Billy & Britny In December we celebrate Billy’s birthday, our anniversary, and the usual holidays Christmas and New year so we usually like to roll it all into one big trip. For this trip we decided on London and Paris, essentially our two favorite places. We are past the days of hostels and generally like to stay at a mix of Air b&bs and smaller botique hotels. We do like larger chain hotels when there is an opportunity to use points to book a room. This trip I used Hyatt points to book a 8 night stay at the 5 star Park Hyatt Paris Vendome for free. Since we didn’t have to pay anything and saved so much on those 8 nights we decided to splurge for 3 days and stay at the famous Ritz Paris for Christmas. I will say it was completely worth it and to this day no other place has topped our stay there. We booked through Grand Luxury Hotels and absolutely loved the service. The booking included breakfast, which we had in our room every morning and just that by itself was epic, you’ll see the photos below. The rate also included an upgrade if available at arrival. We hoped there would be an upgrade, but even if there wasn’t we were more than happy to look forward to the room we booked. Also included in the rate was transportation to and from the hotel.
We arrived in Paris via Air France from London. Upon arrival we were greeted by the Ritz representative at the door of the plane. He was not in the usual waiting area, he was literaly at the door of the plane where only aiport staff were allowed. He was in a suit wth an ipad displaying the Ritz and our names, he immediately took my bag and escorted us through a fast track customs and immigration area. He took us to collect our baggage and walked us to meet our driver that drove us to the Ritz in a luxurious Merecedes Benz. Along the way he entertained us with facts about the city, recommendations, and a little history lesson for duration of the drive which we absolutely loved. I’ve never had such a wonderful experience just getting to a hotel.
Upon arrival we were escorted through the small intimate lobby to the reception desk where they knew us by name. We were asked if this was our first time there and when we said yes we were told that there was a wonderful upgraded room available they were just preparing it. We said we would wait and then received a recommendation for lunch since it was just barely noon. We left our bags and walked place Vendome which was absolutely breathtaking all prepared for Christmas. We ended up at Cafe de la paix where we had the most delicious ceasar salad. Who knew the French could make a salad so much better than in the US!
We decided to head back to the Ritz and grab a drink at the famous Ritz bar. The bartenders were so nice and friendly, they made wonderful recommendations for us based on what we told them we liked. The drinks were amazing and before we knew it our room was ready. We made our way back to the lobby and then we were escorted up to our multi room suite. Yes, we actually received a wonderful upgrade to a suite. I still look at these pictures and can’t believe what a wonderful room we were in. They provided us with wine, champagne, a chocolate cake, candies, fruit, fresh flowers and a welcome note in the room. While we were looking around when a beautiful twinkling caught my eye and it was the Eiffel tower! There were 3 balconies from which we could watch her twinkling magic.
