Le Meridien - Great View/Terrible Room

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As we get ready to head south we thought a quick review of our stay in Le Meridien in the Montparnasse area (left bank of the Seine in Paris) would be nice.

1. Location: great location, close to decent restaurants, laundry, and the Eiffel Tower. Very convenient for access to the metro and RER. Several grocery stores within a block or two. Several movie theaters close by.

2. Hotel Exterior: looks like a non-descript, boring tall box from the 80's. Even though its huge, finding it when you're in Montparnasse can be tricky.

3. Hotel Lobby: very euro-cool, sleek design, nice seating and free wifi. Space is typically filled with flight crews from all over the world, Japanese and American tourists.

4. Elevator: Creepy. Sarah and I first got in and could not figure out what this strange noise was - turns out they have some sort of white noise/jungle sounds/jazz club CD they have on loop. The elevator creaked and sounded very stressed out by our presence (we have been eating a lot of butter, though). Once we landed, the elevator opened to a drab, run down area reminiscent of a Holiday Inn (peeling paint, stained carpets)

5. Hotel Room: Here's where things go off the tracks a bit. This room is listed at $650/night (no, we did not pay that much). It's by far one of the smallest rooms we've stayed in. The bed was not very comfortable, weird furniture (birds-eye maple dresser, black stained desk, Miami Vice bed and lamp sets) set up and the t.v. was at least 15 yrs old. Air conditioner was about 300 yrs old (looked and acted like it was). View was amazing as you can see here. Bathroom was nicest aspect of room with granite countertops and bright, halogen lights.

6. Extras: Internet ($15/day), minibar, free clothes press in room, nice wood hangers, actual glasses instead of plastic cups. We are embarrassed to admit it but having a Starbucks about 4 blocks away was nice when all the other cafes were still closed Saturday morning.

7. Overall: We will not be staying here again but love the area, love the views, great jumping off point for heading south. Seems like for $650/night the hotel should have a much higher standard for amentities, cleanliness and overall quality. They also seem to nickel and dime for every little thing - very strange.

Avignon, here we come.

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