Maddy: We stayed at the beautiful Hyatt Paris Madeleine in December as part of our magical Christmas adventure.
We’ll show you EVERYTHING, including our room with a marble bathroom, the appliances, the cleanliness level, the fitness center, the steam room, and the complimentary bicycles — and we’ll even take you on a quick walk around the safe and cute neighborhood surrounding the hotel — both during the day and at night.
Scott: We’ll help you decide if Hyatt Paris Madeleine is worth it for your situation. We’ll also reveal how we stayed for free. Yes, really!
Maddy: We’ll map out the location so you know how far it is to walk or ride to major attractions.
Scott: And we’ll show you the surprise perk of this hotel.
Maddy: It was delicious!
Scott: But we’ll also tell you straight-up a major drawback we did not like at all.
Maddy: You’re going to complain about the toilet paper.
Scott: Yes! But there was actually something worse in the bathroom.
Also, if you’re staying in winter, you’ll want to stay tuned for another potential drawback.
OK, let’s start by discussing the price.
Table of Contents
Price
Scott: Depending on whether you book during Paris’ high season or low season, expect to pay between $400 and $700 per night. But we paid $0. That’s because we used 25,000 Hyatt points instead of money.
In upcoming videos, we’ll teach you our insider tips on how to turbo-boost your points collection.
Maddy: Using points, we think the Hyatt Paris Madeleine is worth it. But if we were to spend $700 in peak season, we’re not so sure based on the particular room we stayed in.
Scott: Let’s talk location.
Distance From Major Attractions
Scott: We picked this hotel because we wanted an upscale experience that was walkable to the sites we hadn’t yet explored in Paris.
Maddy: It’s about a 12-minute walk to the Opera or a 5-minute drive.
Scott: It’s a 10-minute walk to the fashionable street, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, which was beautifully decorated for the holiday season.
Maddy: It’s about 15 minutes walking or a few minutes drive to Place de la Concorde. From there, you can turn onto the world-famous Champs-Elysee and walk all the way to the Arc de Triomphe.
Scott: Or, you can turn in the other direction to walk into Tuileries Garden. We visited in December, and the garden was transformed into a festive Christmas market/carnival where Maddy enjoyed the French delicacy known as churros.
Maddy: Hey, not everything you eat in France needs to be French!
Scott: True. We did eat escargot, so we totally have French street cred now.
Maddy: We also walked to Place Vendome from our hotel because it was only 15 minutes. It was decked out with shimmering lights and Christmas trees.
Scott: I also really like that Hyatt Paris Madeleine is just a 10-minute walk to Galeries Lafayette.
Maddy: The hotel is also conveniently located within a few minutes walk of 2 to 3 grocery stores.
Scott: Looking to visit the Eiffel Tower? The Hyatt Paris Madeleine is about a 45-minute walk, a 10-minute drive, or 30 minutes by mass transit to perhaps the world’s most famous landmark.
Distance From Airport
Scott: Hyatt Paris Madeleine is about 30 minutes by car from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport or about 80 minutes by mass transit.
OK, let’s show you around our room.
Room
Maddy: We didn’t upgrade to a room with a view or to a suite because we planned on being out of the hotel most of the time.
Scott: That’s why I think if you’re being charged $700 a night, you might not be satisfied with the room we received because it only had a view of the interior courtyard. Other rooms have a view of the Eiffel Tower.
Maddy: Our Queen bedroom was about 200 square feet. There’s a marble bathroom with a bathtub, and the room has a closet, drawer space, a desk, a safe, a mini refrigerator, a Nespresso machine, a 40-inch TV, a hairdryer, and free WiFi, which worked great for us.
Scott: The bed was comfortable enough.
Maddy: And our room was quiet, so that was good for sleeping.
We got a bit of natural light, but we couldn’t really use it. More on that in a moment.
We also got soft robes and slippers.
Scott: There’s good lamp lighting in the room. And the TV is properly aligned with the bed.
Maddy: The refrigerator was OK but not really big enough to keep leftover restaurant boxes or groceries.
