troyhouse

I have 100K club carlson points in 2 accounts each. I am planning to be in Paris during summer and need 2 rooms for 4 days. So I am planning to use points for 2 nights and 2 rooms in one of the following Radisson in Paris. Which one do you recommend?

If I am going to use points, then why not take the best one. All of them shows available for my dates and can be canceled before 48 hours without penalty.


Radisson Blu Le Dokhan's Hotel, Paris Trocadero - 50K points - 320Euros/night
Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees, Paris - 50k points - 336 euros/night
Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris Eiffel - 50K points - 320 euros/night
Radisson Blu Ambassador Hotel, Paris Opera - 50K points - 332 euros/night
Radisson Blu Hotel, Paris-Boulogne - 50k points - 290 euros/night

I will be using points, so price is just for comparison purposes only. I want recommendation based on location, other benefits like breakfast and most importantly "WOW" factor.

Thanks.

VladQ

I have only stayed in Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, but it was just a month and half ago. This is a very small boutique hotel situated in a quiet small square very close to Trocadero (it's just 3 mins walk to get there and there is a subway station under the square). Eiffel tower is about 10 mins walk from the hotel and is visible from the hotel. Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Élysées are also very close, about 10 mins walk too. Gare du Nord is about 20 minutes taxi ride away (unless it's a peak hour).

We stayed in a Standard Room which was of fairly descent size and very modern. I liked the large rainshower (the bathroom was very modern) and the king bed was very comfy. Housekeeping was impeccable. Concierge and everyone else were very polite and helpful. They answered all our questions, provided excellent suggestions, made the reservations we asked for. The hotel also has a small but pleasant swimming pool and a steam room. We paid for a breakfast once and had a choice between continental and american breakfast. While everything was okay, it was definitely not the best breakfast we had at a Radisson in terms of variety and somewhat overpriced.

I was happy with our choice of the hotel. Let me know if you have any questions.

troyhouse

I am leaning towards booking Radisson Blu Ambassador Hotel, Paris Opera

any experiences with this hotel would be great.

shocky

I stayed at Le Dokhan, Metropolitan and Ambassador.
Ambassador was in the middle of a very touristy area near the big shopping centers. It was OK, the staff was not the nicest I have encountered. I didn't like the area so much, very busy traffic, though room was quite. More of a group hotel. Good buffet style breakfast.

Metropolitan is modern, cool pool in the lower lever, very nice staff and in a classy residential area. I upgraded to the last floor Eiffel suite which had an amazing view of the tower and well worth the upgrade (I think it was around 200-300 EUR extra a night).

Dokhan is 3 minutes walk from the Metropolitan and was the most unique. Classic and charming decor, one of the best hotel staff I have encountered anywhere, very old Paris feel. The standard rooms are small but the business class rooms are good size. I would defiantly try to contact the hotel and ask to upgrade to one of these. Breakfast was great, high quality and made to order. This was my favorite of the three.

FlyingHigh20

I agree with Shocky's view of the Opera/Ambassador and Le Dokhans.

Ambassador's rooms were big and nice (for European standards), but the staff was rather rude (and unfortunately played to the snotty French stereotype). It was very close to the main shopping area's and made walking to most sights fairly easy, which is typically my first main point in picking a hotel

The experience at Le Dokhan was amazing, however. It's a smaller boutique hotel, very close to the Eiffel Tower (which means it's further away from everything else in Paris) . The rooms are nice, but small, and very "classic French" in a good way in it's decor. The elevator is small and made up of old Louis Vuitton bags! What makes this hotel is the staff. Out of all the hotels I've stayed at in the world, this staff is by far the best! I cant say enough on how warm, friendly, and accommodating they were! Not what I was expecting from a French hotel at all (after my experience at Opera/Ambassador). I even just received a thoughtful Happy New Year's e-mail from them.

Le Dokhan and Metropolitan are owned by the same hotel group, so expect the same quality of service between the two.

