Why a Luxury Hotel is Your Best Bet in Paris

Like any big city, Paris has a dizzyingly wide range of hotel options, starting at the very basic and topping out somewhere in the stratosphere. Many visitors to the city seek to maximize their time on the ground and often say they don’t need anything special for a hotel, but it may be wise to revisit that maxim.

Many travelers may feel they just need somewhere to crash during their visit, but they would be missing out an iconic part of the Paris experience. There are also other reasons why splurging on a luxury hotel property during a visit to the City of Light can make a big difference in the quality of experience—and not just in the ways one might expect. Read on to learn why a luxury hotel can make a big difference for a Paris visit.

Location, Location, Location
If Paris’s top-tier luxury hotels have one thing going for them, it’s that they’re all utterly perfectly located. The Ritz overlooks Place Vendome. The Mandarin Oriental Paris is steps away on Rue Saint-Honoré, convenient for luxury shopping. Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel, overlooks Place de la Concorde, and the Four Seasons George V is, fittingly, on Avenue George V quite near the Arc de Triomphe.

There are certainly more moderately priced hotels radiating outward from the top attractions lining the Seine in the 1st Arrondissement, but the time savings afforded by booking one of these luxury properties can be worth the additional room rate.

Space
Parisian hotels are known for being cozy. On my first visit to the city some years ago, I had brought a rather large suitcase, and upon arriving in my room at the four-star hotel I had booked on Rue Cambon a stone’s throw from the Ritz, I found there was nowhere in the room I could stow the suitcase but immediately behind the entry door. It took some gymnastics to maneuver around getting in and out of the room.

Luxury hotels, naturally, trend larger, particularly in hotels that are newer builds, like the Mandarin Oriental, and the recently-renovated Crillon. And these hotels are often landmarks unto themselves—typically converted mansions or palaces dating back to the 18th Century.

Topflight Concierge Services
To be clear, I’ve had fairy godmother service from concierges at Parisian hotels across all categories—even at properties where the front desk does double duty. They give tips on when to arrive at museums for the least crowded entry and help arrange tickets and tours, but the luxury property concierges are encyclopedic in every way, from their fat rolodexes for calling in favors for coveted, Michelin-starred tables to their knowledge of which cocktail bars have just rolled out new menus.

Destination Dining Onsite
Sure, one needn’t be a guest at the Ritz to pop into Bar Hemingway for a classic cocktail, but there’s usually a line. Being in-house, guests can simply pop by on their way in or out of the hotel to clock the wait.

Paris luxury hotels also have exhaustive menus at most of their outlets to accommodate global tastes. Travelers might want a local experience until they realize many Parisians have little more than coffee and leftover baguette for breakfast, and some Paris hotels don’t offer much more on their breakfast tables. The luxury properties, however, offer meals to suit virtually any taste—on demand.

There’s also plenty of artistry put into the design of the bars and restaurants in these hotels. Hotel Lutetia’s Bar Josephine is themed for the American-born Parisian songstress and activist Josephine baker, with cocktails based on her songbook. At Crillon’s Bar Les Ambassadeurs, where patrons are serenaded by an all-woman jazz band under a spectacular frescoed ceiling, the structured cocktail menu is presented on a map of Paris, drawing inspiration from street art, and French luminaries ranging from Napoleon to Edith Piaf.

Flexibility
Ah, the luxury of time. Luxury properties are also more likely to offer policy flexibility, as this is often built into their operation. Guests arriving off early transatlantic flights at The Peninsula Paris, for example, can arrange a check-in time as early as 6 AM at no extra charge. When it’s time to depart, they have until 10 PM—again, without any additional fee.

Rethink Relaxation Needs
The notion that a hotel is simply a place to sleep rather misses the point of the French joie de vivre. More than a place to sleep and stow luggage, a hotel is a sanctuary—a place to recharge and draw inspiration. Exploring any big city can be somewhat exhausting, and Paris is no exception. When the room travelers return to is comfortably plush and well-attended, it makes all the difference.

While there are exceptions, Paris’s luxury hotels are more likely to have amenities that are standard around the world, but not yet common in the French capital—swimming pools are a good example. Luxury hotels are also more likely to be engineered more closely to American standards – think fewer single-person elevators or tiny shower doors otherwise common in France.

At the end of the day, it does matter where you lay your head. If your budget allows, it might be worth considering some of the finest hotels in the world the next time your travel plans take you to Paris.