Paris Marriott
 

Has anyone stayed at the Marriott on the Champs Elysees lately? Your impressions, please. Merci

It's a nice, large American style hotel in the least atmospheric part of Paris. If that is what you are looking for, it's perfect.

My wife and I will be staying in this hotel at the end of April (Mariott points) and I'll be glad to give you our impressions if that is soon enough for you.

Schlock - it's definitely a hotel that should only be booked if you have to get those hotel points. But I guess you'll find that out. I personally couldn't imagine coming back to such a place after soaking up Paris all day long, but I guess if your theory is that a hotel is just a place to spend the night, and it's more bang for the buck than you might get for a *real* Parisian hotel, go for it. A bargain is a bargain.

I had to use the points someway and this seemed like the best method. We'll see. I've been wrong before!

Do whatever it takes to get to Europe. If it's FF miles, hotel points, whatever. You'll go, have an incredible time and not be able to wait to get back.<BR>I stay in the cheapest hotel I can stand in Paris so I can get back as often as possible. Right now it's once a year, I'd use hotel points to make it twice a year if I could.

A better value may be the Courtyard. I'm sure they require fewer points. I used points to stay there before Marriott changed the program -- 65,000 for five nights. It's on the outskirts of the city in a very nice residential area. You could walk into Paris proper in 20 minutes or so. We took either the bus or the metro every day; the bus was more convenient -- just around the corner -- but stops running early in the evening. Sometimes we took taxis. The hotel provided van service in the morning with a little notice. It's a nice hotel, American style. There are some shops and restaurants around the back of the hotel. We walked around at night, sometimes late, and always felt very safe.

Diane, while I'm sure you know what you're talking about since you've stayed at that Courtyard, please explain how you can walk from a hotel "in the outskirts of the city" to "Paris proper" in 20 minutes. It's usually 30 minutes by car.

If I had the points to spend I'd try the Champs Elysee Marriott as well. While you don't get the experience of a French hotel, it's worth noting that the hotels built in France since the mid 1980's have been built using the sort of architecture and amenities of a standard American hotel, regardless of whether or not the owner is American. In any case, the large hotel companies, whether Sofitel, Novotel, Marriott, Hilton, or any of the others, are now so multinational that there is no longer any style other than what works for generating optimum profits.<BR>I'm not complaining necessarily, there are pluses to it, but if one wants what the more romantic of Fodor's visitors consider the "true" French experience it is best to carefully track down the hotels built 1950's or so, maintained in the style, and stay there.<BR>The one thing I would avoid when booking in Paris for a vacation, are the hotels out around the airports which are anonymous (no matter their marque) cubicles lacking any sense of being on any particular continent.

JD -- The Courtyard is in Neuilly (not sure of the spelling). It is a suburb east of the city near the American Hospital. I don't have my maps in from of me, but I remember walking about 20-minutes to the "edge" of the city where we had dinner. It's more convenient to take the bus or Metro. Taxis were reasonably priced so we did that too.<BR><BR>I tried to use my points a couple of years ago to stay at the Marriott. Very difficult. It was blacked out for a three month period in spring. That's why I chose the Courtyard. Was an excellent value for the points.

Here's a website where you can see photos of the Courtyard and learn more about its location.<BR>http://www.paris-tourism.com/courtya...iott/home.html

Actually, it is the Marriott Champs Elysees. We will be in Paris on Bastille Day, and I think that is one of only a few hotels on the Champs Elysees. I've NEVER booked an American hotel in Paris, and wouldn't do it at a rule. Have never understood people who book American hotels when traveling.<BR><BR>SOOOOOOO, if you know a charming hotel on the CE, please advise. I'm definitely looking for that - and price is no object (I think)!

My office used to be close to the Marriot Courtyard, and it is in fact an easy 20 minute walk from there over to the Ave de Ternes area, and maybe 5 minutes more to Champs Elysees. Lots of good places to eat on de Ternes (the Balloon de Ternes is very good).

If you are getting it free and will be there for the parade (will you have a front room?) I don't know why people are being so negative. People really fight to get window views in buildings on the Champs-Elysees (wonder if Anderson's prime spot will still be there?). That is a very old, historic and beautiful building. I know the interior has been extensively remodeled and outfitted with modern rooms and amenities, but you could do a lot worse. I would never stay in a Courtyard in Neuilly instead (which is as suburb to the west, not east, of Paris). Sure you can walk to Paris city edge maybe in 20 min but having to walk that far just to then get a metro or taxi to go elswhere would not be very desirable to most people, as well as staying in a Courtyard out in the burbs which I think would be so much worse than staying in the city. I know it doesn't bother some people to stay far out, though. The Marriott CE is not a newly-built hotel, except the interior. I don't think there are any other hotels on the Champs-Elysees, in fact, so that's it.