MarkOK

Well, this got all off topic and I should have searched/created a better thread for this discussion. A couple comments must have been deleted that were made last night (maybe for getting off topic? I appreciate the work the moderators do to make the forum civilized so delete this too if you want).

The HP midtown is cheap enough in comparison that I thought about it on the basis of savings, as does the HR across in New Jersey, but I end up staying at HPs and HRs all the time and these options just doesn't excite me at all on this trip because:
1. It is rare that I visit a city with anything other than HP/HH/HRs -- I want something new, and this is a good opportunity to clinch that 5-brand award (assuming it is still ongoing). The HR Etoile was chosen for our Paris leg of the trip on the basis that the points valuation was quite good there as a Cat 4 and we got a cash+pts rate that puts in Paris for MUCH cheaper than the other central Paris Hyatts. At NYC, the prices and points costs are all closer together.
2. This is totally a pleasure trip -- No kid with us, it is just the wife and I, and NYC is where, when we were 22, we eloped (that was 12 years ago, and we haven't found a way to go to NYC since), and with our first ever trip to Paris wedged in the middle, it is a romantic trip.
3. We will have top status for the first time next year thanks to the cc promo, so while this year I have in some ways been happy to eat the free breakfasts at HPs and HHs, next year, the breakfast amenities at nicer properties are a better deal and I would like to roll my dice hoping for upgrades at properties where that is a more of a chance.

What I have done in summary as explained on my dissappeared (off topic) post is that I am buying points and going to go for the Park Hyatt. With the 40% bonus sale on points I can buy 77,000 pts for $1320, combine them with 13,000 points I have/will soon have (mostly from credit card use) and use 90,000 pts for the three nights at Park Hyatt. I will move the Hyatt Centric Times Square to the cheaper three nights in NYC (pre 7 nights in Paris) and book the PH on the points on the more expensive nights in NYC (post Paris). All told, including tax savings from using points, this will only cost me 150$ in hard cash +13,000 pts and the 'pain' of paying for the points now (vs paying for the stay in June), and all told I will basically exchange three nights at the GH with three nights at the PH.

Funny thing is this morning I did my nearly every other weekly rate check for my current reservations and rebooked three upcoming stays later this year on lower rates than my original reservations for a savings of pretty much exactly $150.

Researching this hard into the NYC Hyatts is somewhat disheartening as it seems easy to find bad things in the reviews for most of them. PH and HC Times Square appears to be quite well liked though, and based on the globalist suite upgrade thread will give me a chance of suite upgrades.

Jaimito Cartero

Just checked out yesterday. Overall, a good stay at the €18 +2500 points per night rate deal.

I'd probably be pretty disappointed if I had paid €300-400 per night. There is lots of construction going on. As I mentioned in my original post, painting was happening on the 4th floor pretty frequently. I get nauseous easily from paint fumes, so not such a good experience.

I have somewhat limited mobility, so will comment on features that worked or didn't for me.

The 24th floor room

We did get a high floor room, with am Eiffel tower view. These are small rooms, and mostly designed well. The toilet is in a bit of a cubbyhole, with the sink and one counter blocking entry. With my Buddha-like physique, it was a tight squeeze getting past these obstructions. I actually got a big bruise on my stomach.

There is a toilet hand sprayer, which was nice. Although it initially is cold water spray, and then gets very hot after 10 seconds or so.

The shower is a step up shower, but at a comfortable height. It has nice nonslip tile in it. It has a handshower on an adjustable rail for height. It had a few different spray settings, but unfortunately no needle spray.

Normally the shower is fairly low flow, but has a button you can press for greater flow, and hot water over a certain temperature.

The main mirror over the sink has a digital clock in it. I wish the main sink would have been moved a couple of inches closer to the shower, so entry into the toilet area was easier.

The bed in the room was comfortable, with a nice duvet on it. There is a small fridge (no minibar), with a clear door that kept everything quite cool.

There are some tea, and coffee stuff in the room by the front door. They sometimes brought sufficient free Evian water bottles, but other times brought none, or just one bottle for three guests.

Unlike most hotels I've seen, the restaurant staff stocks the water and such, not the maids.

The window on one side opens a slight amount, maybe 3-4". There is a window shade and window blind, operated by a chain on each side of the window. We did find it got pretty hot in there, when the sun shone in directly.

