jja34-1

I am travelling with some friends to Paris to celebrate some personal happenings among our group, as well as Bastille Day.

At the moment, we are undecided between the Crillon, the Plaza Athenee or Le Bristol. Here is the issue. I am taking a suite but my friend is taking a standard room. I have seen and stayed in suites at the Crillon and Athenee, but have never seen a standard room. On top of that, I have not actually stayed in a hotel in Paris in a few years (it's nice to have friends with well-located apartments where the service is better than the George V!), so I'm not sure what any of these hotels look like after recent renovations or lack thereof.

Any opinions on which of these hotels has the best standard room? I am more interested in my friend getting the best bang for his buck in terms of a room than anything else (although we are also leaning more toward the Place de la Concorde Rue du Faubourg as the area we want to stay).

Also, he is a member of the Leader's Club, so if you are aware that any of these hotels are more amenable to LC members than others, please do share.

obscure2k

In the mid-eighties, my husband and I were in Paris; believe it was in February. We had a reservation at the Ritz (our 3rd stay). The room which we were shown was dreary, small and not what we had requested. We decided to stay one night and go "hotel shopping" the next day. We dressed very well and asked the front desk managers of the Bristol, PA, Crillon if we could see a typical room (not a suite). We stated that we were currently at the Ritz and "it just wasn't what it used to be, and we want to move." Each front desk manager loved that line and was only too happy to show us rooms. It really was a lot of fun, although, unfortunately, there was still a sleeping guest in the PlazaAthenee! We concluded that Le Bristol had the prettiest and largest standard room and also was the most elegant hotel. The Crillon's standard room was the smallest and even after the Sonia Rykiel make-over was a bit dreary. Not quite sure about the PA as we only caught a glimpse of the room. Le Bristol also had the nicest bathrooms. Crillon was the last stop and when we appeared disappointed in the room we were shown and had decided to move to Le Bristol, the Front Desk Mgr insisted on our staying at the Crillon and gave us a huge suite with a terrace overlooking the Place de La Concorde for the price of a standard room.. So, I would recommend Le Bristol for a standard room. Your friend will not be disappointed. We went on to stay at Le Bristol several times, never in a suite and were always very very pleased.

stimpy

As said, the Standard rooms at the Crillon are not very good. Small and gaudy come to mind. The FS should be good. But do yourself a favor and try the Lancaster.