PARIS — When tourists think "Paris hotel," images of the Ritz often dance in their heads. After all, who wouldn't want to be seduced by gilded ballrooms, sparkling chandeliers (and champagne), and sun-drenched balconies overlooking a royal garden?
Indeed, few cities do luxury better than Paris.
While this venerable tradition continues, recent trends have changed the hotel playing field. First, several high-end proprietors have traded in 19th-century French grand-scale hospitality for a "boutique" ambience emphasizing minimal design and informal attitudes. Take the sleek new Park Hyatt Paris, which makes its neighbour on the Place Vendôme, the Ritz, suddenly look stodgy.
At the two- to three-star levels, renovations are rampant. What travellers now get is typically targeted toward the North American market: English-speaking service, all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets, CNN and modern, not medieval, bathrooms with shower curtains. Pay a little more, like at the Empire-style Hôtel des Grands Hommes, and you'll even enjoy air conditioning and wireless Internet access.
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While budget travellers will be hard pressed to find Baudelaire or Hemingway-esque garrets, a few of these "down and out" options do exist, thankfully sans pigeons and dripping pipes. Some, like the Hôtel Marignan, add budget conveniences including free laundry and kitchen facilities while still in central locations, such as the coveted Latin Quarter.
SHOESTRING
HÔTEL MARIGNAN
Independent travel help awaits the budget conscious at the Marignan, a modest hotel that lies somewhere between one-star and international youth hostel with rates starting at $75 a night.
The multilingual and enthusiastic owner, Paul Keniger, is always trying to improve his services. Backpackers, couples and families willing to rough it will find his amenities impressive: breakfast, do-it-yourself kitchen facilities, self-serve washers and dryers, a library of guidebooks, and reams of tourist information, all free.
The 30 rooms are nothing fancy, but the mattresses are firm and bed frames new. Some have private baths, others share showers and toilets off the hall. Ideal for groups are the largest rooms, which offers five single beds.
Beware that during busy months, reserving a specific room is not possible, which means those unable to haul their luggage to the fifth floor (no elevator here) may be in trouble. It's advisable to arrive early for the best selection of rooms. Deals can be negotiated for those booking long stays (including free tickets for a boat trip on the Seine). It's hard to find a deal like this in such an appealing quartier: the Cluny Museum, Boulevards St-Germain and St-Michel, and Notre-Dame Cathedral are all steps away.
MID-RANGE
HÔTEL DES GRANDS HOMMES
This 31-room hotel of "Great Men" is named for the Panthéon, the massive rotunda where many French heroes rest. Given that the monument looms so majestically before the hotel façade, it makes sense the Grands Hommes has chosen a neo-Greek and Roman décor and subdued colours like blacks, greys, earth-toned reds and ochres.
The striking design begins with the lobby. Lined with marble, the waiting area is festooned with laurel-wreath trim and decorated vases. Busts of notable scholars and writers stare down from their shelves. It feels studious; in fact, this hotel has a direct connection to literary history. In 1919, Surrealists André Breton and Philippe Soupault discovered "automatic writing" here in the building's previous incarnation.
The rooms -- rates start at around $145 -- are done up in a knock-out Empire-style with plenty of tassels, classical curlicues and frescos. Expect lots of luxury touches such as magnifying mirrors and big tubs in the spacious bathrooms. Suites are outfitted with cushy couches and writing desks. But the hotel's best feature may be the view. If you can book a higher-floor room facing the Panthéon, you'll have an ample balcony with a small table and chairs perfect for breakfast, for a drink or just for soaking up the magical view north over the Latin Quarter and the entire cityscape.
HIGH-END
PARK HYATT PARIS VENDÔME
Don't let the chain moniker fool you: This three-year-old Hyatt is no cookie-cutter clone but an Ed Tuttle-designed gem that has been praised by the likes of Peter Gabriel and Björk. The minimalist look of this 178-room hotel is reflected in every surface and detail -- from the vast lobby lounge and glass-roofed Les Orchidées (for breakfast, lunch and tea) to the human-form bronze lamps and door handles sculpted by Roseline Granet. Rates start at around $650.
In the rooms, dark mahogany-veneer furniture and Bang & Olufsen entertainment systems set a Zen-like theme that's continued in the limestone baths. In Japanese style, a shower head hangs from the ceiling of an ingenious all-in-one bathing-tub-sink room separated from the bed by a sliding panel. Luxury suites are enormous, with winding staircases and working fireplaces. The hotel's Le Spa, also richly detailed with gilded cornices, offers fitness equipment, Carita treatments, and his-and-hers steam rooms and saunas.
Another reason to book here is the in-house restaurant, Le Grill, whose innovative creations are almost surpassed by the setting. An open-concept kitchen is set at one end of a dining room below a neo-classical dome, creating an intimate room within a room. Seated here, you have clear sightlines to the chefs preparing their trademark wood-fire-grilled meat and seafood dishes. Before dinner, sample the 12 champagnes available by the glass in Le Bar.
After all, whatever the accomodation one arrives at, Paris always goes well with champagne.
Hotel vitals
HÔTEL MARIGNAN
Essentials: 13 rue du Sommerard, 5th arrondissment; 33 (1) 43 54 63 81; http://www.hotel-marignan.com. The closest Métro stop is Maubert Mutualité.
Rates and rooms: 30 rooms. Rates in high season (April through July) range from $75 for a single with shared bath to $239 for a five-person room with private bath.
Top draw: Kitchen and laundry facilities for budget travellers.
Needs work: The reservation system is sometimes non-existent, and there's no elevator.
HÔTEL DES GRANDS HOMMES
Essentials: 17 place du Pantheon, 5th arrondissement; 33 (1) 4634 1960; http://www.hoteldesgrandshommes.com. The nearest Métro stop is RER Luxembourg.
Rates and rooms: 31 rooms. Rates range from $143 for standard double rooms to $611 for deluxe.
Top draw: Smartly-dressed rooms with incredible views of the Latin Quarter.
Needs work: The on-line reservation system can be confusing.
PARK HYATT PARIS VENDÔME
Essentials: 3-5 rue de la Paix, 2nd arrondissement; 33 (1) 58 711 234; http://www.paris.vendome.hyatt.com. The nearest Métro stop is Concorde or Opéra.
Rates and rooms: 178 rooms including 35 suites. Rates start at $653 for a standard double room, $797 and up for deluxe rooms, and suites from $1,199 to $6,346.
Top draw: A snazzy minimalist look, right down to the Japanese-inspired baths.
Needs work: Where's the swimming pool?