MGallery L'Echiquier Opera Paris - Great Paris Hotel
 

Introduction Booked online using Accor website. Good rate for a solid 4* in Centre Paris.Booked Classic Room, with breakfast, at 18m2, small rooms, but not too bad for ParisThe hotel is just off Grand Boulevard and near metro. We arrived at Gare Du Nord, on Eurostar, and simply walked the 15 minutes to the hotel. We never used Metro our stay as everything we needed is walkable - Louvre, shops etc On check in, very friendly staff. Upgrade to Deluxe room, 22m2, with Illy Coffee machine and free soft drinks in mini bar. Also drinks voucher - Platinum member. Room Very good size for Paris. They noted request for quiet room and we faced into the courtyard, which I would highly recommend as the outside streets are noisy with drunks etc.Well laid out and nice style room. Seperate small work desk and sofa, TV with some limited English new channels. Free wi-fi all round.Illy coffee machine, and decent tea + free soft drinks which are filled each day.Bathroom has seperate toilet. Shower products are Clarins, very nice. Bed is very very comfortable, I am light sleeper in hotel, but found this excellent. Nicest touch, a heavy curtain across the door to stop noise.Couple minor issues, bed really was two beds together, with seperate matress. Also air-con was not working, hot all the time, we just left windown open which was fine. Dining We just had breakfast in hotel. They have small bar which does some light food. Bar staff and breakfast as all staff in hotel are top notch Breakfast is just perfect. Enough, but not too much, and more important good quality food. Location Ideal, handy for everything and for this area a great bargin. Overall Wonderful hotel, dating back to 1500, and 1850 as hotel. Style is classic and French, wonderful staff and quiet peaceful rooms. Will return.

Very nice review. I've been eyeing this property and the Baltimore Hotel for a while. While Baltimore's reviews on TA has been a mixed bag, this hotel's reviews has been consistently great.

Thank you for a helpful review. We've booked our first stay here for March -- for our dates a suite with breakfast was available for less than a room without breakfast at the Novotel Les Halles (which has a great location but in our experience does not give discernible upgrades).

Just following up to report that we've booked a second stay here for later next March, once again at an excellent "Memorable Suite" rate. This time the nightly rate including breakfast for two was just over 200 EUR, for our first stay just over 190 EUR.

Staying here in a few weeks. Got a "3=2 rate" which ended up being about $135/night. Used a bunch of Accor Points to get the junior suite since that rate was only about US$100 more for the 3 nights..... I'll report back here after the stay!

We stayed here twice recently, each time for two nights, having booked last November at extremely reasonable advance purchase "Memorable Suite" rates (see posts 3 and 4 above). We enjoyed our stay and will definitely return.

Nothing was spectacular but everything was as it should be. We were warmly welcomed and given drinks vouchers. A sweet treat was waiting in our room, together with cards welcoming us as Platinum members -- with slightly different wording (one greeting us as first-time guests, the second welcoming us back and thanking us for returning).

Thank you once again, gav0106, for your review. :)

I will be there next weekend. Will take some photos.

One point I forgot to note is that from the lobby area there are two routes up to the rooms.

The most obvious is fairly central: a staircase with a retrofitted mini-lift in the stairwell. Rather like the ones I remember from cheap Paris hotels 30 years ago, just much newer and faster. Further to the right and round a corner is a second lift, ascending in the front right-hand corner of the building next to the x01 rooms. This is good to know, as for me the stairs stopped being fun after the first few floors.

I arrive right after you, from the 4th to the 7th. I'll do the same! I think I have reserved a Junior Suite, and I'm Platinum, so not expecting an upgrade, but you never know.

