Plaza Athénée, Paris

1   Not Recommended
Deluxe
November 8, 2006 by EXPERT

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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Hotel Plaza Athénée
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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Deluxe

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
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Room
Deluxe

It était une fois le palace de demain proclaims the Hotel's slogan of which they are proud of. The Plaza Athénée, to me, represented the quintessential Parisian palace hotel -- chic, sophisticated, and elegant. That is, until I stayed here a few nights ago........

Booked a deluxe room at a Virtuoso rate inclusive of continental breakfast for 1 or 2 persons, a box of chocolates, a one-way transfer to or from CDG or Gare du Nord, and an upgrade subject to availability at check-in. Rate the same for single or double occupancy. Requests were made for a high floor, non-smoking, king bed, and Avenue Montaigne view.

Check In

The idiot taxi driver dropped me off directly on the Avenue Montaigne instead of in front of the hotel's entrance. Once luggage was unloaded it did not take long for the P-A's doormen to come and retrieve my luggage. I was welcomed to the hotel ( this is all too rare in Paris ) and shown to the Reception. At the Reception I was welcomed and the formalities were quick. An Assistant Manager gave me his card and showed me to my room. The 7th floor is an Art Deco floor (the hotel features Classic Louis-choose-your-number or Art Deco styled guest rooms with each guest floor a certain style) and was punctuated by a strong perfume (a bespoke scent designed to heighten your senses and make the hotel unforgettable) which was truly horrendous. In that regard, the scent was most certainly unforgettable!!

Room

As you enter your room, pretentiously called appartements at this hotel, there is a "vestibule" where in front of you is the rear wall of your bathroom, to the right is a closet with the safe, and to the left leads you to the small bedroom. The room has a king bed, 2 arm chairs, a small work desk, an armoire with mini-bar and the Samsung plasma screen atop it. The bathroom is of average size for a luxury hotel with double vanity, separate shower, bathtub and a toilet crammed in between the shower and tub.

The decor is Art Deco but with a mishmash of colours it is not a particularly soothing room. The room had a view of the courtyard but being higher up had a fair amount of natural light. The room had a faint scent of smoke but the hotel was fully occupied and with the windows open the scent soon disappeared, or I just got used to it.

Toiletries were Plaza Athenee branded toiletries. I requested for 2 shaving kits and 2 dental kits and was charged 28 Euro for them. I had forgotten that this was a Dorchester Group hotel and the Dorch in London had famously charged me 24 quid for a single shaving and dental kit!!!

Service

I found the service at the hotel to be fairly good overall, minus, of course, the problems I had later on the day of arrival and at check-out. Those will be outlined later in this report.

Minus the incidents I had I found the service to be way better than Le Bristol (a hotel which STILL cannot get its act together) but less so than the Crillon and WAY less so than the George V. The staff are quite pleasant and smile more often than at other hotels. They are quick and efficient in delivering items to the room and a "tech butler" (my term, not the hotel's) came up to the room to loan me an ethernet cable, plug adapter, and to ensure I was connected to the internet without any hassles.

Bar

The highly touted Bar was a mega-disappointment. It is only open to hotel guests (and their guests I assume) and is "guarded" by imposing bouncers who check your name and room number against a master list. Once allowed entry, the bar is quite full -- full of cigarette and cigar smoke, full of people full of themselves, full of implants and other enhancements, full of pretention, and full of loud CD muzzak from a fairly decent sound system. Many of the young people were Middle Eastern (and they know how to party!!!) but the rest were old men with what looked like ladies who cost more than the hotel room/suite they occupy per night....

While the back-lit bar is very cool, the service stinks and cocktails are 25 Euro apiece. I must admit though the Bartenders are quite amazing as they have cocktails which are jello cubes in a glass and another which is a thin as a sheet of breath mint. Did it once, but I feel no need to return.

Dining

I ordered from Room service a french onion soup as I am on a mission to find the best hotel rendition of this classic soup. It was also freaking cold in Paris and I could not get the heating to work in the room due to a confusing remote control system. The delivery was quick and the quality of the soup was very high. Much better than both Le Grand Inter-Continental and Le Bristol, and although close, it could not beat the one I had at the George V.