Mauibaby2008

I just stayed in Le Dokhan and Metropolitan on the 1st & 2nd. The Metropolitan has an amazing pool, but Dokhan does not. However Dokhan has an awesome Louis Vuitton elevator!

Neither are "amazing" but we THOROUGHLY enjoyed Dokhan better, very old school, much prettier hotel and better service. However I realized after arriving that Avenue Champ Elysses is the place to be, sort of the Times Square of New York. I believe there is a Radisson near there. If you want to be near all the action definitely stay there. Imho

troyhouse

thanks for the great feedback. i am going to book at Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees.

chicky81

What is the reason for you to decide to stay here, when the recommendations above didn't talk about this hotel?

I'm planning to go around December (end of year, roughly 27th to 30th just before new year's even), and also am wondering where I should choose from.

Thanks

mfidelity

Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees is an excellent tourist location. You are close to two Metro stops and 1/2 block from the Arc De Triomphe. The Champs Elysees is all decked out during the Christmas holidays with incredible lights and a old-fashioned Christmas market.

The hotel is small (only 45 rooms) and the staff is helpful and friendly.

nsummy

I just stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees a couple of weekends ago. Great location. One thing to consider, try to get a room with a balcony. I read bad reviews that many of the rooms face an alley. I am a silver member, not sure if it had any bearing, but they gave me a room with a balcony, even when I booked a mere 5 hours before showing up. I will say my only complaint is that it is a tourist area. That may be a pro for some people though. I met a girl at the Eifel tower and asked her to point out some cool bars. Unfortunately she said the area I was staying in was just all nice restaurants. So while the location is good, its kind of hard to get the real local flair IMO.

Here are a couple of views from my room:
http://imgur.com/PH2atZk
http://imgur.com/YrEdPo0

nsummy

Oh and here is the room itself
http://imgur.com/otjaYGW

One more thing too, the internet there feels like you are using 56k. They even admit in their hotel booklet that wi-fi coverage may not cover the whole hote.

troyhouse

@nsummy, thanks for the review and pics. I decided to choose Champs Elysses for my stay as well. I reached out to the hotel manager and he confirmed me to upgrade on arrival and I m fine with touristy area, as I will be tourist myself and want to be close to all the attractions. Btw, I m gold member by doing status match. Do the hotel provide complimentary breakfast?

Thanks again.

christianj

@troyhouse..I don't think you can go wrong with your choice. We stayed at the Champs Élysées property for 4 nights in June and it was a nice hotel in an area good for tourist stuff. As you mentioned, you will be a tourist just like we were so enjoy being close to the Champs Élysées, the Arc and everything else. Metro stop is just around the corner so you will have easy access to everything. Again it's a nice choice but do NOT expect a luxurious experience!

I was a Gold member when we stayed there but no real upgrade as far as we could tell and no free breakfast. (the breakfast also isn't a published Gold benefits for the program). The hotel seemed pretty full when we were there but overall it has more of a boutique type feel since it doesn't have many rooms. Our room looked out to the back and side of the property which was fine even though a front view with balcony is probably the best.

I had posted a review with pictures after our stay back in June in the hotels Master Review Thread. Here's a link to that thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/club-...ees-paris.html

nsummy

No free breakfast and in fact when I checked out they had tried to charge me for a breakfast, not sure if someone wrote down the wrong room number or something. I was still drunk from the night before and it was 5 am but I think it was around 20 euros (could be wrong). Keep that in mind as there are probably cheaper options available.

Also my room looked exactly like christianj's. So while I did have an upgraded view, I didn't get any real extra amenities. I will agree, its like a boutique hotel. Small rooms but a very nice hotel. Room size would be comparable to a W or Le Meridian if you have stayed in either of those.

Great shopping in that area if you are into that. Hermes store right by there and the Chanel flagship store is about a 15 minute walk. A cool diner right across from the Chanel store too. I drank multiple 1664's in there.

Are you flying into Paris? If so I can tell you what bus line you need to take to go to the hotel.

view

Can you please share which bus goes to the property from CDG?