Strengths: New, good service, room size

Drawbacks: Fringe location

I had the perfect quick trip planned for Chicago…which unfortunately largely unraveled at the last minute.

Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago is one of my top-ten favorite restaurants in the world.  Something about it just resonates exceptionally well with me.  Unfortunately, earlier this year, after a 20+ year run, they announced that they’re closing in August.  (Announcing their closure six months in advance is a pretty smart move…allowing them to go out on a bit of a “hurrah.”)

I needed to go visit a client in Chicago for a meeting (a client where the staff are very good personal friends, and former colleagues), so I set up the meeting around a table I was able to reserve at Trotters.  My plan was to fly out the afternoon before, have a leisurely 8-course dinner with one of the guys from the client (that I used to work with), meet an old college roommate/former colleague/former business partner for dinner, book a suite at the Elysian (now Waldorf) and then have the cursory meeting in the morning, and fly home in time to have dinner with the kids at home the next day (something I don’t often get to do on a weekday).

The Elysian/Waldorf isn’t an approved hotel, but I can get dispensation if a client is staying at an unapproved property.  Unfortunately, the person who was flying in from their west coast office for the same meeting (and was staying at the Elysian/Waldorf) had to cancel.  So, two days prior to departure, I had to cancel the Elysian/Waldorf, and move to an approved hotel.  Only the Radisson Blu Aqua was available on such short notice.  Not the best news, but not the end of the world.  At least it was a hotel I was otherwise interested in trying.

I had booked the 3:35 flight out to Chicago from New York.  This allowed for plenty of time to make it to the hotel, freshen up, and arrive for dinner.  My schedule even allowed for delays at both LGA and ORD.  Unfortunately, chaos broke out in the office on a deal that I have live in the market – so while I might have been able to leave, there was too much going where my input was important that I felt uncomfortable leaving.  A quick email to my assistant – regrettably – moved me to a later flight and cancelled my dinner at Trotters.

I thought about just cancelling the trip, but that would have verged on an insult to the people I was set to see the following morning.

With that backdrop, time to get on with the report…

I ended up on the 8:55pm flight, arriving at 10:35pm.  At least I’d have time for drinks with a different friend/investor.

Arriving at LGA around 7:25pm with my boarding pass in hand, I decided to eat something prior to security.  I’d heard of Five Guys Burgers, but hadn’t been before.  While not quite In-n-Out burger, it was still pretty good.  Being in New York, they had to post the calories on the menu – I nearly went somewhere else after I saw the 900 calories for a deluxe burger (NYC requires quick service restaurants to post the calories of each menu item) – but I figured, “what the hell” and gave it a try.  While not quite Trotters, it was pretty darned good.

This was scheduled

This is where I ended up!

900 killer calories at LGA! Tasty...

My upgrade cleared at the gate, and I was given my choice of seats in the forward cabin on American’s MD-80.  Clearly only experienced travelers take the 9pm flight to Chicago, and we were ready to leave 15 minutes prior to departure.  The flight left with several empty seats in front, though was probably 70% full in back.  They didn’t close the door till the appointed departure hour (perhaps there were a few ticketed no-shows) which allowed time for a couple of quick Coronas before departure.  The fellow next to me was from a competing investment bank, and he was nursing a few Heinekens, keeping up with me can-for-can.  A light (and unappealing) meal was offered, which I declined (AA’s food is nearly always a disappointment, and I was absolutely stuffed from dinner in the airport.)

After take-off, I had another Corona (matched by a Heineken) and enjoyed a little free time on Milepoint, courtesy of Gogo.  Arrival was slightly ahead of schedule.

I took a cab in from ORD to the hotel.  My driver was from Karachi, though had lived in Chicago for 20+ years.  I know more about south Asia than the average American – and an old partner of mine is Pakastani – so I engaged him in a conversation about the war, cricket, India’s “aggression” and general racism.  (I don’t have a strong view as to which country is more aggressive – India or Pakistan – but I know how to get someone from either country revved up – simply say the other country is being unduly aggressive and you’ve got an immediate friend!)  We chatted vigorously the entire way in.  I got him worked up about cricket as well, too.

Half way through our journey, my driver offered that the reason he came to the States was to give his kids an opportunity for “the best” education.  Regardless of skin color or religion or where someone is from, I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who didn’t want to do better for their kids.  If talking about how unfair Partition was in 1947 doesn’t make someone your friend, saying how well they’re doing for their kids certainly does.  It was interesting to hear of the challenges this chap faced 20 years ago here, and again 10 years ago.  He said he felt much more welcome in the last few years.

We arrived at the hotel in less than 25 minutes.  Located south of the river, the Radisson Blu is located on the edge of where you’d want to be in Chicago.  It is workable, but not right in the heart of the action.

Though I didn’t put a lot of demands on the hotel’s services, I can say that everything about my stay was satisfactory.  The hotel felt a fair bit like a W, but not quite as hip.  Perhaps it was a nice balance of W, but not too much W?

