Hotel Review: Hyatt Paris Madeleinefeatured

Location is key when visiting Paris, even more so when you’ve never visited before. With three days in Paris planned for our big Europe trip, we knew that we needed to choose a good one. Paris hotels have a reputation for being on the small side, and my family does not travel light, so our priorities in a hotel were location, size and price.

Paris is broken out in a series of districts called arrondissements. There are 20 in all, wound around the city center like a snail shell. The lower the number, the closer to the center of the city you are. When we started looking at hotels, the first thing we did was look at where the major landmarks were located. The Eiffel Tower, for instance, is located in the 7th arrondissement. The Place de Vendôme, Rue de Rivoli and the world famous Louvre museum are all located in the 1st arrondissement. The famous shopping along the Champs Elysses and the glorious Arc de Triomphe? 8th arrondissement.

Once we had a feel for the layout of the city and could dig into the arrondissements closest to the sights we wanted to visit in the city, we started looking at the specific hotels in the area. We knew we probably wanted to stay in the 7th or 8th arrondissement – those are the most centrally located to major sights – but we also knew that those would be the most expensive areas to stay in, so I focused my attention on identifying hotels that fit our criteria and finding the best possible deal I could on them.

Choosing a Hotel

Finding the best price usually means playing the Priceline game (something I’ve developed a skill at from years of bidding), but in a city with big personality and little space, I couldn’t risk the three of us ending up in a small room with a twin bed (…yep, those exist). Expedia offered unpublished rates where you wouldn’t see the hotel’s name until you booked but you could choose your bed. I’m pretty good with identifying Hotwire’s hotels, too, but on the off chance I was wrong, we could end up in a not-so-great hotel and there wasn’t room for that on this trip: it was our first visit, it was Mom’s birthday and, you know, I can’t do bad hotels. I’m a girl with some decently high hotel standards. The heart wants what it wants, and mine loves a good marble tub and high thread count sheets.

Towards the end of March, Expedia sent me an email code for $50 off any booking of three days or longer and as an Expedia+ Rewards member, I also get 10% off my hotel bookings. Above all of that, since the charge on my card would be from Expedia, I’d avoid a foreign transaction fee on my booking.

Extensive research on TripAdvisor had narrowed our search down to two hotels: the Hyatt Paris Madeleine and the Hotel du Louvre. We ultimately chose the Hyatt, and we couldn’t have made a better choice.

Location

The Hyatt Paris Madeleine is located in the high-end Madeleine area of the 8th arrondissement. The Champs Elysses was a 15-minute walk away through streets lined with designer boutiques of the likes of Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Burberry and renown favorites like Ladurée. There’s a Monoprix across the street (the French version of Target, but, like, infinitely better – more on Monoprix in a future post) and dozens of cafés within a two block radius. We didn’t use public transit during our time in Paris, but there was a Metro stop within easy walking distance of the hotel, and the L’Open Tour Hop On/Hop Off bus has stops nearby, as well.

The streets of Madeleine are a little quieter than those of the 7th or 1st arrondissement and feel adorably quaint. It didn’t take long to notice the boldly-painted doors on the buildings, adding to the character of the arrondissement.

Check In

After a long train ride in from Barcelona, we were tired and a little grouchy. There’s only so much magic a city like Paris can work when you’re running on a few hours of sleep, a couple of cappuccinos and a nearly seven hour train ride. And even though we didn’t arrive at the hotel until the evening hours, the moment we stepped out from the cab, we were greeted with a cheery Bonjour! from the bellhop, who gathered our bags from the trunk of the taxi while we went to check in at reception.

The lobby of the Hyatt Paris Madeleine is small, but in a small 86 room hotel (one of the smallest in Hyatt’s portfolio), there’s no need for a large, grandiose space. An open gathering area in the middle gives the space a larger feel, and the warm, neutral tones kept the lobby feeling upscale but welcoming. The tennis gear adorning the counter tops in honor of the French Open added a bit of fun to the tasteful décor around it.

We were immediately greeted by the staff at the reception desk as soon as we passed through the large revolving doors. Many Paris guides and reviews talk about how Parisians are more curt and aloof than Americans, but the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff at the Hyatt Paris Madeleine rivals that of any hotel we’ve stayed at in the US. They had our room ready for us and even though I’d booked through Expedia, the woman checking us in offered to help me sign up for the Hyatt Passport rewards program. She offered to give us any tips or recommendations we’d need during our stay and told us to return and let her know if our room wasn’t up to par. Having such a pleasant check in experience really got the Paris leg of our trip off on the right foot and was exactly what we needed after such a long day.

Accommodations

I had to blink twice when I opened the door and first looked into our Deluxe room. The first thing I saw were these large floor to ceiling windows, leading up to a vaulted ceiling that gave a bigger feel to a smaller room.

We’d called the evening before to inquire about a rollaway bed since we were booked in a room with a king sized bed. We can do three in a king, but two in a king and one on a rollaway is much more comfortable. We were told on the phone that a rollaway would be an additional €80 a night, so we told them we’d play it by ear. We were pleasantly surprised that a rollaway bed was set up in our room anyways when we arrived because we would have paid just about anything after sitting on that train for seven hours and better yet, they gave us the rollaway for our three night stay gratis.

The room was well-appointed, with crisp linens, wood accents and chic arm chairs. The smaller touches weren’t lost on us, either – complimentary bottles of Evian water on the bedside tables, the Apple TV hooked into the flat screen television and an iPod dock were small extras that made us feel more comfortable and gave us our own little haven to relax in after a long day of exploring the streets of Paris.

The second best part of the room, though, was the bathroom (and how often do you say that?!). The bathroom was large by not only Paris hotel standards, but by conventional hotel standards. Marble counter tops, a sunken tub, a walk-in shower and Pharmacopia products? Yes, that’ll do. Even the toilet was in it’s own separate space, and it had a telephone in it! It’s one of those things that are completely unnecessary (like doorbells on hotel rooms), but make you smile when you see it because while you don’t need it, you have it.

Other Amenities

The AppleTV in the room was free to use, as was wi-fi throughout all public areas and guest rooms. Room service isn’t free, but it does run 24 hours a day. And outside our room was a spa, a fitness room, a wine bar and a full-service restaurant.

Final Thoughts

The Hyatt Paris Madeleine combines the luxury and comfort you’d expect of any five-star Hyatt property with the personality of a boutique hotel. With the heart of Paris literally steps outside the large revolving doors, the location can’t be beat. The hotel is close enough for quick and easy access to all of the major sites and transit, but far enough away from the hustle and bustle to have a quiet place to return to after a long day of enjoying everything Paris has to offer.