It’s probably not a good sign when I’m not tempted to take lots of photos of a hotel. There are a lot of good things about la Parizienne but overall I wasn’t seduced. Read on to see all the pros and cons of staying at La Parizienne.
Details
- 28 rooms
- Check latest prices and availability
- From 99 Euros
Full review
The location
A very good location, very central and useful to get to many places in Paris . The Parizienne is on Boulevard Montparnasse, at the top of the shopping street Rue de Rennes. You are very close to the Montparnasse tube station which has several lines directing to every corner of Paris.
You can walk to the many “crêperies” in the neighborhood and if you need to take a train to the west of France at Gare Montparnasse then it’s only a 10 minutes walk.
The lobby, lounges
There is no lounge. You have a few seats next to reception and there is a breakfast room downstairs but if you want to relax, better to go out in a café than come back to the hotel.
Going upstairs, the lift had a funky sparkly ceiling, which Mademoiselle really liked. The stairs and the hallways in the floors are all painted in black, which surely is practical to hide the stains but makes it quite claustrophobic for me.
The room
The hotel launched more than a year ago and has some cute drawings by an illustrator focusing on “la parisienne”, the Parisian woman. Looking at the pictures on the hotel website, I wrongly assumed that the padded grey pattern was real furnishing but it’s actually just wallpaper. It did take away the sense of coziness that I expected.
Each room can have a “yellow”, “pink”, “blue” or “black” ambiance. I had asked for a pink or blue but we ended up in a black one. The black walls and black curtains really contributed to make the room feel even smaller so I promptly asked to change. I was moved to a “pink” one with beige walls, so that was much better.
That being said, the room is VERY small. You can just walk around the double bed to go to the bathroom. Said bathroom is the tiniest I’ve ever seen in a hotel. You can see in the photo that the width of the sink was the width of the space to move in. Next to it was the shower. On the plus side, you get some Nuxe products, which are really nice.
There are some cubes to put your clothes away and an open wardrobe for your coats, dresses etc.
In short, it’s fine enough but I didn’t feel like I would want to linger in the room. Certainly for a family, you would need to book two rooms.
The service
A very friendly welcome by the receptionist who also very kindly accommodated my desire to change rooms as I found the first one really too dark with its black walls.
In the morning, I was also asked if my stay had been good and again a friendly smile welcomed me. Quick and fast checkout so good marks in this area.
In summary
If you are after a clean, central and cheap hotel in Paris, then this will do. However, if you need to stay for more than a few days and would hope to relax in your room, I would recommend renting a flat on AirbnB or checking the other stylish affordable hotels I mentioned before. The space is really too tiny to not get cabin fever in the hotel.
Now, if you want to pay more, you’ll be able to have more spacious rooms of course. See that review from Argone or that one too for another experience.
It is not what I would call a boutique hotel. Yes, the decor tries to surf the trend for individualism but there is a lack, precisely, of personal touch that you can somehow sense. The hotel belongs to the chain Elegancia, which is opening several hotels in Paris. Nice efforts and good staff but not my kind of place.