotel Review – The Hyatt Paris Madeleine
Guest Writer Mallory (my wife & Editor-in-Chief) is in charge of AYP today as she gives her full detailed hotel review of the Hyatt Paris Madeleine!
We LOVE to travel. And we REALLY love to travel for free or close to free. During our trip to Paris last month, we began our stay with a few nights at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome. But in order to stick with our plan of traveling ~a la free~, we changed hotels for our final night of the trip.
Booking – Since we were just wrapping up a two-night stay at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme, we figured that we could keep the Hyatt theme going and stay at another Hyatt property – the Hyatt Paris Madeleine. The hotel is a Category 6 (out of 7) Hyatt property and therefore would normally cost 25,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for a single night stay.
Since we didn’t have a stash of 25,000 points in either mine or Derek’s Hyatt accounts, we decided to go a different route and utilize Hyatt’s Points + Cash rates:
By choosing this option, we needed just 12,500 Hyatt Gold Passport points, which we were able to transfer from our Chase Ultimate Rewards balance (earned through use of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card).
While the 12,500 Gold Passport points took care of most of the nightly rate, we still would be out of pocket around $150. Not liking the sound of that, we remembered that Citi ThankYou Points (earned with Derek’s Citi Premier card) can be redeemed for Hyatt Check certificates, which can be used at Hyatt properties across the world, including this one! We redeemed 10,000 Citi ThankYou Points for a $100 Hyatt Check certificate which knocked the price down to a much nicer $50 price tag!
Location – The Hyatt Paris Madeleine is in a wonderful location in the 8th arrondissement, not far from the famed Champs-Élysées. The street (Boulevard Malesherbes) is fairly commercial and busy. Since we had spent the previous few nights at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome, we just took a quick 10 minute cab from PH to the Hyatt Paris Madeleine. However, per Google Maps, the Hyatt is 31 kilometers away from CDG airport, and would be a 34-45 minute drive from the airport.
Hotel Entrance/Check-In – When we arrived around lunch time to the hotel, there were a few guests waiting to check-in. One of the friendly staff members came to speak to us while we waited in line, and asked whether we were checking in or out of the property.
When we indicated we were checking in and gave him our name, he looked up our reservation on his handy iPad and noted that our specific room wasn’t ready yet. He said we could check-in immediately to a different room, but he recommended we wait, as our booked room on the 7th floor had a much better view. We were ready to go explore Paris, so we told him we would wait for our room on floor 7. Upon realizing our Hyatt Diamond status, he indicated that we have a choice of 1,000 extra Hyatt points, or a bottle of red wine delivered to our room, and we chose the red wine and told him we would be back around 5pm.
We decided to explore Montmartre in Paris’s 18th arrondissement while we waited for our room to become available…
And our view from the hill…
Our room was ready at 5 p.m. when we returned, but no wine was ever brought to us. It really wasn’t a big deal, but I was surprised at this oversight. We mentioned this at check-out and were graciously awarded the Hyatt points (and then a bit extra for the mix up). Conversely, the hotel staff did not forget to help us celebrate my birthday with 2 vouchers for champagne in their lobby lounge.
The Room – Our room at the Hyatt was quite spacious and had a GORGEOUS view of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. We were pleased that we waited a few hours to check in to a room on the top floor! The king-sized bed was very comfortable, and the bathroom was generously in size as well, featuring a large spa tub and a separate shower. Did I mention the view from our room was beautiful??? Besides the large bed and gorgeous view, our room featured a desk and chair, a lounge chair, and a large flat screen TV. As a note, I have read other reviews of this hotel noting that their rooms were small, so this is a case where hotel status really paid off. Remember, Platinum status is a perk of the Chase Hyatt card, which can be your ticket to a favorable room!
The one thing that surprised me about the room was the lack of a coffee maker. Complimentary coffee was available in the lobby, but I expected to find some sort of coffee maker in each guest room.
Dining –As a part of our Diamond status, we were glad to enjoy complimentary breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, Café M. The breakfast was very similar to Park Hyatt’s breakfast, just not quite as extensive. The spread included cereals and grains, assorted croissants, muffins and breads, smoked salmon, plenty of fruit, cheeses and meats, and an option for the chef to prepare eggs made-to-order.
In addition to Cafe M, the hotel features the cosy La Chinoiserie restaurant, open breakfast, lunch and dinner. We did not dine here, but we did enjoy a drink!
Overall Impression – This was a lovely and comfortable hotel and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Paris. The upgraded rooms are large and well-suited for families – a great place to take advantage of your Diamond suite upgrade. While it isn’t quite as luxurious as the Park Hyatt a few miles away, it’s a great option if paying with cash or “points + cash”, as the PH will put a much larger dent in your wallet.
Happy Travels!
MW
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