Questions and Answers

Am trying to help out a friend’s daughter with her honeymoon planning. They’ve bought tickets to Paris in October but that’s all they have so far.

Neither of them has their own credit card so I’m considering having them sign up for the no-fee Hilton Amex. I received a link for a 100K offer after $1000 in 3 months but even if that’s not available to them there’s the public 75K offer. Plus, her uncle works at Hilton so maybe he can get a good rate for them.

While not glamorous there’s a new Hampton in the 17th ar but since I’ve never been to Paris I have no sense of how decent a location that is or how easy it is to get around on public transport there. The hotel is only 40K/night so if they could each get the 100K offer and pool their points that could cover 5 nights of the 10 days or so they’ll be in the country.

They’d also like to know if they should take day trips out of town or even overnight.

All suggestions welcome!

Hi there,

French and former Parisian here so I can definitely help :).
Are you referring to the Hampton by Hilton Paris Clichy? That’s the only I can see in that area.
If that’s the case, be aware that technically it is not in Paris. It is right outside the “périph” (the beltway that runs all around Paris). The area will not be glamorous, and public transportation not ideal : it will be a bit of a walk to get to a subway or tram station and then it will take a bit to get to the tourist attractions in the center.

The 17th arrondissement is otherwise a great area, it’s filled with amazing restaurants and bars and cute shope (especially around the Batignolles area) and is relatively untouched by tourism (yet).

Hilton doesn’t have many really affordable options in Paris points wise. I would recommend IHG that has far more options and a surprising amount of decent properties (for instance the Crowne Plaza is a great value and location is as good as it gets), or even Hyatt (for instance the Hyatt Etoile, which is simple but has spectacular views on the Eiffel Tower, is also a category 4, which means anniversary certificates can be redeemed there).
Marriott also has a ton of properties but I’d need to look more into it to see if there is good value to be had with points.

Do you really want to stick to points properties though? If they are open to spend a little money, Paris has a wealth of amazing boutique hotels that aren’t part of any chains.

Oh great thanks for the help. Yes, that’s the Hampton I was talking about. I was concerned it was a little far from things.

No, I’m not married (ha!) to the idea of a points hotel, it’s just that they won’t even graduate college until May and are determined to pretty much pay for the honeymoon themselves so I thought that getting them started with points & miles would be a good way to show them how they can stretch their dollars. I’ll see what they can get for sign-up offers for the IHG & Hyatt cards and go from there.

Thanks for the advice and I may be back with more questions!

The classic in the points game IMO is the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome. Lucky stayed there recently [URL]https://onemileatatime.com/park-hyatt-paris-review/[/URL]

I go to Paris on business three or four times a year and my favorite is not a high-end, fancy points place. I stay at the (affordable) Hotel L’Empereur and always request a room with a view of the dome of Les Invalides. It’s located in the Rue Cler neighborhood (my favorite place in Paris), at 2 Rue Chevert in the 7th Arrondissement. It’s close to the Eiffel Tower with easy Metro access and several affordable great restaurants and cafes close by.

Thanks. Yes, I knew about the PH Vendome but (without looking) figured that since they’re starting from scratch points-wise and have a limited income that it would be out of their price range. But thanks for the recommendation on the smaller place. I’ll check it out.

[USER=2278]@Clem[/USER] – did you mean the Crowne Plaza Neuilly or the Republique?

[USER=184]@MidSouth Skier[/USER] , I’m talking about the République one . Neuilly is also outside of Paris (it’s a very wealthy suburb), however it may not be the worst option as there is a subway station a couple of blocks away and it’s only 2 stops from Paris.
But République is very very central, with easy access to attractions by subway or even by foot. It’s also known by the locals to have many restaurants and bars around, which means that prices will also be a bit better (less tourists) .
The Crowne Plaza Republique is also being renovated at the moment, so I guess by October it should be over and most of the rooms upgraded.

In non points hotels, still in the République area I’ve once stayed a few years ago at Hotel Gabriel, which was wonderful and very affordable. Beautiful rooms and amazing breakfast with local organic food, etc.

Since you still have time, I think that indeed signing them up for the Hyatt and IHG cards could get them a long way to score at least a few free nights (and both chains have cash and points options that can come quite handy to stretch it even further).

A non-frenchie here, but if you permit…. the basics of Paris is the graph of the Arrondissement (neighborhoods)….. it begins in the center with the Louvre and then spirals clockwise. The larger the number, the further from the Louvre.
The Jewish/Gay section is the 4th. The chic area is left of the river in the 6th Arr. (St Germain).
Ask 10 people and you will get 10 different opinions……. check out Tablet Hotels or Design Hotels (now Starwood/Marriott) for boutique hotels…. is my point.

I’ll pass that along. Thanks!