Hotel exterior

There was no doorman outside when I arrived, so I simply let myself in to the hotel.  There was a doorman standing inside, who directed me to the front desk, off to the left.  Check-in was handled efficiently.  I was given a room on the lowest floor of rooms.  While not preferable, I was without status and on a deeply discounted corporate rate.

Reception

I knew I had signed up for this hotel’s rewards program, but I didn’t know my number.  The agent said he’d look it up and add it for me.  I thanked him, though assumed this wouldn’t actually take happen (it rarely actually works out when the agent offers to look me up).

I found my way to the lifts and in to my room without issue.  Being a new hotel, everything was in very good condition – but there were no “new hotel” odors (paints, carpets) either.

Someone designing this hotel likes typefaces!

My room was perfectly fine.  The carpet color in the room was quite notable, a deep, rich green.

The room

Bold carpet. Crazy socks.

Minibar

Coffee equipment

The bathroom was reasonably spacious and comfortably designed.

Bathroom

Bathroom

The door closes either the shower or toilet, but not both.

Being on the lowest floor, there was a fairly large balcony outside.  (Looking up at the outside of the hotel, it appears some rooms have balconies while others don’t.)

My investor friend came by for a drink around 11:30.  Despite ten or so guests still drinking, they called “Last Call” shortly after we arrived.  Our debauchery was limited to one round (and really couldn’t be called debauchery at that level).  There was an error with one drink, but it was corrected without issue or attitude.

Bar Area

I went for a run in the morning; just a little less than 3 miles.  Short and quick.  My calf had been bothering me on and off over the days preceding, and as luck would have it, about 1.4 miles from the hotel, it acted up – so I turned back.  I’ve run along this part of the lake previously and really quite enjoy it.  It is certainly more pleasant in the spring/summer/autumn than the winter!

A quick run

The hotel has a lap pool, hot tub and small outdoor running track.  I didn’t have time to visit these facilities.

I ordered a continental breakfast when I got back to my room, and jumped in the shower.  I’m an average pace shower-taker I think; the food arrived before I was done.  The quality of the food was surprisingly high.  The breads and pastries (which I did not finish) were excellent.  Their juice wasn’t fresh squeezed, but that was about the only drawback.

There were some to-go coffee cups in the mini bar for the in-room coffee maker.  I used one of those to take the excess coffee from the carafe with me for my car ride out to Schaumberg.

Checkout at around 7:45am was handled by the same person who checked me in.  Unsolicited, the agent offered that he found my rewards account and added it to my booking.  The bill was accurate.  Internet access is complimentary for all guests.

While certainly nothing remarkable, for an upper-mid-tier hotel, the Radisson Blu really did quite well.  If traveling within corporate rules, I’d happily stay here again.

Details
Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago
221 North Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL 60601 U.S.A.
+1 312-565-5258
http://www.radissonblu.com/aquahotel-chicago

In the weeks that have passed since our trip, one of the most important things has been occurring – our kids keep talking about it.  Once and a while they say things like, “this is a lot of walking, like when we were in Paris,” but overwhelmingly their references are quite positive.  They’ll ask, “Remember the Eiffel Tower?” or will see a photo of the Mona Lisa and yell out, “We saw that painting.”  Things like that show that hopefully this trip will form some lasting memories for my kids.

I know the trip set some lasting memories for me.  I can still picture the way my daughter’s face lit up when she saw the Eiffel Tower from the van on the way into the city from the airport.  She knew she was someplace she had heard a lot about – and was going to experience it first-hand.  Memories like that are the truly priceless ones.

Including ticketing fees, parking at the airport, meals, coffees, admissions to museums and the like, our total cash outlay for the trip was a little over $2,500.  Back out dinner at Taillevent and Savy (our two deluxe meals), and that number looks more like $1,000 – pretty reasonable!

Had we paid for our air tickets, the cost would have been about $22,400 ($5,600 per ticket).  Our hotel would have been $3,520 for the nights we stayed.  For 516,000 miles/points, we saved $25,920 (or not quite the cost of the trip to Hawaii), or slightly over $0.05 per mile/point in aggregate.  Not a bad value.

Delta allows a free stopover on international tickets.  Knowing I wanted to take the kids down to Florida to see their Great Grandmother in early May, when I booked my tickets, I included a continuation flight from JFK to FLL for May.  (As I write this, I’m on my three-month “stopover” in New York!)  The cost for one-way first class tickets down to FLL are about $500 one way, so for no extra miles, I was able to bake in half of my trip to Ft Lauderdale, too!  Better yet, I intentionally booked this add-on for only three tickets, so my wife can stay at home and relax without anyone around to bother her.  She’ll enjoy that time.

The valuation on the Delta points, inclusive of the one-way to Ft Lauderdale for May, was $0.06 per Delta mile.  “SkyPesos” my a-double-s!

