After navigating our way through the Paris metro system we finally found our way to our hotel for the week, Le Metropolitan Hotel in Paris. I decided to book the hotel for several reasons, but most importantly, price. At the time of booking I paid a pre-paid rate of €213.00 a night. Also important, the rate qualified for my Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit which dropped the total nightly rate to just $167/night. We did find cheaper options on Hotels.com, but I wanted to stay at an SPG/Marriott property during out time in Paris for the perks and points.
Location
Le Metropolitan is located just down the street from The Trocadero and the Palais de Chaillot. If this means nothing to you, all you really need to know is that the hotel is very close to the Eiffel Tower. Google Maps stats the walk to the Eiffel Tower is around 20 minutes. The walk to the Palais de Chaillot is about half of that and features an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower. In the other direction, the hotel is also just a 20 minute walk from the Arc De Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees.
If walking is not your thing Le Metropolitan is also steps from several public transportation ‘metro’ stations. Majority of the time we found ourselves walking to either the Victor Hugo or Trocadero stops to catch the 6 or the 9 trains which take you to various attractions throughout the city.
Nearby Food
Carette: A nearby cafe which came highly recommended by hotel staff. Food/drinks are very overpriced, but the patio overlooks the Trocadero roundabout and the Palais de Chaillot making it a nice place to stop at least once during the stay. The macaroons and pastries are delicious after a long day of walking around the city.
Ozio: A delicious Italian restaurant which appeared to be a favorite among tourists and locals alike. The atmosphere was very lively and most of the staff spoke great English or Italian.
La Coincidance: A very (very) cozy French restaurant. The menu was mostly heartier meat dishes, but I thoroughly enjoyed my duck entree. Most of the staff did not speak any English, but were more than happy to work with us as we tried to order. The meal and dessert were great and they also had a very nice first aid kit!
Monsieur Bleu: Probably the only “disappointing” meal we had during our stay at Le Metropolitan. The food was fine; escargot, fillet, mashed potatoes, chicken, dessert, but bar service prior to being seated was terrible and we were sat in the bar area even though we had a formal reservation. The meal is very pricy and it would have been nice to sit in the formal dining area. I do recommend giving the restaurant a try, but just be prepared for the below average service. Also, many thanks to the hotel concierge for getting us a last minute reservation.
L’Avenue: This restaurant was definitely our favorite ‘nice’ meal of the trip. The menu offers traditional French fare, but I found the beverage menu a bit restricive. I again ordered a duck dish and escargot to start, but my girlfriend ordered the mushroom pasta which was incredible. Again, L’Avenue was fairly expensive, but worth it.
Baagaa Burger: We couldn’t leave Paris without trying a burger and our trip to Le McDonald’s didn’t quite count. Baagaa Burger is conveniently located near Le Metropolitan hotel and offers a wide variety of Wagyu Beef burgers, fantastic fries, and a delicious variety of desserts. I really enjoyed this meal because it was extremely affordable and amazingly good. It may not seem like a great place to go to dinner, but it was a nice break from a week of stuffy full service restaurants.
Restaurant Bon: My girlfriend and I went here for my birthday dinner and loved it. We felt bad because we showed up so later into the dinner service, but our server was extremely accommodating. The food was quite good, but the atmosphere was the best part of the night. The front of the restaurant is very modern with backlit tables while the back of the restaurant is more traditional.
Wow, I didn’t expect that to go on for as long as it did so if you’re still here, thank you! Bottom line, there are a TON of restaurants in the immediate area surrounding the hotel. Each of the above listed hotels are less than 20 minutes away by foot. In addition to the restaurants listed above there are countless cafes, pastry shops, and convenience stores.
Le Metropolitan Hotel Room
For some great photo’s of the hotels interior please visit Le Metropolitan’s website. It’s truly a stunning hotel. Our room was a slightly smaller than expected, but was very nice. The room featured a full king bed in the middle of the room, a nice armoire with hangers and drawers, a large desk, and a small chair. If you plan on spending a lot of time in your hotel room it is definitely worth paying more for a larger room, but our room was perfect for our needs.
Another great feature of the room was the large windows in both the bathroom and bedroom. The rooms had nearly floor to ceiling windows which open up to a small metal railing. The weather was beautiful during our trip so we found ourselves leaving both windows open during the day when relaxing in the room.
The only issue with our particular hotel room, 519, was the water-closet/bathroom layout. The toilet was on one side of the room while the shower and sink was located on the other side of the room in a separate room. Obviously this isn’t a huge ‘issue’ but it’s really the only problem we had with the room itself.
Le Metropolitan Amenities
The hotel features a restaurant and bar in the lobby which served as a great space to meet prior to leaving at night, but it’s the basement pool/spa which really make this hotel great. You have to ask the hotel concierge for access to the ‘spa,’ but once you’re downstairs you can enjoy resting by the pool in comfortable lounge chairs, a dip in the pool, or a steam in the steam room. The spa area also offers a shower room and restroom if needed. I fully enjoyed my swim after a long day of walking.
Another incredible (unadvertised) amenity offered by the hotel is a smart phone. I’m not kidding. When we checked in, the concierge showed us to our room and told us about the smartphone. Each room get’s a fully functioning Samsung Galaxy A3 to use, for free, during your stay. I personally get international cell service from T-Mobile, but we still found ourselves using the hotel phone when walking around. The cell phone was preloaded with a mobile concierge which listed preferred restaurants, attractions, etc. along with the complete android suite of apps. Amazingly the cell phone offers unlimited free calls to the US and Canada! Typically hotels charge astronomical fees for international calls so it was great to have free calling. The best part was because it’s a mobile device, the free calls do not have to be made from the hotel!
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned in my introduction post this is my first true trip report. I tried to cover the aspects of the hotel and surrounding area that were important to us and I hope this served as a nice review of the hotel. I definitely recommend staying at Le Metropolitan Hotel if you are looking for a place to stay in Paris. The hotel is great, staff is amazingly friendly, and the location is perfect. Sure there are other hotels in more touristy areas, but we found the location to be the perfect mix between tourist attractions and local establishments.
Also, I’ve never stayed at a hotel that offers a free mobile phone during your visit. This was an incredible perk that we did not even know we were getting. The mobile phone had full service around the city and underground in the metro. We relied on the phone to help us get around Paris and it did not let us down.
Lastly, the view from the front of the hotel, featured in the featured image above is nearly unbeatable!
