Reserved two rooms in Taste of Luxury Package, 4th night free, $435 euros per room including breakfast. Arrived at CDG at 7:30 am, 1 hour delayed form JFK, driver arranged from PDG met us outside of customs in a Mercedes Van for 5 of us with tons of luggage (240 Euros each way). Made our way in through heavy traffic and arrived at the hotel at 9 am. Property is on a tree lined street in an incredibly upscale area of Paris, directly adjacent to the Four Seasons hotel. Polished brass revolving entry doors were manned by convivial Italian doorman dressed in green and gold regalia.
Entering the lobby you are greeted by an impressive floral display on a round table followed by velvet covered couches, a twenty five foot ceiling and a lobby bedecked in stone that is calm and elegant. Reception and concierge desks on the left were manned by seven very busy staff members. We were greeted in English by the reception staff that confirmed our reservations, took photos of our passports and an imprint of our credit card and offered the Platinum amenity choices and an option of an upgrade to two junior suites that would not connect or two deluxe rooms that connected.
We opted for the connecting rooms and were assigned rooms 405 and 407. Our reception agent left the front desk and led us up to the room. Having made no pre-arrangement for early arrival or having paid for pre-arrival stay we were pleasantly surprised our rooms were available and thankful for the opportunity to refresh and grab a nap before exploring the city.
We entered a small elevator in the back of the lobby and were given instructions that the main elevators were very small and for our group of five we would probably be more comfortable using this “back” elevator which was lined with faux books and was fairly quick. We did try the two main elevators and they definitely bring a new definition to small elevators, wow.
We entered our rooms through a long narrow hallway that had no function except to store our bags and found mirror images of good sized king bedded rooms with a 42” plasma television, desk with Ethernet wire, mini bar and sliding door armoire covered with mirrors. The armoire had plenty of wooden hangers, four drawers that pulled out for storage, a typical electronic coded safe and a large cubby area to store things. One room had blue chintz wall paper, blue toned carpet and chair the other the exact same in yellow. Both rooms backed to the courtyard and were extremely quiet the entire stay, yet offering no view or ability to gage the weather.
The baths had a large single sink vanity, marble tub with high tech shower head and hand spray attachment and separate toilet area, room 407 just a toilet and room 405 a toilet and bidet. Baths were outfitted with plenty of accoutrements, shampoos, lotions, bath salts, slippers, comfy robes, etc. The water pressure was awesome, spray coming out of the shower head as hard as a fire hydrant, capability to run the shower head and hand sprayer together gave the possibility of immediate drowning. Water could get as hot as you could handle and the controls were easy to use and stayed at pre-desired temperature for the next shower. Tub was full size, not oversize but enough to enjoy a short bath.
Mini-bar was stocked with usual items, wine beer, sodas, water, chips and chocolates. Costs were expectedly high, but fridge temperature was excellent and restocking occurred without notice.
After a quick nap we stopped by the concierge desk and acquired museum passes, concierge was friendly and extremely helpful, we reviewed our dining appointments we had made on our own before arriving and they called each and reconfirmed for us. They also helped us make arrangements for a car and driver for the next two days to help us explore the city in grand style (another Mercedes Van at $530 euros per 8 hour day – driver was wonderful at dropping us and being right were we needed him. He even arranged a special entrance into Musee D’Orsay for us on Saturday afternoon so we could bypass the 20 minute wait in the reservation line – the standard entrance was well over an hour that day).
We walked down the end of the block and caught a boat tour of the city and later hopped on the Metro right up the street from the hotel and explored Paris. We returned to find a turned down room in great shape with foam pillows and a feather bed type cover over the mattress. A quick call to housekeeping resulted in 4 extra feather pillows arriving at our door in less than ten minutes.
We decided to check out the fitness room before heading out to dinner and found a pleasant room that must have been a small suite outfitted with 5 cardio machines and a small weight rack. All in good condition and the two rooms were spotlessly clean and empty. A television and stereo were available and we used both with ease. We used the facility each day and never saw another soul in there.
