REVIEW: Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme (Paris2024: How my bucket list Olympics trip came to be)

Updated November 15, 2024

November 15, 2024

I was very intentional with the dates that I booked my Virgin Voyages comped cruise in hopes that there would be a way for me to be able to attend Paris2024. I have heard that luck is when preparation meets opportunity and I wanted to be set up for success on the off chance that I would come across “reasonably priced” tickets to see Simone Biles. And while seeing her was top of the list, I come from an Olympics obsessed home, so I knew I would be happy attending any Olympics event.

Then Lady Luck made an appearance whilst I was on the Resilient Lady….

Well technically the issue wasn’t finding tickets to events (besides women’s gymnastics) but that all lodging was prohibitively expensive in Paris. In fact, earlier this year, I was successful in the Paris2024 lottery to get tickets but I could not find any way to use my points for hotels and hostels/AirBnB were too expensive to consider cash-wise.

Whilst relaxing on a sea day/sailing the Med on my Virgin comped cruise, I came across an article about Paris2024 that spoke of how demand was not as strong as expected resulting in lower hotel occupancy rates and that additional tickets were being released for many events. Then I saw in a post in a points and miles group that said they were seeing hotels release rooms bookable on points…so this set off my mad dash to make this dream trip happen.

First I checked Hyatt and saw that there were consecutive nights available at a few of their hotels that I could use points for! The original plan was to stay 2-4 nights when my top events would happen and maybe I would be able to land a great seat and/or see one of those sports…to say I was lucky would be an understatement.

HOTEL INFO

HOW I BOOKED 

Direct with Hotel via HOTEL LOYALTY PROGRAM: World of Hyatt (WOH)

• LOYALTY PROGRAM HOTEL SPECS: Category 8 – Peak
• COSTS: 45,000 WOH points/night: 90,000 WOH points/stay (2 nights) + $0.00 (Hyatt does not charge resort fees nor taxes on award stays)

SAVINGS: $5,578.08

While I’ve wanted to stay at the Park Hyatt one day, I didn’t think that it would happen for a few reasons. It is rarely available on points, I am not in the position to be able to pay cash for such an aspiration hotel stay, + Paris wasn’t high on my places to visit since I have been and there’s so much of the world to visit for the first time. And honestly, I don’t seek out these luxury properties for stays as I have a hard time justifying using that many points for a room that I am barely in.

But life is funny in how things work out, isn’t it? The Hyatt Regency (my points preference hotel) was not available but the Park Hyatt, Hotel Louvre and Hyatt Madeleine all were for the weekend of August 3 – 5. The other two hotels were 35K WOH points/night vs the 45K WOH points/night for the Park Hyatt. So why would I spend the extra 20K points? Two reasons: first I am flush with points so that wasn’t really a big factor in my decision making. Second, this hotel is rarely available to book on points and this was a weekend during the summer Olympics: so my thinking was “if not now, when?”

My trip to Paris became a complete wanderlist trip when I was able to book beach volleyball tickets at the Eiffel Tower Stadium and the Park Hyatt within minutes of each other!

_{Beautiful Tip: review cancellation policies carefully before booking. For certain events (ie Olympics or Taylor Swift concert), the reservation is often nonrefundable at booking. AND you do not forfeit the points if you no-show, you will be charged the prevailing cash rate for the entirety of your stay. For reference, the property emailed me shortly after I booked to reiterate this cancellation policy and the penalty of €2,500 PER NIGHT I would have to pay if I no-showed or canceled.}

HOW TO EARN THE POINTS FOR REDEMPTION

WORLD OF HYATT TRANSFER PARTNERS:

• Bilt Rewards
• Chase Ultimate Rewards

CREDIT CARDS:

Chase Sapphire Preferred (WITH LIMITED TIME elevated sign up bonus)

WOH STATUS PERKS/EXPERIENCE 

STATUS: Explorist

PERKS: None – I was not upgraded at check-in and did not ask for a late check-out

EXPERIENCE: The service was exceptional but I don’t believe that having status made any difference* (perhaps it did with having the Guest Relations Manager assigned – see helpful little tips)

ROOM

_{Beautiful Tip: If you can’t find your TV remote, it’s in the bound gold book on your nightstand – it might have taken me a couple of minutes to locate it!}

ROOM TYPE: Park Room King

ROOM # : 221

ROOM SIZE/CONFIGURATION: This is a standard room and bathroom and I found the decor to be elegant and understated (especially for a luxury hotel in this area of Paris). The room was ~30 square meters (323 sq. ft) that felt spacious even with a king-size bed, side table with chair and small desk area and chair in the room. Part of this can be attributed to having lots of natural light in the room through multiple windows and a balcony that offered a courtyard view of the hotel’s restaurant. I do love that the windows and doors were double paned so noise was only present if they were open!

The limestone bathroom felt massive not only with a separate shower and deep soaking tub but included a bench area and sink/mirror combo IN THE shower area! The robes and towels were as plush and comfy as one would expect for a hotel of this caliber. The Blaise Mautin bath products are specially made for the Park Hyatt Paris and I love how the scent is also lightly sprayed throughout the hotel – definitely in the running for fave bath products I have enjoyed this year!

A WC that had a Toto washlet and a handheld bidet was to the left of the shower/tub area and the bathroom continued to right with a sink/vanity area that transitioned into the closet area with a large towel warmer.

Upon entering the room, there is a coffee and tea station with a Nespresso machine that is refreshed daily but you are also able to call for service as desired. Bottles of water are also provided gratis but note that the items in the minibar are not complimentary.