Noting that this website is “Sit In First,” not “Sit in Business,” I should address why we were stuck in business class.  Regrettably, Delta points cannot be used for first class redemptions on three-class flights.  If you’re on Delta points, the forward-most cabin is simply off-limits on a three cabin flight.  Air France makes the first class cabin available only for their Gold elites, and even then, a trans-Atlantic flight is 250,000 miles round trip (compare to BA first at 120,000).  I had considered doing the Air France status match from last year and transferring Amex points to AF so that we could try their first class product, but I never got around to the match – so we were relegated to business.  It would be nice if SkyTeam opened up the first class cabins on Korean and Air France for redemption opportunities within the alliance, but I’m not holding my breath.

Considering we secured four low-miles business awards on non-stop flights on the exact dates we wanted to travel – had excellent in-flight service – and created some wonderful family memories, I have nothing whatsoever to complain about.  This was a very memorable trip for my entire family – one we’ll remember for years – to a city I’m sure we’ll visit again soon.

Merci d’avoir lu mon rapport.

Our flight home from Paris was going to be the longest daytime flight our kids had ever taken.  I wasn’t quite “worried,” but I did wonder how the 8-hour-plus day time journey was going to go.  It was also the kids’ first flight on an A380, and they were very excited to go on the “two story airplane.”

I briefly considered taking the Air France bus out to CDG (which operates conveniently non-stop directly from our hotel to CDG), but calmer heads prevailed, and we decided to take a private car.  The price of four tickets on the bus turned out to be not much less than the cost of the private van that we ultimately used.  There was a private van “standing by” in front of the Meridien when we were leaving.  The doorman (who most certainly receives a small cash payment from the driver) saw us with bags, asked if we needed transportation to the airport, and promptly summoned the van driver.

I stopped the loading of our bags into the van, however, until we agreed on a price.  The driver offered €70, which I agreed to, once I confirmed he honored credit cards.  Considering the cost was well over $200 via Carey to get in from CDG, this felt like a reasonable price – and his vehicle was the same make of Mercedes van that Carey took us in.

Traffic was fine, and our ride to CDG took a little less than 30 minutes.  We were let off at the right terminal, but not near the business class check in area.  It took a few minutes to make our way to the business check in area, as it wasn’t well signed.  The queue dragon asked us twice if we were flying business class; I responded yes both times, but she didn’t seem convinced.  We just ultimately walked past her without issue.

There were a number of trans-Atlantic flights leaving at the same time, bringing the business class queue to easily 25 people.  In about 15 minutes, we were checked in.

At security and passport control, we took the liberty of using the “Acces 1” channel.  The signs for the channel don’t say who is eligible to use the channel, but I figured we’d chance it, and hide behind language if there was an issue.

As we reached the queue, there were about 5 groups waiting in front of us.  An airport security officer approached us – saw our business class boarding passes and kids – and took us to the front of the queue.  That was quite nice.  Clearing exit immigration and security were non-events.  We needed to take a train to our gate, which the kids enjoyed.

Despite leaving what I thought to be a bit early, we arrived at the gate about 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure.  There was already quite a back-up in the business class boarding queue.  If you figure there are 75 or so business class seats, add in another 75+ SkyTeam Elite+ passengers – and you get basically a full 737-800 lining up to use the elite line.  Due to the queue forming, we didn’t visit the lounge.

Our kids – perhaps definitely a bit spoiled – really have never waited in a long airport queue, and asked what the wait was about.  It was kind of funny, as they weren’t snotty questions, more purely naïve questions.  I simply answered there were a lot of people coming on the plane, without getting into the class-of-service and elite-status subtleties.

Upper deck A380

Once we boarded, we found our seats in the forward business cabin.  The seats were angled lie-flats, substantially identical to the seats on the 777 going to CDG.  I took the kids on a bit of a tour of the upstairs cabin.  The kids quite liked the small – and largely unadorned when compared to Korean’s on-board lounges – lounge area in the forward-most part of the plane on the starboard (right) side.

The Starboard Lounge - Unadorned

Just as with our outbound flight, the flight attendant serving our section made a special effort to introduce herself to my family and offered to help with any special needs that we might have.  That was appreciated.

Take off was on time.  The kids quite enjoyed watching the tail camera during taxi and take off.

The main meal service was fine, and to the delight of the flight attendant, my son and I both had the foie gras and shrimp starter.  For mains, we split the beef and chicken dishes.  They were good by US carrier standards, but a little bit of a letdown considering this was Air France.

Foie Gras

The second meal service, served about 5 hours later, was quite skimpy.  My son ate what was given, but then asked the flight attendant if she had any desserts.  As luck would have it, there were leftovers from the main meal dessert, and she brought several for him to have.  It is safe to assume these were devoured.

Counting his desserts!

Yum.

There were several other kids under 10 in the business cabin.  My son made a friend, a young lady of 7 years, from Strousbourg.  She spoke no English, and my son no French, yet they played nicely for about four hours.  I helped with some preliminary translation between the two of them (names, ages, home towns, etc), and they just had a blast.  Mainly they played together in the front starboard lounge, though they walked about the cabin a few times, too.  Each time they went through the cabin, they walked quietly and calmly; I was really impressed.

