Hyatt Paris Madeline is Not a Bad Way to Use Your Chase Points in Paris

On my most recent trip to Paris, I stayed at both of the Park Hyatt Vendôme and Hyatt Paris Madeline. I think that Hyatt points now represent the best value for hotel point redemptions in Paris, and perhaps in all of Europe.

I am a big fan of the Park Hyatt Vendôme. This is where you want to stay in Paris. The hotel is simply outstanding and elegant is a way that virtually no other hotel in the Hyatt family matches. As a Hyatt category 7 hotel, you can stay there with 30,000 Hyatt points per night and Chase Thank You points transfer at a 1-to-1 ratio. There are many ways to quickly rack up Chase points by pursuing a strategy involving two or more of their credit card products. By redeeming these points at a hotel like the Park Hyatt Vendôme, where the paid rates start at $1200 a night, you can easily achieve greater than 4 cents in value per point by staying at the Vendôme.

But, the Park Hyatt is not always available for points, and when it isn’t, the Hyatt Paris Madeline is also a super sweet hotel offering a great place to redeem your Chase and Hyatt points.

Whereas rack rates are much lower than the Park Hyatt (around $400 a night) the Hyatt Paris Madeline is very elegant with a very pleasant lobby and more contemporary décor than the Park Hyatt. The location on Boulevard Malshebes is not as prime, but it is close to Madeline and the Place de la Concorde. It is a category 6 Hyatt, and at 25,000 points, you won’t be maximizing your value per point as you are with Park Hyatt, but you will still be achieving more than a penny and a half per point, and staying at a hotel that is very much nicer than most other luxury hotels in Paris.

I have previously advocated using Starwood and even Radisson and Intercontinental points in Paris. With the Marriott acquisition, I’d now prefer to hold my Starwood points for 7 night Point and Mile redemptions in Hawaii (Paris, though great, isn’t worthy of a 7 night stay). Radisson has disposed of the nicest hotels in its Paris portfolio and killed their loyalty program over the last few years. The Crowne Plaza at Place de la Republique, a once Holiday Inn, is a perfectly nice and inexpensive Intercontinental hotel, but not a great point value. While it may be a reasonable place to stay for cash, it simply isn’t in the same category as the Hyatts.

What both the Park Hyatt and the Hyatt Paris Madeline have done exceptionally well is keeping out the less than desireable ultra-wealthy that overwhelms a lot of the high end Paris and London hotels these days. The Park Hyatt Vendôme does this through small male sculptures all over the place, and the Hyatt Paris Madeline does it through simply being understated. The Churchill in London, also a Hyatt hotel, in juxtaposition to both Paris hotels, is a little more exotic and over the top.

See the best cards for racking up hotel and airline rewards points here.