The following morning we ordered two breakfasts, one continental and the other american, as my Parisian friend stayed with me overnight at the hotel. The quality of breakfast was extremely high with some of the best viennoiserie I have had at a hotel. My eggs benedict were perfectly done and the bespoke Plaza Athenee blend tea was quite good. The only problem was that the breakfast was cold by the time it arrived.

I did not try Alain Ducasse's restaurant at the hotel though it is said to be easier to get reservations there if one is an in-house guest.

The hotel's Galerie des Gobelins is a small tea/snack room with cramped seating and thus no privacy. The room is small and lacks distinction of any sort. The George V's Galerie is far more impressive.

Overall

The main problem I had was that the hotel did not execute a change I had requested to my original reservation. Knowing that the rate is the same for both single and double occupancy (I double-checked this with the hotel) I phoned down to the Reception that since my Parisian friend is able to stay overnight at the hotel I would like to add them to my reservation. Until then I was unsure whether or not my friend could stay with me or not.

I gave the Reception the full name of my friend, the approximate time of their arrival (10:30pm), and that they will be able to provide my name and room number. I then asked for my friend to be shown to the room as I would be busy catching up on report filing and communications. I then relayed the instructions I gave to the Reception to my friend.

At 10:25pm I get a phone call from my friend who was calling from the Concierge desk saying that the hotel knows nothing about my instructions. It turns out that Security, who not originally let my friend in, relented after they decided to verify that I was a guest in residence. They sent him to the Reception where my friend relayed the information I had given them. The Reception staunchly said there is no such instructions and sent my friend to the Concierge who then called me. I relayed my instructions to the Concierge who cut me off and said that that is the Reception's responsibility. The Reception agent then came on the line and asked me what the problem is. I explained the situation again and this time, remarkablly, my instructions appeared on their screen. The agent told me it was an unfortunate miscommunication and that my friend will be shown to my room immediately.

My friend of nine years was embarrassed and felt very humiliated by the treatment received. I was angered by the hotel's treatment of my friend and of the disregard they had for my request. The hotel also caused me much embarrassment as well.

Booking the room for 2 from the onset may have likely avoided the issue, but then again, perhaps not. Perhaps the staff thought that my friend was actually "a friend for hire" in which case they should be used to that!!! This single incident put a remarkable damper on my stay and certainly has changed my perception of this hotel. I made it clear to the Reception agent that I was disappointed that they screwed up my request but livid at the way they treated my friend. Of all the luxury hotels I have stayed at, I have had friends stay with me, often at last minute, all over the world and I have never, ever had a problem. At most I will receive a phone call informing me that my friend has arrived and that they will be showing them to the room.

The hotel knew it screwed up as the Director of Guest Relations approached me to try to smooth things out. It will be interesting to see how things turn out. The other problem I had was that due to a single mistaken charge that it essentially took me over an hour to check out. I was charged for a second breakfast which took so long for it to be partially removed -- as I expected to pay for the difference between the continental and american breakfasts.

I was surprised to see a hefty charge for the dental and shaving kits. I also had a small hole in my sweater mended by housekeeping and was surprised to see a 12 Euro charge for that as well. While hotels aren't charities, I felt that charging me for mending was nickle-and-diming. If a luxury hotel will charge me for that then where is the value added for staying at such a luxury hotel? I can understand a charge if the sweater had to be sent out to a specialist to fix but this was done in-house. Thus, for me, there is little value at this hotel especially when room rates are in the 700 Euro range. It is the little things that count, and at the Plaza Ath, they certainly do add up to a lot of Euro's.

As such, I left the hotel terribly disappointed that my friend was treated so poorly. My friend has sworn never to set foot in this hotel ever again. The hotel had an opportunity to impress me as this was my first visit and things were going fairly well until that first evening. Too bad -- such a shame -- and the kicker for me was that I used every ounce of will power to resist going to the George V. I now wish that I had.

It used to be the palace of tomorrow -- so apt, as it certainly is not one today.   

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