Why Hyatt hotel suite upgrades with points are great value in Paris

This is our review of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile hotel.

There are a lot of things to like about the World of Hyatt loyalty programme (guaranteed room availability for points, modestly priced reward chart, no revenue-based pricing, excellent top tier status benefits).

There are, of course, two bad things – the huge difficulty in earning points if you don’t live in the US (no UK credit card partnership for a start) and the relatively modest Hyatt footprint in Europe.

One thing which is worth shouting about is the suite upgrade award. This has always been part of the programme, but Hyatt has now made them bookable online. In the days when you had to call up to book, most people simply didn’t bother to check out the option.

On Monday night I was at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile, above. The website is here.

This is, by a huge margin, the cheapest Hyatt property in central Paris. It was going to be even cheaper for me because it is in the current ‘spend £250 and get £100 cashback’ American Express / Hyatt offer.

I’ll review the hotel briefly in a minute, but let’s look at the situation I was in.

Whilst relatively cheap, and recently refurbished, the rooms here are very small at 22 sq m. You may be in a 34 storey building with cool views of the Eiffel Tower from your room, if you’re on the correct side:

….. but 22 sq m is tiny if you need to work, even when you’re on your own.

The hotel has Regency Suites at 44 sq m. Unsurprisingly, given that a standard room is 22 sq m, these are made from two rooms merged together. This isn’t ideal – you end up with two bathrooms which you don’t need – but offers a separate space to work and a decent sofa.

(If travelling with your partner, the 2nd bathroom may actually come in handy because the bathrooms are s-m-a-l-l. Having one each would make your life a lot easier.)

Here is a typical bit of pricing from next Monday:

• €205-€245 – standard room, depending on floor

• €455 – Regency Suite

• 15,000 World of Hyatt points – standard free room

• 24,000 World of Hyatt points – Regency Suite

• €205 + 6,000 World of Hyatt points – Standard room with immediate upgrade to Regency Suite

All of the three World of Hyatt redemptions above are good value for your points. We value a World of Hyatt point at 1.1p but you easily beat that here.

The Regency Suite is an outstanding deal. You are basically using 6,000 World of Hyatt points to get an additional €250 of value.

At Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile, there is an extra benefit. All suites come with Club Lounge access.

The lounge is on the 34th floor with a double height ceiling so you can imagine the views. For just 6,000 points over the cost of a base room, I got a suite PLUS club lounge access.

(It is also possible to use 3,000 World of Hyatt points to add club access to a standard room at this hotel. Whilst good value, I’d go the whole hog and use 6,000 points to get a suite with club access thrown in.)

On some nights – but not the night I was there – the suite upgrades are even better. There are nights where you can pay 9,000 World of Hyatt points over the cost of a standard room and get a 70 square metre Regency Executive Suite. This looks from the website like a ‘proper’ suite, ie not created by cobbling together adjacent rooms.

With a Regency Executive Suite typically costing €605, paying €205 plus 9,000 World of Hyatt points is an excellent deal.

A quick review of Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile

I should say a few words about Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile as I stayed here for one night. The photos are scattered around the text above and below but are self explanatory I think.

There is a reason this hotel is cheap. It is out of the way, situated between the Arc de Triomphe and the office district of La Defence. Porte Maillot, Line 1, is the nearest Metro station but Line 3 (Porte de Champerret) is around 10 minutes walk and more convenient for some places.

You can get around quickly. Door to door, it took 25 minutes from the hotel to Opera metro station and half of that was the walk to Line 3.

The hotel is attached to Le Palais des Congrès de Paris (which contains a small shopping mall as well as a conference centre) and is presumably a lot pricier when events are on. It has almost 1,000 rooms across 34 floors.

Getting from the metro stations to the hotel is scrappy because a tram is currently being built in the area. Whilst both the hotel and the conference centre are architectural monstrosities, as soon as you leave the building and walk towards Porte de Champerret metro you enter ‘traditional’ Paris. The new Fondation Louis Vuitton museum is walkable.

The refurbished rooms are smart enough but small, especially the bathrooms:

Suites come with a coffee machine and a kettle, other rooms just have a kettle. Neither come with milk – steal some sachets from Eurostar.

The lounge is surprisingly pleasant with great views.

There was very little to eat during the afternoon but the evening spread was acceptable (sandwiches, cheese, various fruit and vegetable nibbles, cakes, various wines, beers and soft drinks) if you are working and just need a quick bite, as I did.

The lounge breakfast, not pictured, was good. You can’t order cooked items from a menu but there is hot food available, along with the usual cold buffet breakfast items. It was certainly at the upper end of what you’d expect in a four-star hotel lounge.

I should also mention that the hotel has a 34th floor sky bar, next to the Club Lounge, and a 24-hour mini market on the ground floor if you want a quick takeaway snack.

All in all, whilst I personally won’t be rushing back – I like being able to walk to the main attractions without ever using the metro if at all possible – there is real value here, especially if you use World of Hyatt points to upgrade to a suite. The pleasant Club Lounge and the astonishing views are an extra bonus.

Given some of the crazy hotel pricing going on at the moment, €205 plus 6,000 points for a 44 sq m suite with a 28th floor view of the Eiffel Tower, plus drinks, evening snacks and breakfast from the Club Lounge, was a good deal.

PS. Don’t forget there is a 30% discount on Hyatt points ….

Until 30th December 2021, Hyatt is offering a 30% discount when you buy World of Hyatt points via this link.  This is a good opportunity to try out one of these suite upgrade redemptions.

If you want to learn more about World of Hyatt, our full review is here.

PPS. Hyatt Prive benefits are available too

If you staying 2+ nights at this hotel, you can get special Hyatt Prive benefits by booking through our hotel partner Emyr Thomas (details here). You pay the same as the standard flexible rate shown online and pay at check-out as usual.

If you want to use World of Hyatt points to upgrade to a club room or a suite, however, you need to book via the Hyatt website.

---

World of Hyatt update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: World of Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion

New to World of Hyatt?  Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.