A Cute New Paris Hotel for a Certain Type of Traveler
American visitors to Paris typically fall into one of two categories. Some go to sample French luxury and stay at the palace hotels, eat at multi-Michelin star restaurants, and shop on the Rue Saint-Honoré.
The other stereotype, likely you if you’re reading this, is the American who wants to feel Parisian, or at least their cinematic vision of it. They stay in boutique hotels with single elevators and staff that range from nosy to insouciant. They shop at thrift stores and small boutiques. They picnic in Buttes-Chaumont, drink beers along the canal, patronize a beloved boulangerie, and are determined to master hanging out at a small table at a popular watering hole.
These are the tourists already filling the rooms of one of the City of Light’s newest boutique hotels, Hotel Maison Mère, the latest selection for our series on exciting new hotels, Room Key.
The hotel is located in the 9th arrondissement on a quiet block just a short walk from the Gare du Nord. The Rue Mayron on which the hotel resides is just a single block, ending on the picturesque Square Montholon with its giant plane trees and surrounding Haussmann-era apartment buildings. The surrounding neighborhood, sandwiched between Montmartre to the northwest and the 2nd arrondissement to the south is at the heart of all the action here, not just for tourists but also for Parisians. (For those determined to find a great bakery, Union Boulangerie just past the square is hard to beat.)
Upon entering the hotel, one is greeted first by an elaborate and colorful floral mosaic with the hotel’s name in the center. The receptionists are not nosy, but neither are they insouciant. They are young and friendly and, for those nervous about such things, speak English flawlessly. Most of the ground floor is devoted to public spaces–lounges for hanging out, eating, drinking, working, all decorated in a sort of 21st century “coffee shop cute” aesthetic characterized in this case by pink leather banquettes, hexagonal tiled floors, walls covered in cubbies of mismatching sizes, and a grab bag of furniture styles.
Rooms are reached by a winding staircase, or, you guessed it, a single elevator. (One note about said elevator. If you’re a light sleeper, request one of the rooms away from the elevator, as during certain hours when everybody is using it you might hear it.) The rooms are a continuation of that “cute” aesthetic and are cozy but not cramped. Some have bookshelves filled with art (for sale) and books (in French).
Most visitors to boutique hotels tend to go for the rooms with balconies. But the real score in this case are the uppermost rooms at the back of the hotel, which look out over the rooftops of Paris with their endless array of cylindrical chimneys.
Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.
Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
