Just got back last week from a 3 night award stay using points at Vendome. I had emailed Vendome a few weeks in advance asking for an upgrade since this was a trip to celebrate an anniversary and my first time in Paris. They sent me a very nice email back stating that the upgrade had been granted. Here's a report...

We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel. The entrance to the hotel was pretty small and done in wood paneling. It seemed easy to miss if you weren't really looking for it. The property is across the street from Tiffany & Co and a few doors down from Cartier. We were greeted by a door man who was dressed in a black suit and wore an ear piece. He was very nice, took our luggage and showed us the way to reception. We were really surprised at how nice the lobby area was, especially since the entrance had been so low key. when you first walk in, The Salon is on your left. They serve food & drinks and it's where breakfast is served. Then there is a sitting area with fireplaces which leads back to the bar area. The reception area follows on the right and then the hallway leads back into the hotel's main restaurant.

When we got to the reception area, our check-in was processed pretty quickly. I handed the front desk agent my GP card, credit card, and was asked to sign the registration form which indicated that the rate for the room was normally 530 euros. I also noticed that attached to my paperwork were the emails about the upgrade. There was no mention of Diamond status, breakfast, amenity, or the upgrade. I figured I would wait until later until I asked. After check-in, we were asked if we'd like a tour of the hotel. We were escorted around the entire first floor, told about the hotel's facilities, and then brought up to our room. We were also told that our luggage would be up in a few minutes.

The room was on the 5th floor. It was a corner room with a huge terrace over looking Rue de la Paix. You could get to the terrace from either the bedroom or the bathroom. The bedroom had a king size bed with a down comforter, 2 bedside tables (both with a phone), a large desk with a small Bang & Olufsen tv(also with a phone), a chair & small table in the corner, mini-bar, and room safe. The entire room was done in mahogany with gold trim, whites, and pretty tastefully decorated. They had an interesting theme of these little bronze statues of people, which ended up mounted on the walls, as door handles, and light fixtures. The bathroom was pretty large. It was beige with more of the mahogany & gold trim. It had a separate room with a toilet & telephone. It consisted of a sink area with shelves, a tub with a hand held shower right next to a "open shower" with a glass door. The shower also had a small sitting area with a bench next to a small sink & mirror. The area in front of the tub and shower had heated floor tiles. There was also a heated towel rack on the side.

I ended up calling about the amenity & breakfast certificates. I was told that the amenity would be delivered that afternoon, and we didn't need any certificates. When we got back to our room that evening, nothing had been delivered. The following morning, we stopped by the front desk on the way to breakfast and asked about the amenity again. The agent apologized and said she would have some wine & fruit sent up right away. She also explained that the Continental breakfast was included but if we wanted anything else we would just pay the difference. The continental breakfast was 32 euros, but we ended up getting the buffet which was 42 euros. They didn't bother charging us for anything except the gratuity all 3 days we were there. We saw the desk agent after breakfast, and she told us that our wine had been delivered but the fruit basket would be delivered later in the afternoon. We never got the fruit basket, but didn't bother complaining because when we got up to our room, they had left us a nice bottle of red wine and a really nice box of chocolate from Maison du Chocolate. We were happy with that.

Over all the stay was excellent. The staff was incredibly nice. Everywhere you went in the hotel, they greeted you and were genuinely friendly. We asked the front desk for some Band-Aids and they went out of their way to get us some bandages. They even cut them down to size for us when they realized the large bandages weren't what we wanted. (Apparently europeans don't call them band-aids because we had trouble getting them a few days earlier at the Park Tower in London too.) Even after checking out, the doorman ran down the street to try and get us a taxi. We were pretty impressed by the hotel, it's staff and will definitely go back again.

Okay so here's my only gripe. Upon returning to the States, my credit card was declined. I called my credit card company to see what the problem was and they told me they suspected fraudulent charges. A company in Paris called "SAS Immobilier" had made numerous attempts to charge my card without swiping it. Three attempts for 300 euros, one for 1256, one for 1500, one for 15 cents?, and one for 204 euros. They even changed the code to a cash advance for 300 Euros when the first transactions didn't go through. When my credit card company asked them to call, they never did so they put a hold on my card. When I couldn't figure out who the company was they told me they had no choice but to cancel my card...which is really inconvenient since it's Christmas shopping season. After some research and 2 calls back to Paris, I found out the Park Hyatt charges were under "SAS Immobilier." I have no idea why they would attempt to put all those charges on my card since it was a free stay, and my final bill was 200 Euros. The credit card company thought maybe the person running the charges didn't know what they were doing. So that whole experience was annoying and really inconvenient, but otherwise a problem free stay.


[This message has been edited by Lemon-Lime (edited 12-09-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Lemon-Lime (edited 12-09-2002).]