There’s something about Paris that’s just so magical that you can’t help but fall in love with it more and more each and every single time. Even though you may become familiar with the city, every turn that you take leads you to new wonders that you’d never seen before. It’s as if the city was built to hold secrets and each day reveals a new one.
Remembering back to my first visit to Paris, we stayed in the 16e arrondissment, which is quite westward and a little outside of the main downtown core of the city. While it was great in the aspect that our neighbourhood was always quiet, it was farther away from the centre than we cared for. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t stay that far away from the main city centre, but just that if you’re there for the first time and want to be surrounded by all of the energy and excitement, it might do you better to stay a little closer to the core area. For mine and Mel’s return trip to Paris, we did just that.
On a whim, Mel and I decided to book a last minute girls’ trip to Paris upon seeing a stellar flight deal on line. But do you really need a reason to go to Paris? The answer is no. Leading up to the booking, we were contemplating how to shoot the content for our fall editorial, when the flight deal came to our attention. Why not shoot all of our content there? And before we knew it, the flights were booked. Except this time, without the boys in tow, we wanted to be in the centre of all of the action—in Avenues des Champs-Élysées.
After booking our flights, we waited for a few weeks before booking our accommodations. Both of us knew that we wanted to be closer to the centre, but we weren’t quite sure where exactly to stay. Our previous accommodations were booked using AirBnB, so we went that route again in search for the perfect Parisian apartment. Our luck didn’t turn up any viable options, and with so much time before the upcoming trip, the excitement waned and we dropped the topic for awhile. That’s when Booking.com came into the picture.
In a perfect twist of fate, Booking.com reached out to see if I had any upcoming trips planned, and if I was currently searching for accommodations. Since we had yet to book anything for Paris, we determined that this would be a great opportunity to work together to showcase one of the amazing properties that you can reserve on their site—Hôtel Marignan. But before we move forward with my review of our stay at Hôtel Marignan, I want to share a little something with you!
Surprise!
This isn’t your typical blog post review, because you also get to enjoy a special little gift from Booking.com! Those of you who are lucky enough to stumble onto this post can actually redeem $40 CAD in cash if you book a trip on Booking.com. It’s super simple to do, and the first step is to click this link here and then proceed with your booking. And even if you don’t book anything right away, as long as you click on the link, the coupon will automatically be applied to your Booking.com account and will be activated on your next reservation!
Now to dive back into a review of Hôtel Marignan! When searching for accommodations in Paris, there are a variety of factors that come into play which differ from booking a hotel in a different city. Let’s investigate some of them below.
Location, location, location.
When it comes to Paris, you definitely want to stay in an area that is close in proximity to the various activities that you want to do. Seeing that both Mel and I love the East Bank of the river, it was important for us to find a hotel that wasn’t as far into the West area as our last time around. And since our previous neighbourhood was so quiet, we wanted to kick things up a knotch and stay in an area that was busier. Hôtel Marignan in Avenues des Champs-Élysées definitely checked both of those boxes.
Not only was it located almost directly in the middle of the city (making it extremely walkable to almost anything and everything), but it was situated right next to all of the shops along Avenue de Montaigne—AKA the luxury shopping district. The less than 3 minute walk to Céline made it extremely easy to locate and purchase the bag of my dreams on this trip. Though it also made it way to easy to walk in Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton as well. The temptation was real!
But if you’re not much of a shopping nut like I am, then you’ll be happy to know that the property is also within less than a 10 minute walk to the Arch de Triomph, and minutes away from a handful of Metro stations.
Scoring a 9.3 on Booking.com for it’s location, I can fully vouch that Hôtel Marignan is located in a prime location.
All about that view!
A quintessential component to living in Paris is the view. You not only want to be within walking distance to your favourite destinations while on the ground, but you also want to ensure that your room’s balcony offers a pleasant view of the city. What else are those massive French windows for, if not for spending time out on your balcony enjoying the beautiful sunset?
We rotated between 2 different rooms while staying at Hôtel Marignan to really get a sense of what the property has to offer. Our first room included a beautiful wrought iron ledge that opened up to a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower off in the distance. You can only imagine how beautiful it was by night, especially when it twinkled. Although our second room didn’t quite offer the same visual amenities, it did face off against another building with similar traditional architecture. Personally, I found Parisian architecture absolutely stunning and could spend countless hours taking it all in.
The roof top bar also provided guests with a phenomenal vantage point of the city, and I would highly recommend that you spend some time up there if you end up booking with Booking.com.
But what about the service?
I have to say that the hotel does a great job of taking care of your every whim. Not only were we each individually greeted every single time we left or came back, but the doormen even remembered our names and addressed us each individually while holding the main doors open for us to walk in! But besides the doormen and the concierge, we also experienced such lovely service from the housekeeping staff as well. Each night they would enter our room, turn down the beds, and also leave tiny little bottles of water for us to rehydrate throughout the night.
Any time we had any problems or requests, the front desk was quick to resolve them and we never faced any issues.
And the room? Was it worth it?
Designed to replicate a modern day contemporary Parisian apartment, Hôtel Marignan’s aesthetic is one of relaxation and calmness. Using a colour palette of neutrals, I instantly felt at home upon setting foot into our room. Our first room came with a beautiful Parisian balcony, along with a full 4-piece bathroom and countless closets for storage. Although our second room didn’t offer quite as much space, we found that it was still sufficient to our needs.
Not only were the beds firm to my liking, and extremely conducive to sleep, but the walls were very insulated as well. We never once heard any of the other patrons in either of the rooms that flanked ours, making it easy to fall asleep.
Given the fact that we spent the majority of our time exploring Paris, the size and amenities that our rooms offered us were way above what we needed and then some.
How much will this cost me?
It’ll range depending on the room, the night of the week, as well as the seasonality. I will preface that Hôtel Marignan is pricier than your average hotel, but we chose to stay there for good reason. Our first time round, we attempted to penny pinch by seeking out a reduced-rate AirBnB. Given the circumstances of our partnership for this trip, Mel and I opted to stay in a property that offered impeccable views and service, if not slightly offset by a higher price. Mind you that Paris isn’t the cheapest place in the world to travel to either, so there is a certain baseline that you’ll eventually hit when looking for accommodations.
Personally, because we were visiting just as peak tourist season was winding down, and because the weather was beginning to cool down, I’d say that the cost of booking a room was well worth it.
I really couldn’t imagine staying at a more perfect property, and I absolutely loved the entire week-long experience. Even now as I’m writing this I’m dreaming of peeking out of those windows and onto the balconies to enjoy the Eiffel Tower twinkle as the sun sets. Until next time Hôtel Marignan, we’ll be back again soon!
Photography Credits: Mel Inspired
Booking.com graciously hosted us for the week in exchange for a review, however all views are 100% honest and my own.
