Le Meridien Etoile Paris Review

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We stayed at Le Meridien Etoile in Paris for nearly free using our Marriott Free Night Awards pre-pandemic. This 4-star Paris hotel is the largest hotel in the city and is the flagship Le Meridien hotel in Paris. It is conveniently located in the 17th arrondissement just a 15 minute walk from the Champs Elysee. With rates near 400 Euros per night during peak travel season, it was a great use of Marriott’s free night awards. Read our Le Meridien Etoile Paris review if you’re trying to decide where to stay in Paris using points. Keep in mind that Le Meridien Etoile is temporarily closed through July 31, 2021.

**Our WTA score represents our own views based on our personal experience with the entity being reviewed.

Le Meridien Etoile Paris Booking

Since Le Meridien is a Marriott BonVoy hotel, you can use Marriott points and free night awards to stay at Le Meridien Etoile. Le Meridien Etoile is a Category 5 hotel, requiring between 30k to 40K points per night depending on the date of stay. We were able to secure our stay during standard rate dates at 35K points/night, allowing us to use our 35K free night awards that we earned through our Marriott credit cards. We have several Marriott co-branded credit cards between the two of us, including a business credit card and a personal credit card, each of which comes with an annual free night certificate valid for any hotel stay requiring 35K points or less per night.

See our favorite travel reward credit cards to learn more about the different Marriott credit cards and apply for your own. We have the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card by Chase and the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, but there are many options that will earn you a free night award annually.

Le Meridien Etoile Location

Le Meridien Etoile is located in the 17th Arrondissement at 81 Boulevard Gouvion Saint-Cyr in the heart of Paris. The hotel faces the Paris Convention Center.  It is just steps away from Porte Maillot metro station, making it convenient to explore the city. Le Meridien is within walking distance to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees. It is only 27 km from Charles de Gaulle airport with a shuttle that stops across the street for “Le Bus Direct” every 30 minutes for the airport.

 

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Le Meridien Etoile Lobby

Le Meridien Etoile has an open lobby with modern decor and a large seating area with chairs and couches where guests can socialize. We checked in quickly and helped ourselves to complimentary water in the lobby. The lobby has a small cafe called the Longitude Bat serving drinks, pastries, and light snacks.

Standard “Chic” Room

Our free night award entitled us to a standard room, which they call “chic”. Our chic room had 2 twin beds that could be pushed together for the equivalent of a King bed. When we checked in (early) there were no rooms available with a King bed, so we decided to just take the room with the twin beds rather than wait for a room with a King bed to become available. All the beds at the hotel are signature “Le Meridien Beds”, which are incredibly comfortable.

The room was small at 226 square feet, but for Paris that is fairly standard. There was a small desk area and narrow shelf on the wall large enough to hold cell phones, wallets and hats but not much else. A flat screen TV was mounted to the wall next to a mirror. There were 2 square ottomans that you could sit on or lay your belongings on them and 2 small night stands next to each bed. Our window had views of the city but nothing spectacular.

The hotel has been renovated with a focus on modern artistic decor. A complimentary pass to Centre Pompidou is available for all guests. Artwork in the rooms and throughout the hotel was created exclusively for Le Meridien Etoile, so this hotel would certainly appeal to art-lovers.

The bathroom was small as well but it had everything we needed. A single sink vanity was in between the shower and separate space for the toilet. Dark walls and floors juxtaposed against large bright photos illuminating the shower walls. The decor gave the space a very modern and artistic aesthetic. There were bathrobes and slippers available to use during our stay.

The bath amenities were by Malin + Goetz and smelled wonderful. I especially loved the peppermint shampoo and cilantro conditioner. The sage body wash also smelled delicious, and the moisturizer left our skin soft.

Our room had tea and coffee making facilities. This was especially useful since as Marriott Gold members we do not receive complimentary breakfast nor did we have access to the lounge. It was convenient to make ourselves a cup of tea before heading out for breakfast in the morning.

Le Meridien Etoile Restaurants

We were out exploring the City of Lights from sunrise to sunset so didn’t eat at the hotel. The hotel has a variety of restaurants including Longitude Bar for coffee and snacks or take away options. Espace Latitude, LM Brasserie, Le Patio Etoile, and Jazz Club Etoile are other dining options at Le Meridien Etoile. The Jazz Club has been open since 1975 and offers live jazz on weekends and Jazzy Brunch with a delicious cocktail menu.

Last thoughts on Le Meridien Etoile Paris

We were happy to use our Marriott free night awards at Le Meridien Etoile and save about $800 on 2 nights in peak travel season. There happened to be an international soccer match in Paris during our stay, so rates were higher than usual, saving us even more money by redeeming our free night awards.

This hotel is a solid option for exploring Paris with its proximity to the Champs Elysees and the metro. We only used the hotel to sleep and spent all our time sightseeing in Paris, so didn’t mind the room being so small. If we had been traveling with our children, we would have needed a larger room. But for a couples trip with an agenda to see as much of Paris as possible in a few days, this hotel offered all that we needed.

As a city hotel, it lacks some of the amenities we’ve grown accustomed to when staying at luxury hotels, such as a pool and spa.  Spa services are able to arranged in-room, but we do appreciate a soak in a hot tub or steam room after a day on our feet. There was a 24 hour fitness center with treadmills, bikes, weightlifting machines and free weights, but we didn’t make use of it.

*Editorial Disclosure-The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.