Scott: Luckily, we had no leftover churros. The room has European electrical outlets and USB.
Maddy: We were on the first floor with an interior view, so we were pretty much looking at the courtyard. It’s an OK view, but nothing impressive.
If you want a view, you’ll need a room facing outward on a higher floor. Certain rooms face the Eiffel Tower, and you’ll generally pay more for them unless you receive a status upgrade.
Scott: Another drawback we experienced was that the closed window let in a lot of cold air. For that reason, we kept the heavy curtain over it. We had enough heat in the room, and it didn’t affect our sleep. But we did close that curtain to keep out the cold winter draft, so we lost the natural light.
Bathroom
Scott: Let’s talk about the fancy bathroom! Fancy looking. Except we ran into a slippery problem.
Maddy: It was impossible to shower without the entire bathroom getting wet! As is the case in many European showers, the tub can’t entirely be enclosed by the glass for some reason. And our handheld shower wasn’t working properly. But we only stayed for one night, and we were too tired to ask maintenance about it, so we just went with it.
Scott: Also, why can you pay $700 for a hotel room or have Diamond Platinum Emperor Status, yet still, the toilet paper they give you is scratchy?
Maddy: Here we go…
Scott: Hotel Executives, would it kill you to give us two ply?
Maddy: The bathroom is stocked with Clarins bath products, though not cushy-on-the-tushy toilet paper for my sweet baby’s delicate bottom.
Scott: Let’s show everyone the amenities.
Amenities
Maddy: There’s a fitness center that we totally intended to use. It’s open 24/7 and is equipped with one treadmill, one cross trainer, one exercise bike, dumbbells, and more.
Scott: There’s also a sauna and a steam room if you want a good schvitz. And they have locker rooms.
Maddy: They also have electric bicycles you can use for free.
Let’s discuss a few of the nice touches this hotel offers.
Nice Touches
Maddy: Keeping true to their name, the hotel treats guests to scrumptious madeleines! If you haven’t had one yet, a madeleine is a cute little French sponge cake/cookie made with eggs, butter, flour, sugar, and vanilla. They’re fluffy on the inside and just a tiny bit crispy on the outside.
Scott: We also liked the cute branded water and tea cups from the hotel.
Maddy: And we were gifted complimentary minibar items like soda, chips, and candy on our arrival day.
Scott: What would you say is the vibe of the Hyatt Paris Madeleine?
Vibe
Maddy: Understated luxury. We didn’t call on the service, so we really can’t speak to that, but it certainly wasn’t overbearing or overly attentive.
Everything was clean and professional. The hotel doesn’t feel too big or rushed like hotels can when they’re in a skyscraper, like when we stayed in Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile.
The Hyatt Paris Madeleine has 85 rooms, so we never had to wait long for an elevator, and the lines at the front desk moved quickly.
The lobby had people in it, but it wasn’t packed.
Scott: I think your experience very much depends on the room you get. If you want romance or to feel pampered, I recommend splurging for that Eiffel Tower view.
Maddy: So, is it worth it?
Is It Worth It?
Scott: If we go to this hotel again, we’ll try a suite or a room with a view of Paris. Then I think the Hyatt Paris Madeleine could be worth the cash price and most definitely worth the price using Hyatt points.
The hotel was worth it to me using points, even with the first-floor queen room facing the courtyard, because of the convenient location, cleanliness, safety, and upscale feel.
But this room style fell short of feeling romantic. Overall, the hotel certainly fell short of the “wow” factor you might expect at this price.
Otherwise, the Hyatt Paris Madeleine is a perfectly acceptable and very nice hotel. But there are many of those in Paris, so you wouldn’t need to go out of your way for this one.
You’d have to really value the fitness room, sauna, and steam room for it to make sense at full price, in my opinion.
Maddy: Or you can eat $700 worth of their delicious Madeleine cakes!
Scott: That would make them FORTUNE cookies. Voila!
Maddy: Goodness gracious.
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