Of note is that the room has individually controlled heating and air-conditioning which was very welcome during the very hot Parisian summer (and I am not someone that normally uses air-con!) If this is an important amenity, this is something that you absolutely should check as many hotels in Europe do not have a/c or the units are controlled by the hotel which leaves rooms considerably warmer than you may like. The bathroom floors are also heated which would be a welcome amenity during the cold or even chilly months.

_{Beautiful Tip: Did you know that you can request items like toothpaste, sewing kits or combs from many hotels if you forgot them? Some hotels like the Park Hyatt Paris take service further by providing them for you in your room.}

SERVICE EXPERIENCE 

I’ll admit that I can feel out of place when staying at luxury hotels – especially when in a posh area like Place Vendôme when I walk in with my North Face duffel and backpack. But a great hotel will make everyone feel welcomed and the Park Hyatt Paris was amazing in that aspect. When you walk into the hotel you will come upon a desk that houses the concierge and valet teams – who will ask to take your bags and for your name (and convey it to the front desk team).

I was early for check-in and knew that it was unlikely that a room was ready for me (especially since I had requested a feather free room) so I chatted with the front desk and left my bags and headed to a women’s football semifinals match. I appreciate that they had checked re how to communicate with me about room status and promptly sent me a Whatsapp message a half an hour later letting me know that my room was ready. I replied that I wouldn’t be back until much later due to attending Olympic events.

When I got back to the hotel, I was given a mini-tour of the hotel (my request since I needed to shower and be off to the next event) and was walked to my room. What happened next illustrates the level of service that the hotel is committed to: when we came into the room, turn down service was being done to the room. That made sense to me based on the time of evening when I came back to the hotel but both the host and room attendant were a bit shocked and apologized profusely. And within minutes, an assistant front office manager called down to apologize – which I informed her was completely unnecessary but especially since I have worked in hospitality.

The hotel wants the service to be so seamless and smooth and without the guests ever seeing or experiencing what happens to make it so that the experience feels so luxurious but natural. I don’t fault them for that but I am well aware of all the hard work that it takes to run a hotel and it made me feel a little bad (but perhaps that’s more on me and other issues)

Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme’s service never felt stiff or stuffy and the staff was always friendly and engaging. The host that brought me to my room also walked through the different amenities in the room including those that were gratis. Also appreciated touches like my ice bucket being refilled, I had friends over the first evening but we didn’t finish the bottle so I used the champagne stopper (that worked like a dream btw) and came back the next day to it still chilled. I was able to have another celebratory glass after watching Noah Lyles win the men’s 100M in person!

LUXURIOUS LITTLE TOUCHES

Luxury isn’t just the surroundings but how you’re cared for. It may seem like little touches but when a property has taken the time to think through these things and continually executes on them, I find that they show that the hotel really wants to elevate your experience and the hotel. 

Exhibit A (top left photo): All of the orchids around the hotel including in the rooms are real. What this tells me is that the hotel feels confident that they have all the room and service standards down well enough to add caring for live plants to the mix which is no small feat! Plus the flowers are gorgeous and add to the ambiance. 

Exhibit B (top right photo): Complimentary hat and “summer kit” care package containing hand cream, face mist and SPF. As someone that is team carryon, this was such a delight to come across especially during a very hot Parisian summer. 

Exhibit C (bottom photos): Turndown service that continues the well thought out and executed service. They take the typical second cleaning of the room and set up for the evening seriously: glasses and bottles of water are set out on the night stands and along with slippers at each side of the bed. But also when it was noticed that I was solo, slippers were laid out only on the side of the bed I was sleeping on. I do like that I still got two boxes of chocolates nightly. 

Not pictured but perhaps my FAVORITE thing about staying at the Park Hyatt: the sleep experience. The bed was dreamy pun intended as it may be the best one I’ve ever slept on. And I sleep best in pure darkness which I was able to get so I was in sleep heaven. It’s extremely rare to get this especially in a hotel (IYKYK the struggle with the gaps around curtains) but the PHP has this blackout button to the side of the bed that does some type of magical trick to block out all outside light. And as importantly, care has been taken to eliminate those other little sources of lights from electronics around the room. 

RESTAURANTS/FITNESS/SPA/POOLS

This is a mini review as I had a fully packed Olympics schedule for my two night stay so I did not have a chance to eat on property and scope out the rest of the hotel for a full review.

HELPFUL HINTS

When you stay at luxury properties, you often will receive an email from the concierge or VIP team (based on status) at booking to welcome you to the property, to ask if you have any requests or needs that they can help you with as they will introduce themselves as a resource for your stay. This is a great time to reiterate any room requests that are important (ie for me, feather free pillows and preference for a quiet room) and to let them know if you are celebrating anything – I let them know that I was there on a bucket list trip with the stay at their hotel and going to the Olympics.

At check in, Beatriz, the guest relations manager came out to greet me and we chatted about my trip and how this was a birthday gift to myself. She left the sweetest surprise for me in my room – I got my own Olympic gold medal (a yummy decorated chocolate) along with delicious champagne, balloons and a very sweet card from her!

OVERALL IMPRESSION

It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday in Paris – bucketlist trip to the Olympics and a super posh stay at the Park Hyatt Paris. The funniest thing is that I keep looking to see if any nights are available on points…and that should tell you everything that I am wanting to return to Paris and stay at this hotel!

Have you stayed at this property – what are your thoughts on it? Or is this now on your list of places to stay?