In my opinion, The Best Hotel in Paris!
by Bill_E_122 - - Newark, DE
30 Apr 2008
My wife wanted to stay at the Paris Hilton because she wanted a king-size bed and a large room in a great location, but I wanted a Parisian hotel that came close to American hotel standards with the best combination of price, room size, and location, location, location. I searched the internet for weeks. Using Trip Advisor, I found everything we were looking for (and more) with the Hotel Splendid Etoile. We enjoyed six memorable nights there starting November 21.
Price: This is not an inexpensive hotel in comparison to hotels in most parts of the US, but as compared to the prices at New York City hotels, it was comparable. Plus, the prices quoted already included the 19.8% French Value-Added Tax. Thus, there was no sticker-shock upon checkout as at American hotels in high-tax cities. When compared to other Paris hotels with similar attributes, the Hotel Splendid Etoile is a good value.
Room: We stayed in a Superior room which, in my opinion, is the best Superior room in the entire hotel (room 507). It is a corner room with three balcony windows, one of which is in the bathroom. One of the windows in the bedroom faces directly on the Arc d’Triumphe without obstruction. The picture of this room on the hotel’s web site is very accurate (see my picture below). It is a fantastic view. Plus, stepping out onto the wrap-around balcony you have a terrific view of the top 2/3 of the Eiffel Tower. The size of the room was comparable to what we have come to expect with American hotels, except the bathroom was larger. It included a bathtub with shower AND shower curtain (not one of those ½ plexiglass walls that invariably lead to us Americans spraying the floor with tons of water). It also included a bidet that I tried out just to say I had done that at least once in my life (It’s a French thing that most Americans who shower every day would never use.) The bathroom was always clean and well-stocked. There were two fluffy robes in addition to the usual towels, etc. Yes, the towels could be fluffier, but they were large enough for my rotund body and they got the job done. The king-sized bed was comfortable, but it was not up to the newest standards of hotels such as W, Hilton, and Marriott in the U.S. I was particularly pleased that the bed had a sheet and blanket instead of a duvet (there was a duvet in the closet for those who prefer one). Even though traffic noise from the circle around the Arc with the windows open is virtually non-stop around the clock, the room was very quiet with the windows closed. We had absolutely no trouble sleeping.
Location: This hotel has it. Literally steps away from the front door is an elevator to the Metro and RER station. Most stations don’t even have an escalator, let alone an elevator! Steps away from the elevator inside the station is a large ticket booth where you can buy “carnets” of 10 tickets at reduced prices. The staff at this ticket booth spoke English and gave us a Metro map specifically aimed at tourists such as ourselves. From this metro station you have access to line 1, which can take you to the Louvre and other central Paris locations, and line 6 which can take you to the Eiffel Tower and Montparnasse Tower. These two lines intersect with almost every other Metro and RER line in the system, so you are within 20 minutes of just about every place you would want to go in the city. From the entrance of the hotel, turn right and walk for about a block and you are at the entrance to the tunnel leading to the Arc d’Triumphe. The start (or end, depending on your point of view) of the Champs Elysees is at the other end of the tunnel. The neighborhood has many small shops and restaurants, and a terrific patisserie (bakery) one block down the street (it is not open on Mondays). Ask the concierge for a recommendation and you will not be disappointed. That brings me to ...
Hotel Staff: The head concierge, Farouq, is simply outstanding! I have never encountered another concierge who was as friendly and willing to go the extra mile as he is. His recommendations for restaurants were spot-on accurate for what we were looking for. His staff are equally competent, friendly, and willing to help, although they cannot match his wonderfully pleasant and outgoing personality. All of them spoke very good English and we never had a communication problem. They tolerated my attempts at speaking in French, and even gave me the correct room key despite the fact that my dyslexic brain asked for the key to room cinq cent six instead of cinq cent sept! The housekeeping staff visited the room several times a day so it always looked fresh each time we entered.
Restaurant: Although the hotel does have its own restaurant, we did not eat there as it was not our style. We did, however, try the hotel’s buffet breakfast. It was quite good. Considering the amount of food we consumed, it was a good value. The hotel has recently reduced the price of their buffet breakfast, but we could not detect any deficiencies as a result.
Bottom line: This is an excellent hotel, reasonably priced for what you receive, with an outstanding staff and location. It is Number One in my book, and will be the only hotel I will ever consider when visiting Paris in the future.
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