After they didn’t come back for a while one time, I went to hunt them down.  They were both talking with a flight attendant in the rear galley.  I took them for a tour of the downstairs, which was quite crowded.  They liked the curving staircase at the back of the plane.  A few weeks after the trip, my son asked when he could see his “friend from the plane” again.  Sadly, that won’t be possible.

My daughter (5) played with the “older kids” for a while, but I could hear her a few rows back from the lounge, so after one warning, she was stuck back at her seat.  While she protested at first, any issue was quickly resolved with the trusty iPad.

During our flight home, we crossed over Prince Edward Island, where my mother spends her summers.  The kids quite liked seeing Charlottetown on the map, and my son recognized the city name on the map, saying that was “where grandma goes.”

Arrival at JFK was also uneventful, though we arrived a little late.  I haven’t gotten Global Entry for my wife, so we needed to enter the country the old fashioned way.  The citizens’ queue was quite short thankfully.

Considering the things that could have gone wrong with an 8-hour daytime journey, other than a weak second meal service, I’m pleased to say the flight went about as well as could be hoped.

My wife and I are fortunate to have visited Paris a number of times previously.  That presents a dilemma – we have such wonderful memories at many restaurants that we want to visit them again when we return to Paris.  The drawback is that be going back to our “old favorites,” we then have fewer opportunities to try new restaurants and expand our set of favorites.  While this is officially a “high class problem,” it is one I grapple with.

This trip, we visited two “old favorites,” which were both as good as (if not better than) the high bars our memories held.  We tried a few new places as well; while none we bad, none were overly inspired, either.

The two “old favorites” that we visited this time were Taillevent and Savy.  Both are very close to the Champs Élysées.

Taillevent remains my most favorite restaurant in all of the world.  Though recently downgraded to a lowly two Michelin stars, Taillevent had been the longest continuously three-star rated restaurant in the world.  Unlike many other restaurants in these stratospheric circles, what has made Taillevent special to me is the food is served typically in simplest forms, and not overly dressed in creams and sauces.  (If I cooked with as much cream as Alain Ducasse does, I’d have long ago had a heart attack!)

Jean-Marie Ancher

Our young children were dressed for a “special night out.”  We arrived at 7:30pm, for what would be considered an “early bird” booking in Paris, and we were the second table to arrive.  We were greeted warmly by Jean-Marie Ancher, the Maitre d’Hotel.  Jean-Marie undertook a special effort to make sure our children (and the parents) felt welcome.  He went out of his way to tell us about several friends of his from nearby Westport, Connecticut.  This is not the treatment the average American anticipates at a high-end French restaurant – but in fact, is quite consistent with the way we have been treated in Paris during every visit.

We were seated in a corner table, next to the table for two that my wife I and had been seated in during several prior visits.  Knowing the dinner would linger for three hours, we brought iPads and headphones for our children.  This was perfect, and though they were only “plugged in” for perhaps one and a half hours, it provided a perfect crutch for behavior when the situation showed potential of heading the wrong way.

My wife and I had the winter tasting menu, which was incredible.  I didn’t take notes or photos – too special of a night to do anything other than savor – but if you enjoy classic French cooking, without an undue amount of creams and sauce – this meal was tops.

We ordered the 2000 Gruaud Larose with our meal.  While a chateau we know well, this was our first year 2000 wine from the estate.  It was drinking wonderfully, and clearly had a decade+ left to run.

For the children, they brought out a couple of small plates, but our kids principally had a dinner of bread, cheese and dessert.  While not their finest night in terms of balanced meals, they did enjoy the special experience at a “fancy restaurant.”  My children are quite adventurous when it comes to cheese, and ordered a wide variety of cheeses from the trolley – much to the surprise and delight of the Cheese Steward.

Taillevent's dining room

Three courses of dessert was a delight for everyone.

While not a bargain by any stretch, this was an absolutely wonderful meal for my wife and me; and a memorable experience for our children – one that they still talk about.  Dinner cost more than the sum of the other cash outlays for the trip.

At a more moderate level, we also had dinner at Chez Savy.  Located in the 8^th, near the Plaza Athenee, Savy is perhaps the first restaurant my wife and I had dinner in together in Paris many years ago.  The restaurant is seemingly unchanged since it opened back some 89 years ago.

Unchanged since the 1920s

Chez Savy’s menu is filled with classic French meat dishes.  Duck, beef, pork and chicken were all well represented on the menu.

I had green lentils in a light vinaigrette topped with warm thick-cut bacon to start.  This dish was incredible.  I ate lentils almost every day in Paris.

The waitstaff are very friendly; few speak relatively little English –which adds to the fun and adventure.  While I speak some French, invariably, conversations end up in English for me…except at Savy.

While I rarely order it elsewhere, at Savy, I’ve had the steak tartare several times – and absolutely love it.  The meat is ground fresh to order, and perfectly seasoned.  While raw beef mixed with raw egg falls low on many diners’ lists of choice dishes, if you’ve ever been curious about a proper steak tartare, this would be the spot to try it.  (Rest assured, they have a wide variety of cooked dishes, too.)  Our waiter were very careful to make sure I understood that the steak would be “froid,” which I did of course know.