Maid service was hit and miss. There is no service room sign, only a do not disturb. I had to call at once in the mid-afternoon to get the room serviced, as it hadn't been done yet.

Your bed often won't have linen changed unless you put a card on the bed. We found some bathroom consumables weren't changed on a daily basis.

Construction Noise

Jackhammer noise was pretty common during our week stay. Often, just barely heard, but for a few days it was so loud you couldn't talk to anyone in the room. Only between 9am-4pm, thankfully.

Elevator Problems

Only 5 or so elevators were working while we were there. On our floor, pusing the down button on one side, lit the up button on the opposite side. Strange...

At times, there was a serious wait for elevators. You have to watch the lit indicator while waiting for you elevator, as there are no lights, or noises for when your elevator has arrived.

It also seemed that the hold elevator door button didn't work, as our party got split up on more than one occasion.

The hotel has a bunch of convention spaces, and on our last two days, a horde of convention workers were staying in the hotel. Making the task of getting an elevator from our almost top if the hotel floor an ordeal. They'd ride the elevators up to our floor, and so we were faced with multiple full elevators.

Waiting almost 10 minutes for an elevator in a hotel this size is silly.

Breakfast

The breakfast in the Tower Sports bar was quite good. Really good omelettes. Great orange juice, and the best fresh apple juice I can ever remember having,

Mostly good to great staff in the morning. Most wearing long sleeve blue shirts. No name tags. It can be confusing when a customer wears a similar shirt!

Only one unhelpful waiter, and after the one encounter, we tried not to sit in his section.

The fruit, pastries and bread were all really good. Small sausages and bacon were ok, and some hot items rotated from day to day. Larger sausages, greenbeans, waffles, crepes rotated. They had the same so-so cut potatoes every day. I often get bored with breakfast, but didn't here during our 7 night stay.

They had 3-4 different sliced meats, ham and turkey every day. Prosciutto, salami and sliced roast beef on occasion. Good quality, along with great Danone yogurt in glass bottles. The Kiwi flavor was amazing.

Evening cocktails/food

Evening cocktails are from 6-9pm in the Tower Sports bar. 3-4 wines are on the counter. You have a dessert cake/tart under glass that changes from pear, fig, chocolate, etc. Sometimes a small salad, or melted cheese dish.

Two types of waters were available on the main table.

Always semi burnt hardshell corn tortillas, with guacamole, sour cream and salsa, a meat tray with ham, and something else. Some cheeses. Farmers bread, although, they often only brought 4-6 slices, so I had to go to another area to get bread. Sometimes small crackers with something were on them.

The evening hour time is quite understaffed. Food would often come out in small portions, and be gone in less than a minute. Often you would wait 10-20 minutes for it to be replenished.

Soft drinks and juices were available, but you have to try and get a staff members attention, which can be tough.

When conventions or such were happening, things went totally downhill.

Elite recognition

We did get a room with a view. Not much else. A day after we checked in, we got a voucher under the door for two pastries at Illy Cafe. No hint where it was located. I believe it was on the ground floor of the mall. But we never went.

No real welcome letter or such. When we asked for a late checkout on the phone, we were flatly rejected. Only after mentioning that we were offered it at checkin, was a 2pm checkout grudgingly offered after a long wait on hold.

Area overview

There is a decent supermarket on the -1 floor, along with a number of restaurants, including a Paul sandwich place. I was going to try it, but the lunch line was huge. A small Marks and Spencer food shop nearby as well.

We ate at a Steak/Fries place, Le Relaise de Venise around the corner. Super busy, best to come 60-90 minutes after opening Mon-Thur. €28 for a salad and dinner set, tax and service included.

It seems that if you take a seat up, you're buying dinner, as my 4 year old was asleep in 5 minutes, but still got served/charged for it. Maybe it's a French thing. Still, for a busy place, good service, great fries, including refills on the meat and fries. Cold fries not so good as leftovers.

There are lots of area restaurants, and even a McDonalds, although we didn't feel such a need.

We used Uber mostly, which worked out well. If only 1-2 of us were traveling, we'd use Uber Pool, which was 20-30% cheaper, often with no other passenger. Just watch the surge pricing.

