Short Review with scores (out of 5, 5 being the best)
My Overall Score: 4/5
Common Areas: 4/5
Rooms: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Location: 5/5
Amenities: 3.5/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Sleep Quality: 4/5
Background:
Booked two rooms at a great rate ($100 USD per night) for my Paris base for four nights.
Check-In:
The check in is on the “walkway street level” and if you are getting dropped off by a cab that’s on floor negative 4 which also has a “mini lobby” with bellhops and elevators that will take you back to the main check in lobby. The check-in is modern but kind of cramped with limited seating benches. Check-in was okay and I asked how much an upgrade would cost and they said $75 a night per room for “Level access”. I thought it was way too much just for breakfast and lounge access so I didn’t upgrade. Turns out my cousins who were staying here and booked Level access said the Level Lounge’s food was mediocre and the main restaurants buffet breakfast was subpar.
The Room:
The room I had booked was one “Melia Double Room” and one “Melia Twin Room. They are very new (about a year old) and are pretty roomy. The rooms I got were connected and the double room had a shower only while the twin room had a tub/shower combo. The room was generally quiet with occasional pounding footsteps from above (new construction’s thin walls/floors tsk tsk). But the noise wasn’t that bad to a point where I couldn’t sleep.
Sleep! Now let’s talk about the bed. The bed was pretty good. It was a comfortable four star level bed (pillows were ehhhh though). It was clean and all the fixtures were new. The fixtures seem decently nice for now but I’m not sure for the future. For how new it is, the hotel doesn’t seem as nice as I expected and I worry that the quality can significantly take a turn.
Amenities/Service:
The front desk wasn’t the kindest but they weren’t the rudest either. I was a bit surprised to see that their English was subpar compared to other hotels I’ve stayed at in Europe. I did try to use my French Three skills (bonjour!) The room service was horrible! The fruit platter was disgusting with mashed up fruit and the deserts were a joke. I would suggest not ordering room service at all.
One odd fact of the hotel is that from the street you can see its storage area/trash area and it looks unprofessional. They should add curtains lol.
Location:
If there’s one thing to love about this hotel it is the location. The metro stop “Esplanade La Defense” is just right outside the lobby and it is a short metro ride to Champs-Elysees (15 minutes) on line one. Line one has the newer metro cars to top it all off! Plus, the La Defense area is beautiful and there is a nice mall Les Quatre Temps within walking distance!
The Verdict:
The hotel is new and nice at the moment but I am not sure about how it will be in the future. Service was unmemorable and so I would probably not stay here again unless the room rates were really good. I would like to try the Sofitel La Defense possibly as the location is GREAT to explore Paris.
A Tout L’heure
Cheers,
theresorttraveler
