I stayed in Rouen for two nights in late November using points at the Hyatt Place Rouen, whose webpage calls itself "an elegant & modern 4-star hotel in the heart of Normandy. Located in the vibrant city center of Rouen"
That description is artful at best, disinformation at worst -- the hotel is not in the center of Rouen but a 15-minute walk from the train station in the wrong direction, away from the area of interest to travelers.
I could see from google maps that it was in the wrong direction, but getting it for free/points meant I was not going to quibble. What I didn't realize from the map was that it is an uphill walk all the way.
This might not be a big deal in fair weather, but in the heat of high season or the damp of winter it's no fun to climb up a hill at the end of a day's sightseeing. So, I used Bolt, their version of Lyft, several times to get forth or back. (Bolt fare was about €11,50 from anywhere in downtown)
One of the Bolt drivers gave me some 'friendly' advice when I got out : "Tell the driver it's the new Hyatt as soon as you get in the car, and it will save him some time."
It's new indeed - all kinds of high-tech amenities and high security measures built in. I was put in a corner room of the big C-shaped (or horseshoe) complex, which meant I had windows on three sides of the room. But the room was on the ground floor [at that side of the property] so one window looked at the courtyard, empty for the off-season, the other looked at the driveway, damp, and the other other out over the city below and the overcast grisaille -- still it was less grisaille than Paris and the air had a relatively fresh liveliness compared to the capital. That position also meant that I had a long long walk to get to the main desk and doors, and none of the doors intervening were openable without setting off an alarm. The hallway and the elevator required your keycard at all times, and the desk was one floor down, the car entrance one floor below that -- there is both covered and open garage space available. A little glass-walled decompression chamber, or vestibule, was nicely furnished for you to wait for your driver to arrive.
The room had an odd mix of international and French mod cons -- a towel warmer rack in the bathroom, but with a digital readout that you could toggle between Celsius and Fahrenheit, for example. I appreciated the large number of ways to hang stuff up or perch it on ledges and counters -- the long mirror that hangs by the bathroom door of so many hotel rooms had integrated button-shaped hooks for you to suspend your RS toiletry kit from. The mini wardrobe had its own light that turned on when you opened the door -- I used it as a nighlight. Minifridge, kettle and coffee machine; minimal but sufficient tea and coffee and water supplied.
Stylish room decor -- '70s throwback chandelier and area rug and sidechair. Ginormously high to the ceiling windows -- like 20 feet, not kidding, and curtains that spilled too far down the floor. Ample lighting fixtures and plugs and outlets. The TV included a little tutorial about the history of the hill you're on: from 1884 to 1991 it was a teacher's training college for the region (almost all women). It couldn't handle the demographic blob of the baby boom, and the school moved to Mont-Saint-Aignan in 1991.
There is a Hyatt Place typical snack stand and breakfast area, plus a spa and beauty salon. One of my annoyances was that the front desk staff was rarely at the front desk, but instead shooting the breeze in the salon with the stylist and the manager.
So - the use case I imagine for this property besides hosting conference meetings is for people using a car to tour the Normandy region and for some reason decide not to base themselves in Bayeux/Caen or Le Havre. If you're in a car and like Hyatt, then you should consider it. When I return to Rouen, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I will probably pick a chambre d'hôte.