For going to our next hotel, we used a taxi out front in the que, to the Marriott near Disneyland, as Uber showed a €83 fare. Only to have the taxi meter go up to €93.50. I'm not sure why, as online taxi rate apps showed €63 for weekday travel with no traffic. I don't think I got "tunneled". Shrug.

mauld

I am currently here on a free 1 night stay, and was quite surprised at check in when I was given an Eiffel Tower view (I'm only Discoverist). As mentioned in previous posts, I've stayed here many times. I was given a newly redecorated room (1213). Finding the hotel itself was quite a challenge though. I knew check in was on the 4th floor, but didn't realize the main entrance was directly in front of where the airport bus stops. I ended up walking around the building ( under major construction), to enter the Congres area, then had to find my way to the hotel elevators. My room was great, a bit small, but nicely done, with an empty mini fridge ( better to put Cola & wine to chill) and finally a coffee/tea maker in room!! One thing I loved about the Hyatt was the View restaurant on the top floor (sure it was pricy, but happy hour offered 2 for 1 drinks) and the sunset views were sublime! Well, despite lots of pics of the cocktail bar throughout the hotel, it's still under construction. I stopped into the Sports Bar, where there's no happy hour prices, but costs are quite low (as befitting the locale?). While sitting at the bar, I suddenly noticed stains on my jeans and bag? They were dark and sticky, almost oily. I brought it to the attention of the bartender, who brought over a Manager. They said it was from the breakfast O j?? They offered me a wet napkin to clean off. Tried that, and paid and left. I'm now across the street at the Meriden,with dried, but stained jeans. Will not be going back to the Sports Bar anytime soon..I leave tomorrow, and overall am still quite happy with this Hyatt. Just back in the room, and I noticed there are no glasses, just wrapped plastic cups. But, that's not enough to keep me from returning.

mauld

PS while I was never a fan of the Jersey Shore show, I'm getting hooked on it's French counterpart. les Marseillaise vs le Monde, or en Vacance etc. (A bunch of shows / spinoffs) Who would have thought the Jersey Shore had a sister city in Marseilles. ???��

ILuvParis

How does one say "Snooki" in French?

MarkOK

eh nevermind

Firewind

Thank you, Jaimito, for your thorough and thoroughly engaging reviews. I'm not ignoring the rest of your good work, but this seems stunning...

...while above @ #532 , Mark cites a rate of 7500 pts per night+$100. (Thanks, also, Mark.)

Can anyone reconcile these? I'm missing something important. Thank you.

martyYYZ

There was a price mistake last year.
http://milesfromblighty.boardingarea...ake-room-rate/

The current C+P rate is 7500 pts per night+$100

Jaimito Cartero

It’s all about timing!

yerffej201

renovations still ongoing?

iherebyresign

I'm curious if anyone knows when the suites will be ready

CIT85

I just completed a 5 night stay. Great location for attending JEC,since JEC runs a bus from the Porte Maillot bus depot next to the hotel to Paris Nord Villepinte Expobition.

Temporary Club is located in the temporary restaurant next to the lobby. This is much better than the Sports Bar since there is no shortage of staff with the restaurant. The evening offerings are better than those at the Sport Bar, but still not as good as the old Regency Club before renovations. Breakfast for RC is full buffet in the temporary restaurant. The breakfast variety is reasonable but I did get bored with the selection after 5 days.

I had an opportunity to meet the General Manager. He is very personable and genuinely cared to hear my suggestions for improvements.

Regency Club is scheduled to open next week on the 34th floor next to the Bar. During the morning, the Bar will be open to Club guests for breakfast.

Suites are also not yet ready. The old suites were just 2 connecting regular rooms with bed in one room and an old sofa in the other room. There will be a limited number of new suites on 34th floor. The standard suites are still 2 connecting rooms but better appointed.

I'm looking forward to my next stay after all the renovations are completed.

sfvoyage

Any idea when the renovations will be completed?

PortlySpartacus

Glad you asked. Renovations are completed except for the Panoramic Bar. I'm staying 5 nights soon, good timing.

After 2 years of total transformation, be among the first to experience the brand new Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile, the only skyscraper hotel offering spectacular views over Paris and its most beautiful monuments, from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe. To top it off, the Panoramic Bar on the 34th floor will be unveiled in June 2018.

MarkOK

I'll be there for a week in early June. Hope to be able to check out the Panamoric Bar