Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée is a 5-star Category 7 waterfront hotel located in Nice, France with stunning Mediterranean Sea views in the heart of the city center. The hotel offers 187 spacious rooms, including eleven suites, with views of the terrace, pool or the Mediterranean Sea. The hotel costs around 30-35K points per night, which is a good value for Chase/Hyatt points since the cash prices tend to run high year-round (see image below).
Hotel Location
From the hotel, Nice-Ville Train Station is a 15 minute walk, while Nice-Cote d’Azur (NCE) Airport is just 3.7 mi away.
Award booking Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée
I used my Hyatt points to book 4 nights at this hotel and also applied one of my Suite Upgrade Awards (SUA’s) to secure a “Regency Suite” at the time of booking.
I noticed that the hotel does not restrict room or standard suite availability (like some other popular Hyatt’s) and opens them 13 months ahead.
My Lost Hyatt Suite Upgrade Award
Since I made this booking a year before my arrival, somehow I lost the SUA attached to this reservation (I am not sure where I used it and Hyatt customer service has no way to retrieve it). I suspected it after I received an email from the Hyatt about a change in the reservation (see image below).
I quickly checked on the Hyatt hotel webpage and noticed that the Regency Suite was still available (no one grabbed it since it was just released from the hold). I immediately called the Hyatt customer service line and they were able to secure the Regency Suite with another SUA (I removed it from one of my upcoming reservations and used it here).
Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée Check in
We arrived at Nice airport around 11am from Newark after taking the United nonstop flight and we took a taxi to the hotel. The check-in process was very quick and they recognized my Globalist status. When I mentioned it was my wife’s birthday, they offered us their top of the line Penthouse Suite for an additional 800 Euros per night. We politely rejected the offer since we had a lot of expenses and did not feel the need for a bigger suite. It was a tempting offer, since the Penthouse Suite costs over 2000 Euros per night.
We waited a couple of hours for the suite room to be ready and one of the front desk staff members accompanied us to show the room.
The Regency Suite
I did not expect the Regency Suite to be this big and was pleasantly surprised after noticing the suite to be the size of an apartment (67 square meters) with a large main bathroom, two separate toilet rooms, a large living area combined with a dining area along with a walk in closet and bedroom. The only odd thing I noticed was that the king bed was put together by two twin beds adjoined together leaving a gap between them (I am surprised to see this in a suite). The hotel also provides plenty of small eco-friendly disposable water bottles instead of the traditional plastic water bottles.
Hotel Wi-Fi Connection Speed
This hotel has one of the worst Wi-Fi connection speeds I have encountered in recent memory (see image below).
Indoor/Outdoor Heated Pool
The heated indoor pool stretches out to the courtyard and remains busy with kids and adults.
Dry Sauna & Steam Room
There are separate rooms for a dry sauna and a steam room (Hammam) with showers on the 6th floor.
Fitness Center
The fitness center (on the 3rd floor) is on the smaller side with some basic equipment and free weights.
Breakfast
The breakfast buffet is very well presented with plenty of fruits, cereals and assortments. We especially enjoyed the omelet station with friendly chefs making any style of eggs you prefer with smiley faces. There is plenty of seating indoors and outdoors (with a nice ocean view from some areas with high up seating).
Nearby Dining
The hotel is located in the heart of dining in Nice and will be enjoyed by food lovers who never like repeat-dining in the same place again. There are plenty of options for dining within a short walking distance and we tried the following places during our stay:
Brunch in Nice: Very small place with wonderful, tasty brunch options.
Téta Marie Lebanese restaurant: We went twice here to enjoy the Baba Ganoush and chicken Taouk served with basmati rice mixed with vermicelli.
Taverne Masséna: We enjoyed Spaghetti Bolognese and Lasagna.
Delizi brunch et pizzeria Nice: We ordered a large spicy salami pizza to share which was very tasty.
Traveling from the hotel to nearby cities via train
Uber prices tend to be high for exploring nearby attractions like Monte Carlo and Cannes (pronounced as Canne). Uber prices tend to run between 45-60 Euros for a one way trip to these locations. Uber makes sense for a group/family of four to enjoy the ride without having to walk 15 minutes each way to the train station from the hotel. We took an Uber one way when going to Monte Carlo, but it was difficult to find them on the way back to the hotel due to restrictions in Monaco.
For those who don’t mind the walk to the station and like to save money, I recommend using the SNCF Connect smartphone app to take the train, which makes it easy to buy tickets with your overseas issued credit cards and clearly shows which train path along with the number of the platform. Google Maps in France DO NOT show the train platform number and you have to rely on purchasing tickets from a kiosk after standing in a long line at the station.
Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée 4pm Globalist Late Checkout is NOT Guaranteed
A few days before my arrival, I received a welcome letter from the hotel manager and the following message caught my attention.
“Please kindly note that our check-out time is noon. Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée is classified as a resort hotel per Hyatt, therefore late check out at 4.00 PM for Globalist members will be subject to availability“.
I was surprised to see that it was not mentioned in any reviews from travel bloggers that stayed at this hotel.
Globalist work around for late checkout
I was hoping for a 4pm checkout at this property since our flight to Casablanca was at 8pm. We waited until the last day and requested the front desk hoping for as late-as-possible checkout (hoping for 1-2pm). However, the hotel manager was gracious enough to offer us (because of Globalist status) to check into a standard courtyard room on the day of checkout so we can relax there till we leave for the airport. It made perfect sense that the suite rooms are very few and they needed us to check out at noon to clean them properly for the next guest arrival. We checked out around 11am from the suite and the hotel moved our luggage to the new room on the 4th floor. We were able to eat out, enjoy the gym and the pool, take a shower and checked out around 5.30 pm to catch our flight.
If you are a globalist with a late evening flight, I recommend talking to the hotel manager for a similar work around during your stay.
Conclusion
Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée is one of the best Hyatt properties to book with points and enjoy a massive Regency Suite by using your SUA’s ahead of time. The Regency Suite may not have the best water views, but it is spacious enough to enjoy a week in this fabulous hotel. Other than the slow Wi-Fi speeds and the way the king bed is in the Regency Suite (two attached twin beds), I see no other issues with this hotel.