Lovely stay but not a fan of the neighbourhood
 

Check In Check-in was smooth and quick (I'd done online check-in through the app the a couple of days before). I'd booked Classic (no breakfast) for €160 through the Accor website, and received Deluxe (two-level upgrade), the rate of which on the day was about €300. The front desk did not verbally acknowledge my Platinum status, which is not important for me but it makes a difference between loyalty schemes (e.g. IHG group hotels always acknowledge the status). I did receive a voucher for a drink at the bar, which was anything on the menu except for cocktails, champagne and spirits. Room The room was spacious for Parisian standards, and for me it was the perfect size.The TV is right above the desk, which made it a bit awkward when I was working on my laptop but still wanted some background noise. There is a USB socket in the wall, which is handy if you're travelling light and do not have a charger with you, but the power does switch off periodically so you would have to unplug the device and plug it back in again. There were a few books (in French) in the corner. I appreciated the thick wool curtain across the door - it blocks out noise very well.Room 404 faces the Rue l'Echiquier, which draws a lot of sunlight in the morning and afternoon. It was only noisy when I had the windows open and the rubbish truck drove past to collect the bins. The bathroom and toilet were separated, although the toilet does not come with a sink, which could be inconvenient if there is more than one occupant as you'd have to walk across the mini-hallway to enter the bathroom to wash your hands. Same as the OP's review, the bathroom comes with Clarins amenities, which were lovely. The shampoo and conditioner especially smell really nice and left my long hair very soft. There is also a bottle of body lotion and hand wash by the sink. This little card was on the bedside table:I'm assuming they placed this here because they knew I (female) was staying... I'd read further in the in-room magazine that they are "tailoring" stays for female guests, although I'm not sure if it's necessary or that I felt my stay was especially tailored. The robe and slippers are supposedly sized for a woman, although the robe is too generically sized for me to tell. The slippers, however, were tight. I don't think they can just assume a woman is going to wear size EU37! The card also mentions a "special surprise for LCAH members" - I have no idea what this was and couldn't be bother to call and ask. According to the card, there are female-oriented items for loan and sale at the front desk. Of all the items on offer (e.g. yoga mat, nail polish remover), I'm surprised they didn't include sanitary towels or tampons (which I think should be complimentary if they were going to tailor the stay for a female guest). The room also comes with a free minibar (still and sparkling water, Coca-Cola and Diet, and orange juice), and an Illy espresso machine. Location Overall I really liked the hotel, especially the room (which is the most important part). Not a huge fan of the decor in the bar - 1920s art deco style - but it's not a deal-breaker and it's certainly a lot nicer than several tacky and dated hotels I've seen. The only thing I really didn't like was the location. Although it's convenient and close to metro and bus stops, there were a number of rough sleepers near Bonne Nouvelle metro station. Also the shops around Faubourg Saint-Denis were mainly grocers and butchers, which would be nice and convenient for anyone who lived in the neighbourhood, but not exactly something I'd like to see on a weekend away. I would stay at the hotel again, but if I find a similar hotel in another neighbourhood that I prefer (e.g. near Canal Saint Martin) then I might be persuaded to try somewhere else.

Thanks for the review citygourmande!

Clarins or not, I feel those dispenser-holders to be very out of place in a "by Sofitel" property.

Dispensers are perhaps not as "posh", but personally I prefer dispensers with pumps like these (rather than the squeezy ones at Ibis Styles) because I didn't have to fiddle with caps whilst showering.

Many thanks for your review, citygourmande. Having 'only' seen suites myself, it's good to know that rooms in other categories (such as you and gav0106 stayed in) are also very impressive.

Obviously personal preferences play a large part here but we didn't feel unsafe or uncomfortable in this area, including late at night. There are lots of restaurants within easy walking distance, ranging from simple to Michelin starred, and everything from Montmartre down to the Île de la Cité is also walkable for most people. Apart from arriving and leaving, we didn't use a single bus, train or taxi during our two recent two-night stays.

I know what you mean, but I disagree and wish that more hotels would follow this example. Tiny plastic bottles are fiddly and wasteful. Of course, dispensers need to be kept completely clean and free of grime -- which the MGallery L'Echiquier does.

Stayed at L'Echiquier last weekend (my second time). Got a two-level upgrade to a Deluxe Room on the 5th floor, with a balcony (although it rained in the morning so I wasn't able to sit down and sip my coffee on the balcony).


They left small gifts on the table - a tote bag and two pieces of biscuits - nice gesture but can't compare to the half bottle of wine I got from Hilton Budapest (as a Silver member) or the canapes offered by IC Ambassador programme.


Just an FYI in case anyone likes the Clarins "Invigorating" product range, they are now available to buy from Clarins website (online exclusive - in the UK and France at least) - http://www.clarins.co.uk/body-bath-shower/340/, although it looks like both the shampoo and shower gel are out of stock at the moment.