Review: SAX Paris, Hilton LXR, France (Well Intentioned, But Too Hip For Me)

The streaked marble is disorienting. The pattern much to large for smaller spaces. With a multitude of mirrors it's like it was designed by the Mad Hatter

Current me with kids = never staying here. Honestly, older me without kids probably wouldn't either. Been traveling seriously for 16 years now and only stayed 2 nights in a W.

I had a similar issue at the Kimpton St Honoré in Paris. Lots of "hip" style (suit with T-shirt, sneakers, no socks) and desk agent addressing me with a nickname he wrongly assumed I use, instead of last name. TINY room at top euro. Bicycles strewn around the lobby. I was disappointed in the lack of French elegance and refinement to which I have grown accustomed in other Paris hotels. Never again.

The W aesthetic has been passé for at least 20 years -- and was always terrible. What were they thinking?

Those candles and the overall lobby/restaurant decor seemed to be inspired by a Mexican día de los muertos (minus the skulls+bones).

I fully appreciate the reasons for which you didn't like the hotel, but I'm baffled by the comments on pricing/value.

26sq.m. isn't 'compact', it's pretty average for a superior room in central Paris - this isn't Shenzhen or even Marbella.

During the upcoming 3-day weekend in early May, the NH Opera is selling 25 sq.m. junior suites for €395 a night. The Novotel Les Halles is also selling an identically-sized superior room for €402. These are bona fide 4-star hotels which are not aspiring to represent the last word in luxury. Should you wish to stay in an actual luxury hotel, LVMH will sell you a Cheval Blanc suite that's twice as large for a cool €3,767 per night.

It looks like Hilton have pitched this hotel at exactly the right level (upper midscale/lower upscale). It's definitely not for me - I'd happily stay in an upper midscale hotel in La Defense or around CDG for less than a third of the price- but I don't think that the type of traveller who's happy to spend €600 (though not €4k) a night on a hotel in central Paris is going to be massively short-changed by this property.

It looks like the TV in the middle in the room retracts to the cabinet below. I expect this will result in my cleaner look.

The hotel give me club vibes. Maybe couples will enjoy all the mirrors on both sides of the bedroom.

Looks a bit like Addams Family filming plan. I fully understand comments about light switches and poor light in general. I find it annoying, that I needed glasses to read description on switches, because it's difficult to work out which one is which. What happended to switches located near the area they are for? Had this issue in last couple hotels in China.

I was about to call you out on being too negative and sounding too old but I apologize, you’re right. This looks awful ha! That sink design is ridiculous.

I’m sorry for 600 euros I’m getting a bathtub.

It looks like this designer saw "Phantom of the Opera" one too many times. I truly hate dark public spaces like lift lobbies, restaurants, reception, etc. Add slick marble into the mix and this looks like a slip and fall nightmare.

We stayed here last Nov for one night and I think this review is pitch perfect. Staff and service were excellent but design and decoration of hotel really are its biggest problem. Perhaps we are just the wrong demographic. Can’t speak to value as we used a Hilton free night.

Lotta red neon… kinda reminds me of the Raffles in Paris.

Reminds me of how I felt staying at the W in London:

“Too much gray in my hair. Too little black in my wardrobe.”

Any plans for the Hyatt Kennedy? After all the posts about it I'm desperate now for a review!

My goodness...where to even begin? Probably by saying Ben nailed this hotel review 100%. This hotel is moody and evocative. But of the wrong sorts of things. If that darkened lobby 'display' of candles and red roses doesn't scream funeral home & crematorium then I don't know what does. And if the darkened tiled hallway doesn't evoke a seedy subway reeking of piss.....This isn't merely style over substance, it's style gone wrong wrong wrong.

Hmm, hip and unusual/different is nice as far as I'm concerned. I'm not traveling to seek out another location of Marriott. Not very American of me to want local things instead of US corporate cut-and-paste, I know.

(I do appreciate Ben's honest take and his saying it's not for him but might suit others' tastes)

This is a North American chain hotel in Europe with an essentially North American (Dia de Los Muertos) theme - it may be interesting/quirky, but it's certainly not authentically Parisian!

1) I suppose the sensible response to double basis and no counter space is just to use one of the basins for putting stuff.
2) I find bedroom windows that are low immensely depressing - even worse than too high to see out of.
3) Can the glass wall to the bathroom be effectively blocked or not?

Thank you for the forthright review Ben …. No thank you SAX, one hotel which will not make it onto our bucket list …. 🙁

DCS strongly disagrees, he says this is the finest hotel in Paris and probably Top 5 worldwide. He was treated like a king as a LIFETIME DIAMOND member (even though that is only 2nd tier now).

The logo really annoys me. The S|A|X with handwritten font. It just gives off creepy serial killer manifesto handwriting vibes.

lightning reminds me at W in LA. everything in the batrooms of the lobby was black with gold touches. practicly no lightning. so good luck finding the door handle 🙂

I agree funaral home and dark. The pool is ackward and lets face it just an bathtube.
positive: I reallly like the room based on pictures. breakfast seems nice also.

don't know if this will make my Paris list though

During the New Year period, I stayed here for five nights. I was initially assigned a room on the third floor, and the noise on New Year’s Eve was so disruptive that I barely got any sleep that night.

The metal bed frame was also quite sharp, and I unfortunately got scratched several times during my stay. Additionally, the abundance of mirrors throughout the room made nighttime trips to the bathroom somewhat unsettling — it was quite easy to be startled by reflections in the dark.

I stayed with my wife last May (2025), and we both found the room cramped. The most memorable part of our stay was that the lights in our room would randomly turn on (usually in the middle of the night). We spoke to the front desk staff, and they promised to look into it - no one could find any reason why it happened. We won't stay there again.

This hotel looks like a nightmare from which I would wake up screaming. I really appreciate detailed reviews like this with photos so that I know to avoid this place.

Thanks for the honest review Ben. Frankly, I'm not sure why you're apologising for being negative, this hotel looks (literally) like a nightmare. If you have to keep reminding yourself that the decor is not just for Halloween, there's a valid problem! Also don't think the location is particularly great, except for the Eiffel Tower.

Paris does seem to be the epicentre of 'moderate-luxury' experimental design, and it has gone to extremes. The (supposedly) Martin Margiela-designed Maison Champs-Elysees is part of Marriott's Design Hotels brand, charges silly amounts in points, and appears to use fun-house style mirrors in the rooms to provide a 'surreal' experience... this kind of nonsense needs to stop. I honestly cannot imagine wha demographic this is meant to appeal to. It's more of an excuse for hotels with terrible, tiny rooms to try and re-brand as upmarket, but it's failing miserably.

Oh my, the lobby/public areas of recent Hilton openings... Classless American bastards.

Paris hotel prices went crazy after COVID; charging €600 for this is crazy