Review: Hotel de Crillon, Paris

My wife and I went to Paris for three nights to celebrate our 20th anniversary.  After a bit of research, I decided on the Crillon for this occasion.  
This was based on the response I had after sending emails to several hotels including the Ritz, the Plaza Athene and the Bristol.  I chose the Crillon because they gave me a good offer and their response was somewhat personal.

  Hotel de Crillon is one of the old, well established palace hotels in Paris.  Actually, the building itself was built in the mid 1700s, but it did not become a hotel until 1909.  It is situated right on the Place de la Concorde at the bottom of the Champs Elysees.  Lots of famous people have stayed here, and it ended up on second place on Travel+Leisures list of the best large city hotels in Europe and #19 on the over-all list.  



After booking, I had an email from the hotel with a form to fill inn with my choice of pillows, duvet, what newspaper we wanted etc.  Nice touch.  I wanted tables at a couple of good restaurants, so a number of emails went back and forth between the concierge and me.  The concierge team suggested and subsequently booked some good places for me. However, I did find the correspondence with the concierge to be a bit stiff, awkward and not quite efficient.  Replies to my emails usually came as a formal document attached to an email.  This made it more difficult to quickly follow up with questions and comments.  Also, not all of my questions were answered.  Direct questions about booking was promptly answered, but a more difficult question about any activity the concierge could think of that would make our anniversary truly romantic and special was met with silence.

I had booked the hotels airport transfer, and we were met right at the gate by a nice and very professional young lady who guided us through the terminal building, helped us retrieve our luggage and took us to the waiting car that drove us in to the hotel.  

The check-in went very smooth.  Since we came at around noon, our room was not ready yet, so we went out for some sightseeing.  After a couple of hours we had a phone call from the hotel informing us that our room was ready, and we headed back.

  One word about the transfer.  When I booked, I had the choice between the above mentioned service at 260 Euros and the same with a bigger car at 315 Euros.  But later I learned that they also could supply a car to the airport door without following you in for 190 Euros.  



The offer I had included an unspecified upgrade from a superior room (the least expensive category).  I had also said I wanted a quiet room with a view.  We were very satisfied with the outcome.  We were given room #540.  This is a duplex suite consisting of a living room with a spiral staircase up to the bedroom and bathroom.  The room faces inwards towards the hotel courtyard, but due to it being on the top floor, the bedroom had a clear view across the rooftops towards the Eiffel Tower, thus both being quiet and having a view.  Perfect.  



The living room contains a sofa, coffee table and arm chair in addition to a few other tables and a cupboard containing mini bar, tv, music system and dvd player.  The bedroom had a large bed, ample closet space and tv/music system/dvd player and a safe.  The bathroom was quite large with a bathtub, dual sinks, a separate shower stall and separate wc.  The only drawback with the suite is that carrying luggage up and down the stairs is a bit difficult, at least with big suitcases, but this is of course done by the porter.

 

The general style of the hotel is grand.  There are 
lots of yellow marble throughout.  The atmosphere is not as stiff as one might fear, but it is a bit formal and old fashioned.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  We had dinner at the Bristol on our second night, and that hotel seemed a bit lighter and brighter, but that is a question about personal taste. Generally, all of the staff were very friendly.  I especially want to mention the Front Desk Manager, Mr. Thorleif Tønseth who always did his best to make us happy and greeted us whenever he spotted us in the reception area.  The hotel struck me as being smaller than I had thought as it only occupies the left end of the building.



Now to the parts that could be better, and that centers on the restaurant Les Ambassadeurs.  The most annoying thing about the hotel was the fact that two out of three mornings, there was no room for us in the restaurant for breakfast and we had to wait in the Winter Garden just next to it.  This seemed to be quite a normal condition.  I do not think that will do for a hotel of this class.  On one morning we were offered to have breakfast in the Winter Garden, and even though that of course works, it was a bit awkward due to the low tables and soft chairs/sofas.  I think the hotel should re-think the Breakfast and possibly start using the other restaurant lObe instead of or in addition to Les Ambassadeurs.  



Food in Les Ambassadeurs was generally good.  We had dinner there the first night, three breakfasts and the Sunday brunch.  The tasting menu at dinner was very good and a bit less expensive than some of the other classy restaurants we looked at in Paris.  The Chef, Christopher Hache, just entered the position as the restaurant re-opened in April this year.  I do not know for how long they were closed, but I started wondering whether the waiting staff were new at that time, as this was the biggest problem at the Crillon. 



It started a bit during our dinner the first night.  It seemed that there was one team for breakfast/lunch and one team for dinner.  The dinner team was not all bad, but we started seeing small signs, like when my wife went to the lavatory, they came and took her napkin away, but never replaced it.  At the beginning of the meal we were asked if there was something we did not eat, and we informed the head waiter that my wife does not eat any seafood at all.  Two minutes later, an amous bouche with shellfish were served both of us.  

I think much of it came down to bad communication.  Also, after the head waiter found that we do not speak French when he took our orders, we were several times talked to in French by other waiters.  We generally found the service to be lacking in lots of details, and this became clearer as we dined at the Bristol the next day and experienced the perfect service there.

 

But it was the breakfast/lunch team that really was in need of some serious attention.  The service at breakfast and during the Sunday brunch went through three phases with me.  First a bit of curiosity at how they could be so sloppy, then irritation, and then amusement as I started observing what they did and tried to guess what would happen next.  

Breakfast at the Crillon is very good, but there were constantly items missing on the buffet. Dishes were empty for a long period of time.  Juice glasses were fought over for the short while they were to be found.  Two out of three mornings there was no butter on our table.  I ordered an omelet the second morning, which took 30 minutes to arrive and was clearly forgotten.  And after I had finished eating it, the toast that presumably was meant to go with it arrived.  When we finished a plate and went over to the buffet to get more, the used plate and cutlery was removed, but at times they forgot to give us new cutlery.  Generally I had a feeling that the staff was in a constant state of mild panic.  

I do not know what was the reason for all this.  It may have been that the crew was quite new and had not had time to become a real team yet.  It all was so consistently not good that I, as I said, at times found it amusing.  On the last breakfast I ordered another omelet.  I did this early in the meal remembering the time spent waiting for it the last time.  But this time it came promptly, and it was delicious.  As I have said, the food was generally good, so there is nothing wrong with the kitchen.

  And as we got up to leave after the last breakfast and I was still thinking of the nice omelet I had 30 minutes earlier, the toast arrived...




This review is from 2010.