I’d Love To Book The Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile But…

We recently got back from a trip to Europe where we visited both London and Paris. We quickly settled on the Holiday Inn Express London Hammersmith as our hotel for out time in London but we had a tricky time finding a good hotel for our family. Because we were traveling with 4 people (2 adults and 2 kids), many of the hotels that we were looking at would not fit our family. I was willing to book two rooms potentially, but even that came with some problems.

Trying To Book the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile

My first choice was trying to book the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile. The location was near the Eiffel Tower and some of the other things that we were trying to see while we were in Paris, and the points price was decent. There were a few options to consider

I was looking at the standard room (1 King Bed for 15,000 points). Since we were staying for 2 nights in the center of Paris and we’d need 2 rooms, that would be 60,000 Hyatt points total, which seemed like a decent price, given the alternative options

Booking a Room at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile

But then I thought about the Club Room. It was only 6,000 points more, and given the cost of food in France, having breakfast (and possibly dinner and/or snacks) included at the hotel might be a good option. So I decided to book that instead. If you are booking award stays at Hyatt, you have to book multiple room separately, so I went ahead and booked the first one.

But then when I went to book the second room…. that option was gone.

Apparently there must have only been one room left at that option. I did consider trying to book the 2nd room as just a standard room and still have all 4 of us take advantage of the Regency Club access, but I didn’t feel good about that (and plus, I have been to plenty of clubs where they are checking room numbers and reservations at the club).

Trying To Make It Work

I know that many hotels (especially fancy Hyatt hotels) like to play games with award availability, but this didn’t seem like an instance of that happening. Still, clearly there WERE rooms available, so I tried to contact the hotel via email to see if they might be able to work with me. I was willing to even potentially pay something to open up access to the room type that I was interested in, but not willing to pay 239 Euros plus 3,000 Hyatt points to book the Cash + Points option.

Unfortunately, we got nowhere. Here’s what I got back

Dear Mr. Miller,

 

Warmest greetings from Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile.

 

First, we would like to thank you for your interest in our hotel and for your loyalty.

 

We kindly inform you that we do not have a Family Room or Suite available that can accommodate 3 adults +1 child up to 12 years old using the World of Hyatt Points. Nevertheless we are pleased to propose the following options:

He then proceeded to list out the exact same options that were showing on the website. Uhhh thanks?

In any case, after going back and forth a bit, it became clear that either I wasn’t talking to the right person, or they weren’t able to or interested in working something out. Which is totally their prerogative to do (or not do).

The Bottom Line

After a bit of trying to work things out with the staff at the hotel, I ended up just canceling the bookings at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile and trying to find a different room. We eventually settled on a cash booking at the Marriott Courtyard Paris Gare de Lyon. We used the $300 travel credit from our Capital One Venture X card as well as Venture miles to offset the booking, and had a great stay. Perhaps it will have to be next time to book this hotel.

Ever stayed at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile or experienced frustration trying to book a hotel room? Leave your story in the comments below

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