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Our Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome Review and Photos revisits a Paris luxury hotel we've visited several times previously. This stay wasn't as good, and we'd recommend other Paris luxury hotels ahead of the Park Hyatt Paris, although there are still a few things the hotel does well.
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Park Hyatt Paris Location, Getting There, and Check-In
The Park Hyatt Paris Vendome is located at 5 Rue de la Paix in the 2nd arrondissement, about a 40 minute drive without traffic (or double that or more with heavy traffic) from Paris CDG Airport, and a 30 minute to 1 hour or more drive, depending on traffic, from Paris ORY Airport. The Palais Garnier Opera, Place de la Concorde, Musee de l'Orangerie, Louvre Museum, and Musee d'Orsay are all within walking distance of the hotel.
If you're arriving on a late night flight and just want to get through Immigration and get to the hotel as fast as possible, we highly recommend booking the third party transfer and VIP meet and greet through the Park Hyatt Paris, as this was one of the best parts of our stay (note that the hotel includes this VIP meet and greet service and one way transfer, along with additional Virtuoso benefits, for TravelSort Clients who reserve stays of three nights or longer in a Park Deluxe Room and higher categories). We were met at the end of the jetway by a gentleman holding a placard, who then escorted us the entire way through the airport, brought us to the front of the line at immigration (I overheard some initial outrage in French, followed by another traveler explaining that it was a paid service), then through some labyrinthine passageways to the garage, where our driver and Mercedes E-class were waiting to whisk us to Paris. Since we were only traveling with carry-ons, it took no more than 10 minutes from disembarking our flight until we were in our vehicle, which was fantastic. We also appreciated the professionalism of the driver who drove very smoothly, without any of the jerky, nausea-inducing driving of some taxis and Uber drivers. Full points to the third party VIP Meet and Greet and driver services. Unfortunately once we arrived at the hotel there was a lack of service. There were several bellmen, but none of them made any effort to unload our luggage, and the surprised driver hastily sprung to his fee to help us.
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Park Hyatt Paris Virtuoso Benefits
The best way to reserve a paid stay at the Park Hyatt Paris is with Virtuoso benefits, especially when reserving 3 nights or longer in a Park Deluxe or higher, so as to enjoy the aforementioned VIP and one way transfer:
- Confirmed Upgrade at time of booking to the next room or suite category – if available at time of reservation
- Daily full breakfast, for two guests per bedroom
- $100 USD Equivalent Hotel credit, to be utilized during stay (not combinable, no cash value if not redeemed in full)
- For all stays of 3 nights or above on Park Deluxe category or higher:
- Complimentary one-way private airport or train station transfer, inclusive of VIP Meet and Greet Service
- Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
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Park Hyatt Paris King Deluxe Room
King Deluxe Rooms are 323-430 sq. ft. (30-40 sq. M.) and can accommodate a rollaway bed for a third guest; note that entry level Park King and 2 Twin Rooms do not permit an extra bed, they accommodate a maximum of two guests.
Our room unfortunately left something to be desired. I'd requested a high floor, but in our exhaustion neglected to double check this at check-in. I should have asked for our room key there, instead of letting the front desk escort us to the elevator where she gave us the key. It was only then, after the elevator doors had closed, that I discovered our room was on the first floor (that is, the second floor in American terms, but the first floor where rooms are located), not the high floor I requested, and one of the darkest, worst luxury hotel rooms I’ve ever had in Paris.
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Given the late hour and need for all of us to get to sleep, it wasn't worth going back down to the reception to get another room, then have to wait for an extra bed to be brought to it. Fortunately it was only for one night.
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Other than the dark, depressing nature of the room and the street noise, since we were on the first floor and there isn't good soundproofing, the rest of the room was fine and got the job done. The extra pillows I'd requested were on the bed, and air conditioning worked well. There were some macarons and bottled water as a welcome amenity.
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There's an in-room Nespresso maker and pods, which include Tokyo Vivalto Lungo:
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The bathroom is small, with just one sink, and a combined wet area that includes both a soaking tub and next to it, a shower.
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As on previous visits, bath products are by Blaise Mautin; bring your own toiletries if you don't like heavily perfumed shampoo and conditioner.
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It is a nice touch that there are additional amenities: dental kit, mouthwash, etc. since some luxury hotels have taken to only making these available on request, necessitating a call to Housekeeping and waiting for them.
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Here's our Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome YouTube video review:
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Park Hyatt Paris Breakfast
Along with the VIP Meet & Greet service, the main other aspect of our stay that we enjoyed was the nicely curated breakfast buffet, particularly the gravlax, French yogurts, freshly squeezed orange juice, and cheeses, all served in the glass atrium-topped Cafe Jeanne. Some things were better than others; none of us cared for the shakshouka, which is a simple dish but was too watery and wasn't very flavorful. And while the pastries were good, we've had much better elsewhere in Paris.
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There were only a couple of other tables seated when we had our breakfast, so our son's eggs benedict came out relatively quickly.
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Inexplicably, since it wasn't crowded, it took three requests before I was able to get the cappuccino I'd requested. It was fine for a machine made cappuccino, but nothing to write home about.
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The Verdict
The Park Hyatt Paris was the weakest of the multiple luxury hotels we stayed at in France, Denmark, and Spain during this trip, and a markedly worse stay than the Hyatt Paris Madeleine where we stayed next. We liked the hotel's location, the breakfast buffet and the Meet & Greet service with transfer, and that was about it. Even if our stay was atypical, the mark of a great luxury hotel is consistency, so if you value a consistently good experience, stay elsewhere.
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This PH has been always overrated. I stayed there twice when a top loyalty level was complimentary and a stay was 30K points. Rooms were very dark, the service was very poor. The breakfast was very good, and the location is very convenient-pretty much the same opinion as yours. I didn
t notice Mariage Freres teas in the pictures-did they replace that great brand (and it is famous Marco Polo) with something else? Also, Ive read that the hotel replaced Blaise Mautin with Le Labo Santal-wonder if they switched back again. Looking forward to your other reviews.Totally agree with your comments about the the PH Vendome except I didn’t think the breakfast was that great. I think the breakfast was below average for what is supposed to be a high end hotel. I’ll never stay there again.
When I was in Paris a few months ago I rented a wonderful modern apartment a few blocks around the corner on Rue Saint Honore that was hands down much better than PHV.