Grammar experts: do you stay at Le Meridien or the Le Meridien?

"Le Meridien" together is a brand, not a proper noun, but I take your point. I used to be a strict grammar Nazi before mellowing after I left college, and I think most people wouldn't cross their eyes at you saying "the Le Meridien."

Lucky, proper grammar would have been to put quotation marks around both "Le Meridien" and "the Le Meridien" in the title as you did in your post. Having crossed that bridge, my vote goes to "Le Meridien."

So, are SWU's the new SkyKit?

This goes under "who gives a Sh!t".
Regarding foreign names, you could as well start a discussion on how to pronounce BMW properly. While we're at it, shouldn't there be two spaces after each punctuation...

A brand *is* a proper noun, and "the Le Meridien" would be correct. That said, there's ample room for solecism here.

+1 to Zach

I go with Le (no The) but maybe up in here Canada where we randomly throw french around things are a bit more relaxed?

I'm with Zach as well. Otherwise you could go with "I stayed at Le Meridien Vienna"

I'm not an grammar expert but I don't see why the fact that the article is French means you would add an English article when using it in a sentence. You wouldn't add a "the" to English brand names that begin with "The".

There is a shopping mall in my area whose brand name is "The Mall at...." No one says "I'm going to the The Mall at...".

Nor would I ask someone to "Please hand me a copy of the The Wall Street journal."

But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. You're writing for English professors. And it's not as though it's a household name among most people...who would really ever notice?

Just ask yourself this: Would you stay at the The Waldorf Astoria, or blog about the The Luxury Collection, since those are brand names? 😉

The Meridien

Oh, I love this kind of completely worthless chatter. Particularly on Saturday. 🙂

I just call it THE Meridien. I see the Le as pompous and obnoxious, so that solves that. Keep on truckin'.

I actually say, "The Meridien" when speaking english...

However, in French, you would say, "Je reste au Le Meridien," but never "J'aime le Le Meridien"...

I try to go for a mix of "the" and "le" as a nice middle ground... "oh, we stayed at thle meridien" ...people think they hear both. and they sorta do...

Scott :
In french, you would say : " je réside au Méridien" : à le = au

It seems to bring a famous quote to mind.

I don't know Harry, I hear the French are assholes...

I agree with James at the top and switch back and forth between using "the." But I would suggest if you are in France, do not say "Le Le Meridien."

I stay at The Westin, not the The Westin.

or just say the LM

Nothing wrong with le Le Méridien. Go here:

https://www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/index.html?&language=fr_FR&localeCode=fr_FR

Note it says in French: "appelez le Le Méridien: 1-800-543-4300"

"The Le" isn't this a tautology? boarding bye

Just say "Le Meridien", or "the Meridian". But "the Le Meriden" is pointless, as others pointed out.

I am glad to see this on THE One Mile At a Time!

Mr. Pickles - It's part of the name though. I don't stay at Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, or Hilton Garden Inn, they all start with "the" before the hotel name.

Thus, I think since "Le" is simply part of the hotel name, it is ok and perfectly correct to call it The Le Meridien.

Ask someone from Vermont "the green mountain state."

If you wish to make the correct grammar, then it would be Le Meridien. The Le is the definitive article for Meridien, so no further the should be added. An interesting side note. JFK made a famous speech at the Berlin Wall, and he stated, "ich bin ein Berliner." Ein Berliner is a jelly doughnut. The proper grammar (auf Deutsch) is, ich bin Berliner. Cheers to you Lucky! Chitownflyer.

This is an article? Seriously? I agree with Zuper. This goes under “who gives a Sh!t”.

I think the hotels say the Le: http://www.parkermeridien.com/ps/privacy.html

@chitownflyer: That is only what people think who know a bit German but do not understand the language properly. His statement was perfectly correct German and no native German speaker would misunderstand it.
By the way: A "Berliner" does not necessarily contain and jelly and this type of pastry is not called "Berliner but "Pfannkuchen" in Berlin itself.

@Bryce: Being a Colbert Report fanatic, I like the sound of that! Stephen Colbert has been gratuitously placing "the" in front of proper nouns after G.W. Bush described "The Google".

I think this is more personal preference than anything else; since you're combining two different languages, I don't think traditional grammar rules can really be applied. The way I look at it, since I don't speak French, "the Le Meridien" sounds natural to me (with "I stayed at Le Meridien" just sounding pretentious), but I imagine someone who spoke both French and English might find that construction awkward-sounding.

"The Le Meridien" sounds normal to me. But then again, I wouldn't say "I'm staying at the The May Fair in London".

"Le" means "the" in French. So by saying "Le Meridien" you're by default saying "The Meridien". Saying "The Le Meridien" is therefore a redundancy since you're saying the twice.