Since my last visit, they’ve upped the ante on the steak tartare.  The menu item now includes a side of bone marrow.  Yum!  Another of my favorites – what better accompaniment to steak tartare?

Dinner of Champions!

We had a recent vintage Pomerol claret with dinner.  It was a right bank chateau that I was unfamiliar with – not exported to the US that I’m aware of.  We were pleased with the wine, and it was quite reasonable.

The kids had a charcuterie plate and split a small steak frites.  They both had chocolate mousse for dessert.  The grown-ups “helped” a bit with the desserts as they were absolutely excellent. The mouse achieved an unusual mix of being rich while also being airy and light.

These two meals were both decadent – and very different from each other.  If the budget (Taillevant) or menu (Savy) don’t put you off, I recommend both as highly memorable dining venues while in Paris.

Details

Taillevent
15 rue Lamennais, 75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 95 15 01

http://www.taillevent.com/index.php?lang=en

Chez Savy
23,rue Bayard, 8^th, Paris
+33 (0)1 47 23 46 98

Traveling as a family of four (including kids aged 8 and 5), the rules of the road for this trip to Paris would be different than our prior visits.  For each day, we picked a kid-oriented activity, an adult-oriented activity and something that everyone would enjoy.  This allowed for a balanced day.

One of the things we liked from our Hualalai visit over Christmas was that we sort of had our days pre-set because we pre-booked everything prior to arrival.  All of the activities were obviously things we liked to do, but not having to decide each day what we would be doing took away any debate in the morning.  Our days were pre-programmed.  We undertook a similar approach for this trip.

We visited a number of large playgrounds in various districts in Paris.  The kids had a blast, and got to play with local kids.  My wife and I could sit together on a bench and just talk.  Had we been here without kids, we would have simply done the same thing (sat and chatted), but done it at a sidewalk cafe.  This was fine, as it allowed us time to just talk, and at the same time, gave the kids great things to do.  Many of the parks were fenced and set up as one way in and one way out; no kids without adults, and no adults without kids.  There was a guard at the entrance of each of the parks that we visited.  One park even had a small coffee shop.  We typically made this the morning anchor activity each day, and lingered for an hour or two.

The parks that we visited

A great park near Pont-de-Flanders

Paris is still with cigarette brands on kids' rides!

In the southwest corner of Le Jardin du Luxembourg

For the “everyone enjoys” type activities, we planned visits to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and other such sites.  The kids quite enjoyed visiting these iconic sights – things they’ve seen in countless pictures of Paris over the years.  While my wife and I wouldn’t have likely visited many of these on our own, they weren’t unenjoyable for us, either.

Sadly, the very top of the Eiffel Tower was closed!

Inside the Arc de Triomphe - My five year old daughter made it all the way up!

Notre Dame

We visited a wax museum.

For adult activities, we visited several art museums.  The kids could usually tolerate such visits up to an hour (probably not much less that I could tolerate them!).  We visited three of our favorites: the Rodin museum, the Monet museum and the Centre Pompidou.  We haven’t been to the Picasso museum since it was closed for renovations some years back, but, alas, didn’t make it this time.

The Jean Dubuffet Room at the Centre Pompidou

By 4 pm, the kids (and parents) were usually pretty tired. We’d head back to the hotel for a little down time – either watching a video (my kids or taking a nap (my wife).  In my case, I got to spend a few hours talking to my colleagues back at the office in New York, and some in London.  By 7pm each night, we’d be cleaned up and would head out for dinner.

Getting around Paris

We made regular use of the Metro (subway) throughout Paris.  The Port Maillot stop of the #1 line was on the same block as our hotel.  Essentially any destination is reachable with a single connection off of the #1 line (which runs from La Defense along Champs Élysées and Rue Rivoli to Château de Vincennes).

We purchased multi-day “Visite Paris” passes. Three days was about €25 per adult, and half of that for children.  This provided for unlimited rides on the Metro within in zones 1-3, which covers essentially all of the main city area.

The #1 Metro Line

We did use taxis to and from dinner on two nights, but this was the exception.  Our kids quite enjoyed riding the Metro and after about a day, seemed to know the way around many of the major stations.  One drawback, perhaps, we probably spent an hour+ a day on the Metro, but it was a nice way for the kids to be exposed directly to locals.

This balanced, pre-planned approach to each day provided for a conflict-free week for our trip.

Overview: A very large hotel, mainly designed to cater to conference guests

Strengths: Located on the Metro’s Number 1 line, convenient to the Palais des Congres, non-stop Air France bus drop off directly across the street

Drawbacks: Tiny rooms (even by local standards), some staff issues (front desk, concierge)

I booked our hotel stay using the last of my Starwood points.  The property is a category 5, and it cost 12,000 points per night per regular room for our stay.  I booked two rooms, and upgraded each to executive rooms for a few points extra.

I called and emailed a week or two in advance of our arrival to try to pre-reserve connecting rooms.  Both inquiries were met with “sorry, only based on availability upon arrival.”  The front office manager wouldn’t block rooms for us.

