Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris
I checked out of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile yesterday morning, and checked into the Le Meridien Etoile, just around the corner from the Hyatt, in the evening after a day's sightseeing. Hyatt was kind enough to hold my bags for the duration of the day (which is a surprise in today's world of terror threats), and I'm grateful to them for that.
The Le Meridien has standard and chic rooms as two of their base category rooms. As I mentioned in the introduction post, I booked a chic room on an award. Here's a review of the hotel and room, but not breakfast (that didn't come with the room, and we planned to head to the airport a little early in any case).
Index of posts
Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris
Review: Sri Lankan's lounge at Paris CDG
Review: Paris to Colombo on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class
Le Meridien Etoile review
The first thing that impressed me was the large and well-lit lobby. It was almost like there was some sort of event or ball happening...so much energy and excitement!
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - lobby
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - lobby
Check-in counters are to the left when you enter the hotel, so while the family waited in the lobby,
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - lobby
I went ahead to check in.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - reception area
Surprisingly, for the time of day it was, check in desks were empty, I was soon done with check-in.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - reception area
Procedures were completed quickly, and the agent gave me a quick run down of the facilities at the hotel. I then went up to the room.
The lift lobbies are rather dull, as you can see from the pictures below.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - elevator lobby
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - elevator lobby
The hotel itself is fairly large - I'm guessing at least 800 rooms? So you can expect long hallways.
My room was, as I mentioned before, a "chic" room. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out quite alright!
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - Chic room
Le Meridien Etoile Paris - Chic room
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room bed
The bonus with this room was what I consider as virtually two separate work desks.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room work desk
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room side table and seating
The bedside table featured local travel and fashion magazines.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room bedside table
The room also comes with a safe...
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room safe
...and an empty minibar that I've now gotten used to!
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room minibar
There's some storage space next to the safe opposite the bathroom, but clearly wouldn't have been sufficient for my entourage. Luckily we were here for only one night, which meant we lived out of our suitcase.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room storage
There's sufficient power connections in the room. Just remember to take necessary conversion adapters.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room power sockets
There was also a folio with information on F&B and the spa services at the hotel. In addition, there were two paper vouchers for complimentary coffee at the Illy coffee machine (read later in this post), as also an entrance voucher for a family of 2 adults and 2 children, to the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. We used the coffee vouchers (no tea, just coffee).
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room hotel guide and coffee vouchers
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room coffee and culture centre vouchers
The bathroom is reasonably spacious, though not sprawling or large by any means. However, it isn't cramped, and that's enough for me. For information, the part of the bathroom wall to the right of the black tiles in the picture below, is translucent, so if you're in the room with someone else, you may want to consider timing your shower accordingly!
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room bathroom
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room bathroom
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room bathroom
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room bathroom
In the morning, I was able to look out into what might be considered a "courtyard" - the interior part - of the hotel. In retrospect, I shouldn't have opened the curtains.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room view from the room
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room view from the room
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room view from the room
Each floor has a relaxation area right in the middle of the three arms that the hotel's design incorporates. This area has seating space, and also a couple of desktop computers where you can browse the internet, check mails, etc.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room Floor lounge area
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room Floor lounge area computers
Right by the computers are vending machines - three to be exact. One each for coffee (the vouchers in the room can be used here to vend yourself a hot beverage - coffee or hot chocolate, and hot water is free), snacks and soft drinks, and - my favourite - beer!
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room Floor lounge area snack, beer and coffee dispensers
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room Floor lounge area coffee dispenser
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room Floor lounge area snacks and drinks vending machine
Le Meridien Etoile Paris Chic Room Floor lounge area beer vending machine
Before leaving the hotel, I took a short tour of the hotel's ground floor, which houses a nice little bar just beyond the lobby area.
Le Meridien Etoile Paris bar
Le Meridien Etoile Paris lobby seating
Further down is the restaurant at which a buffet breakfast was laid out. As I didn't book breakfast as part of the room, I didn't get to try it out. Hopefully I didn't miss much.
Overall impressions
I've generally had rather poor stays at various Le Meridien hotels (admittedly, all of them so far have been in India). And so my expectation from the Le Meridien brand has been generally low. This hotel, however, turned impressions around for me quite a bit. I'd gladly come back to stay here, if I had to.
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