The location was easy for cab rides to diner each night, a five to ten euro ride to almost anywhere we went. After dinner we stopped at the bar for a nightcap. The place was quiet one evening, busy the next, a plasma television showing rugby and football on the north wall. Cocktails were expensive, nuts and tarts were a nice touch however. No lack of smokers though and that eventually drove us next door to the Four Seasons for our after dinner drinks where there is a smoke free environment that was much easier to enjoy and a pleasant pianist each evening to listen to.
Breakfast each morning was a smash hit with all of us. Sylvain the restaurant day manager had a table for five set for us each morning and oddities like pitchers of ice tea and pots of mixed coffee and hot chocolate were ready for us the morning after ordering them the day before. European eggs have a distinctly different flavor yet the pastries and even the American style pancakes on the buffet were delicious. Juices were fresh and properly chilled and they even found us some Cranberry juice one morning.
Check out was a breeze, our driver and luggage all organized very professionally for us.
All in all an incredibly pleasant experience, not a hotel stay that will be etched in our mind for the rest of our life like the Crillion or the Ritz, but an exceptionally even stay in a quiet unassuming property with older style rooms that have been pleasantly refreshed not revised. Spot on for us, B+, we will return.
Review submitted by scasner.
Posted at March 27, 2007 11:57 AM
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2 experiences with hotel prince de galles, paris
March 27, 2007 2:03 PM. starenthuse said:
Want to stay in a Starwood hotel with some traditional class? Then that's the Princes de Galles in Paris, France. A few months ago on a stay in Paris, my wife and I decided to redeem 24,000 points to stay at the property for a couple nights. We were lucky to find a room available.
The hotel is located just off of the Champs d'Elysees on Avenue George V. Fantastic location! The check-in staff was efficient and gracious. After a round of genteel negotations, they agreed to upgrade my wife and I to a "grand deluxe" room (I'm a Platinum member) overlooking the street. Without prompting, they offered a Platinum amenity of wine, which we gladly accepted to be delivered to our room. My wife and I crammed into the small elevator up to the room.
The room itself was pleasantly appointed in a very lush, traditional, Parisian style with high ceilings. Unlike some other Parisian hotels I've stayed in, the room was not cramped at all. The king-size bed was complemented by two chairs, a table and a standing closet. As a side note, there is not much noise overlooking the street, but we are from New York, so judge accordingly. They also have courtyard-view rooms, but you won't see much. Anyway, our balcony was a good-size, but lacked table and chairs, so the only time we "used" it was right after we checked-in. The bed was comfortable, but not quite up to par with the Westin Heavenly Bed. Shortly after we were settled into the room, there was a knock on the door. It was our Platinum amenity: a bottle of wine and some chocolates.
The bathroom was all gray marble and had fancy fixtures. The towels and robes were plush and the lotions/soaps were luxurious. In the shower, though, the curtain clung to my body as I was washing myself. That was unpleasant.
Overall, this is not the Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton, but it is luxury. The staff in general were excellent -- a manager called during the second day of our stay to make sure everything was going smoothly. We enjoyed the Princes de Galles and would certainly return if it was ever in the cards. My only complaint is the exorbitant charges for various extras, like internet access and telephone calls.
May 15, 2007 6:08 PM. hhpepper said:
We had a horrible experience at the Hotel Prince de Galles. I am a SPG platinum, it was our honeymoon, our room was awful, and the staff was rude. The hotel claimed it was a deluxe room, but it was certainly not deluxe.
First, we arrived at 4pm and were made to wait almost 2 hours for our room. When we saw the room, I can not express how disappointed I was.
The room was approximately 12'x12'(literally) and barely fit a double bed. It was so small that there was no place we could put our suitcases and keep them open -- instead we had to store them upright each day. The bedspreads were made of polyester. The pillows were lumpy and not down. One side of the room was covered with a horribly smokey glass sliding mirror like the ones you might see at a motel. It had a balcony, but no chairs on the balcony. In order to access the balcony, we had to move a table and chair. The only redeeming quality was a large and well-appointed bathroom.
I called to ask if a larger room was available (mentioning that we were on our honeymoon), but instead of being accomodated, I was treated with contempt and told we were lucky to have been upgraded to our "deluxe" room.
It appears that others had better experiences, but I would never stay at this hotel again.