When we arrived at 1pm, we were initially told that check-in time was 3pm, and it would be “impossible” to gain access to our rooms in advance.  I asked if our rooms were still being cleaned, and the agent said they were.  She then said she could make a “special exception” and call me when the rooms were ready.  She took care of all the check-in formalities at this point.

Lobby

Lobby

Lift lobby

We went out for a quick bite to eat, returning to the hotel at 2pm.  A different agent assisted us, and again reminded us that check-in was 3pm.  I made reference to the “special exception” the prior agent offered, and after a few keystrokes, I was given our room keys.

In general, I’m quite a fan of French culture, cuisine and language.  When speaking English, the French often use the word “impossible” with a little different meaning than Americans use.  This is one of the few French-isms that gets a bit under my skin.  “No, it’s not “impossible,” you’re simply working under some arbitrary rule,” is often what goes through my mind when I hear that word in Paris.

In any event, we were glad to be in our rooms.  The rooms, which were upgraded “executive” rooms, were amongst the smallest I’ve ever been in.  Even such mid-tier hotels as the Mansfield in New York City have slightly larger rooms.  Beyond the size, the rooms were at least newly renovated, fairly stylish and quite clean.

Some of the walls had a high-gloss Zebrano wood covering, which I find quite attractive, particularly with some chrome accent pieces.  Part of the wall between the washroom and the bedroom had an opaque plexiglass section with an image of a woman on it.  Unto itself, this was fine, but if you turned on the light in the washroom in the evening, it had the effect of lighting up the bedroom as well.

Executive room

Corridor on Executive floor

Small PC area on the Executive floor

The hotel has 1,025 rooms, and claims to be the largest hotel in Paris.  Indeed, each floor had well over 100 rooms.  The hotel never felt unbearably large; had someone said it was a 400 key hotel, it would have been believable.  Frankly, if fully occupied, the six check-in/check-out stations would seem woefully insufficient.

The hotel is directly across the street from the Palais des Congres, a large convention center in Paris.  The Meridien, and one other hotel on the same block, are clearly designed to cater to large groups of conventioneers.  Indeed, during our stay, the European Association of Urologists was holding their annual meeting at the convention center.  It was clear that there were convention-oriented meet-ups in the lobby of our hotel.  Unlike bankers, who seem to overtake hotels during conferences, I’m pleased to report that urologists are a much more discrete crowd.

Palais des Congres

In the Palais de Congres, there was also a full shopping mall, with a number of mid and high end brands represented.  Air France had a ticket office in the complex, as well.  Based on some advice from FlyerTalk, we made the Galleries Gourmand market (located in the Palais), and their affiliated Paul coffee shop, our place for breakfast each day.  While not inexpensive (€30 per day), it was far less than what we would have paid at the hotel for breakfast for four (€60-ish), and frankly, quite tasty.  They had high tables with stools, and we clearly were eating with locals who were on the move on the way to their office or other important meetings.  Though in no way fancy, we were able to have a wide variety of foods (hot and cold), fresh fruits, juices at a very reasonable price for an in-city location.

Galleries Gourmand and Paul

The "deluxe" hotel restaurant

The "less deluxe" hotel restaurant

The hotel is not really located near any major tourist sites within Paris.  The hotel is, however, located on the Metro’s 1 line, at the Port Maillot stop (access was via the Palais, very close to Galleries Gourmand).  We used the Metro as our method of transportation nearly everywhere – and once you’re getting on the train, it really doesn’t matter if you’re getting on at the Tuilleries or out at Port Maillot.

We didn’t partake in any food or drink at the hotel (save a beer or two from the mini-bar).  There were a number of dining options in the hotel available if desired.

I found the concierge to be of little assistance.  Of the three or four requests we made, the only one they were able to successfully help with was increasing the number of people in a restaurant booking one night (a booking I made in advance of arriving in Paris).  Asking for a recommendation to a spot with mobile phone rentals (I wanted to get a wifi hotspot, similar to what I had in Japan).  It took all three staff on duty at the concierge stand to determine it was “impossible” to rent/hire a phone.  Upon doing some quick post-trip research, I found several options about 5 to 10 minutes away from the hotel.  What the concierge staff did seem good at was receiving packages and documents, and holding them for others to pick up.  Recognizing the vast majority of their guests must be conference-goers, this is probably the skill they best need.

For the week I was visiting, Executive rooms were being offered at €329 per night, per room.  That is about $440 per night.  I used 116,000 points for four nights in two rooms, saving about $3,520, or about $0.03 per SPG point.  While far from my best SPG redemption ever, not the worst use, either.  It looks like room rates vary widely at this hotel, and I’ve seen rooms as low as €139 recently.  I suspect the price varies widely, based on the meeting schedule at the Palais.  At the lowest prices, a redemption makes little sense here.  However, when they’re at their higher rates, it isn’t a crazy decision to use points.

