Paris Hotel

My daughter(age 19) and I are going to Paris for 6 nights in January. We have enough Marriott points to stay at either the Renaissance Place Vendome or Marriott Champs Elysee. I have always stayed in the Latin Quarter or St. Germain, but it is hard to pass up a free room! My instinct tells me that the Renaissance is in the better location of the two hotels, but the Marriott apparently has nicer, larger rooms. Any thoughts? Or should I just suck it up and stay in the Latin Quarter for the ambience I love? I have no sense of how far the walk from the Renaissance Hotel to the areas I love would take. Are all the restaurants around the Renaissance expensive? Thanks in advance for any help.

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Hi -

I can%26#39;t believe that you%26#39;re been to Paris before and you don%26#39;t have a map. Get one. You can buy Paris par Arrondissement once you arrive, it will make a good souvenir, but for now, StreetWise Paris and/or the Knopf City Guide will help with planning.

Judging by the reviews here on the forum - you did look at the reviews, didn%26#39;t you? Anyway, judging by the reviews of these two Marriotts here on the forum, the Vendome provides the best service. That factor plus the Vendome probably has better access to the sorts of restaurants, cafes, etc., that you%26#39;d be looking for means I%26#39;d opt for it rather than the Champs Elysee. In my experience, one needs only one walk down the CE to satisfy that urge, and then it%26#39;s nice to go back to a hotel in a different location.

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Vendome location is better and while the rooms are smaller they are still good size (start at 18sqm/194sqft). Your going to Paris to see the city not sit in your room!

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You should go «for the ambience I love».

The Champs is a cold, commercial place that has no soul. Vendome is a center of the monied in Paris and is even more devoid of anything like a pulse of real Parisian life.

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Either on or within a five minute walk of Place Vendôme the storefronts will bear (from memory) the following names: Bulgari, Armani, Boucheron, Van Cleef %26amp; Arpels, Dior, Mikimoto, Cartier, Patek-Philippe, Guerlain, Missoni, Gucci, Prada — And a dozen or so more whose names I don%26#39;t recall — and you want to take your 19 year old daughter to the soulless and uninteresting Champs-Élysées??? That verges on parental abuse!!! :-) Just don%26#39;t let her out of your sight with one of your credit cards...

Seriously, you%26#39;re about a 5-10 minute walk from the Louvre, maybe 15 minutes from the edge of St. Germain des P., and no more than a 25-30 minute walk to most of the 6th, the Latin Quarter and the islands. Although the cafés and restaurants — such few as there are — in the immediate vicinity will reflect their surroundings in price, e.g. Le Carré des Feuillants, there are moderately priced and even inexpensive places just a few minutes walk away. It%26#39;s a far better area from that pont of view than the C-E.

It%26#39;s time to break the Latin Quarter stranglehold... :-)

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Thanks for your help. I was already leaning toward the Place Vendome (based on reviews). It%26#39;s hard to justify paying for a hotel, when we are able to stay for free. She will love the shopping in the area as well!! But, she also loves eating in the cheap little restaurants in the Latin Quarter (college student%26#39;s taste), and I%26#39;m not sure we would want to walk there most nights in the dark. ( I know we could take the Metro, but we love to walk.) If it%26#39;s doable in 20 minutes that would be fine. I assume it would be fairly safe?? Or should we stick to cabs, Metro after dark? Thanks.

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Any other opinions? Thanks!