Le Meridien Etoile is a very convenient hotel if you have a conference to attend at the Palais.  Considering the other two SPG options that I considered (Westin, f/k/a InterContinental and the brand new W) were a bunch more points, I was satisfied with my choice.  I wouldn’t see returning to the Meridien again, however, unless on points or if I had a conference at the Palais to attend.

Details
Le Meridien Etoile
www.lemeridienetoile.com
81 Boulevard Gouvion Saint-Cyr · 75848 Paris Cedex 17 · France
Phone: + (33)(0)1 40 68 34 34

Having agreed to go and established the week that we wanted to travel, I set out to find business class award seats to Paris.  Air France now offers A380 service between JFK and CDG (among other aircraft types).  Thanks perhaps to the size of the business class cabin on these big birds, I find routes with 380 service often have far better business class award availability.

Indeed, we were able to find four seats in business each way on non-stops, in low miles awards, for exactly the days we wanted to travel.  We even had a choice of non-stop flights in one direction!  I redeemed 400,000 Delta SkyMiles for the tickets (4×100,000).  While many lament the value of SkyMiles, I’ve been able to get significant value out of them repeatedly.  The price that Air France was charging for business seats was approximately $5,800 at our time of booking, placing the value of our redemption at roughly 5.5 cents per mile (once the small allowance for taxes is factored in).  Considering how easy it is to accrue Delta miles, valuations like these do make me scratch my head when I hear people put them down.  Such divergent views are what makes a market.

Air France operates from Terminal 1 at JFK.  Check in was smooth and prompt, as was security.  Traveling with kids, we were directed to the single lane without the body scanners.

Though still relatively new, the airport – and particularly the lounges – are starting to show their age.  Though the furniture is a bit threadbare, AF still runs a decent lounge by US standards.  Hot soup, very tasty rolls, meats, cheeses and other treats were available.

Air France Lounge at JFK / T1

Our flight to Paris was on a 777.  AF’s business class uses angled lie-flat seats.  While they’re not my favorite, and I find it leads to a cramped cabin feel, I prefer these seats to the staggered lie-flats with the small foot-wells (a la DL).

We got the customary looks from other passengers as our family took our seats in the business cabin.  Those nasty/worrisome looks were for naught, as our kids slept almost the entire flight.

The flight attendant serving our area of the plane was particularly attentive to the children, and several times came by to offer if there was anything special that we needed, even before we left the gate.  We had dinner before we set out to the airport, so we all declined the evening meal service.  I did make arrangements with the flight attendant for breakfast before arrival.

Within about 10 minutes of takeoff, all of our seats were fully reclined and the kids and my wife were sound asleep.  I, too fell asleep, and slept till the coast of England.

Slept the entire way!

Breakfast was very pleasant, with some chopped fruit, a small chocolate croissant and yogurt.  A hot meal was not offered, though I find their rich continental breakfast quite satisfying.

Small but satisfying breakfast

We unfortunately ended up at a remote stand at CDG, so ended up needed to take a bus.  Prior to letting us out, they escorted the three passengers who were in first class off of the plane and into a small van.

The queue for immigration for foreigners was fairly long, and only served by two agents.  There was a queue labeled “Access 1,” but I wasn’t sure if we’d be eligible and there was no posted eligibility criteria.  I learned on the way home that we could have used that channel, which would have avoided a decent wait.  Air France should inform its business (and first) class customers that they can use this priority channel.

I arranged a small van through Carey Limousine to take us to the hotel.  This was expensive (when compared to the private van we took on the way back to the airport), but I didn’t want any uncertainty regarding our ground transportation upon arrival.

I was aware that there is an Air France bus that operates non-stop service from CDG literally to the front door of my hotel (there is an AF ticket office in the building across the street).  I didn’t want to fuss with a bus, either, upon arrival.

While certainly nothing over the top, we (a) had four seats together in business class on a non-stop flight to our destination, (b) slept nearly all the way and (c) were well looked after by the cabin staff.  For a points traveler heading out and about with kids in tow, this is about as good as we could reasonably ask for.

To me, exposing my children to cultures all around the world at as young of an age as possible is of the utmost importance.  (Frankly, it’s something I’m not doing enough of!)  My wife, while she shares the same desire of exposure for the kids, finds the journey to and from to be quite stressful.  Whereas to me, getting on the plane to go to Paris for the weekend a no-brainer (assuming low miles business class awards are available), for her, agreeing to such a trip is a decision filled with much consternation.

Having successfully managed our trip to Hawaii over Christmas (including a red-eye home), my wife was willing to “give it a try” and take the kids (aged 8 and 5) to Paris.  My wife and I visited Paris a number of times pre-children, including a 10-day visit in 2001; it is a city we both love.  Beyond our holidays, I’ve been to Paris numerous times on business, and I am very comfortable in the city.  I figured setting the kids’ first trans-Atlantic trip in such a city would be the best way to go.

Spousal approval in hand, I set out to make this trip an entirely points trip.  I often end up using points for some of the flights, paying cash for others of the flights, and paying cash for hotels.  This was the first time I pulled a trip off purely on points.

For flights, that was no problem.  We were able to get four non-stop business class awards on Air France for the dates we wanted to travel.  We used Delta SkyMiles (SkyPesos my a-double-s) for the trip.  We realized a tremendous valuation on the points for the flights, and got exactly what we wanted.  The hotel situation was more limited, as I only really have meaningful stashes of Starwood and Ritz points.  Paris isn’t Starwood’s strongest city, but I was able to find a not bad hotel to stay at on points.  While not my first choice of hotels, it saved a significant amount of money over where I would have ended up staying if I wasn’t on points.

We booked to travel over President’s Day week in the US, when school was closed here.  As luck would have it, that was also “Week 7” in many parts of Europe (a holiday week), so there were plenty of kids out and about when we were there – which was great.

Spending time in a city like Paris with two children under 10 certainly requires a different plan than traveling as two happy-go-lucky adults who didn’t have meaningful budget constraints.  My wife planned the day activities, and I planned the dinners.  Together, we put together a great trip that everyone in our family enjoyed.  Other than one particularly deluxe dinner, our biggest single cash expense was parking at JFK!

Please allow me to share our experiences with you.

Strengths: Iconic public areas, size of rooms

Drawbacks: A few service lapses (though nothing major), rooms uninspired

Unlike my last visit to London, for my most recent trip, I had the benefit of a bit of advanced planning. I carefully reviewed my company’s approved hotel list, and picked the “least bad” property that was in a reasonably proximate location to where I needed to be. While sadly our approved list doesn’t include my favorites (Lanesborough and Mandarin Oriental), there was at least a long list of approved properties to choose from. I’d read a number of not bad things about the St Pancras, and, since it fit my location needs and I’m building Ritz Reward points, I decided to give it a try.

Located in a still active train station, the hotel offers some fairly dramatic public spaces. The main lobby/lounge, a large event room and the main restaurant all are located in what was originally part of the St Pancras train terminal.

Lobby

Lobby

Lobby

Service was generally attentive. Several doormen were on duty when I arrived, and bellmen were available in the lobby. The front desk was well staffed.

The room category that I booked – and I presume what I got – was a standard room. I provided my Ritz Rewards number in advance of arrival (I have a silver card). Sometimes this gets me moved into a higher room category at Ritz and other Marriott-branded properties; no luck this time, but that was fine. The room, while uninspired, was larger than I expected for a run-of-the-house hotel room in London.

Standard room

Standard room

Standard room

Standard room

Standard room

Minibar

The bathroom was bright and clean.

Bathroom

Bathroom

Bathroom

Bathrobe

Despite there being an active train terminal connected to the hotel, I heard no train noise in my room at any time.

Room level corridor

Main level corridor - my colleague found the photos to be creepy

The main restaurant is in an area that used to be the ticket office. I had a late night of drinks and hors d’oeuvres here and breakfast during each day of my stay here. The quality of the food offerings was good, and the service was satisfactory. Perhaps the only drawback was if seated near the windows overlooking the tracks, it was quite cold. Due to their age, the windows and doors were quite drafty.

Dining Room and Main Bar

In the main lobby, there is also drink and food service. One night, my colleague thought it was too drafty in the main bar/restaurant, so we had drinks in the lobby. At 10pm, despite having eight or nine separate parties eating and drinking in the lobby, the waitress came by to tell us her shift was over, and if we wanted any further service, we’d need to move to the restaurant area. While we did have to move to a drafty part of the restaurant, I found it a bit disheartening that so many parties were asked to leave or re-locate. Based on the diverse set of guests running up tabs in the lobby, it couldn’t have been unforeseen that guests would be in the lobby late. The waitress could have been asked by the manager to stay late, or waitstaff from the restaurant (quite nearby) could have looked after these active tables. The hotel should look to amend its work schedule to accommodate their customers.

From some discussions on FlyerTalk, I understand there is a club lounge at this hotel. As a Ritz Silver cardholder in a regular room, I wasn’t entitled to club access. It sounds like the hotel is taking an exceptional view of the club lounge, and not making it available to Marriott Gold and Platinum guests, despite some fairly clear language in the program documents.

My colleague and I sought the advice of the concierge for a local Indian restaurant. His suggestion came immediately – Roots N1. Roots was an Indian restaurant with a somewhat limited – but exceptional – menu. Located in a not-so-high-end residential area, this restaurant was definitely a find. If you are looking for good, but not unduly fancy Indian, you will be pleased at this restaurant. Details are below.

For the price point, I was quite satisfied with my stay at the St Pancras. While I’ll probably experiment with a few of the other company-approved properties in London, in light of our current travel limitations, I’d be content to return to the St Pancras.

Details
Renaissance St Pancras Hotel (Marriott)
Euston Road, London, England NW1 2AR
Telephone: 44-20-7841 3540
Facsimile: 44-20-7841 3579
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lonpr-st-pancras-renaissance-london-hotel/

Roots N1
115 Hemingford Road, Barnsbury, London, N1 1B2
Telephone: +44-20-7697-4488
http://www.rootsatn1.com/