Paris Hotel Guide: The George V and More

Our special Paris Hotel Guide correspondent Monica Guy returns once again with her review of the luxury hotel scene in Paris.

If you want to sell shoes, buy a shop in Shoe Street. If you want to sell luxury hotel rooms, buy a hotel in Paris's so-called Golden Triangle, the area between the Champs Élysées and the river Seine. It's home to umpteen of the world's grandest, most luxurious, most ridiculous hotels.

The George V is the grandest, most luxurious and most ridiculous of the lot. Pronounced George Sank not George Vee. It's allegedly the most expensive hotel in the world, although there may be a couple in Moscow that pip it to the post. (Does anyone know?) Brass polish on the doorknobs and the buttons of the bellboys. More chandeliers than you can swing a cat from. Armies of Filipino maids.

I stayed there last year on some else's credit card. The best option, take it from me.

The rooms
The bed's so bouncy you have to bounce up and down several times to get out. And that's if you can find your way out of the bedspread. You try to look out of the window and get suffocated by the curtains. You lie in the marble bath and do your 40 lengths. But that's a bit lonely, so you whizz down to the spa in the basement...

The spa
...where an attractive man offers you a bathing suit, drapes you carefully in white towelling robes (I asked if he'd rub me down, too, but no luck), brings you glasses of tonic and gives you advice on your breaststroke. You can get beautiful specially imported Thai ladies to smooth out your wrinkles, pummel your shoulder-blades, or cover you in mud.

Time for breakfast
Looks like a wedding breakfast. Glass of champagne, anyone? Tea bags are made out of reinforced silk thread.

Time for lunch
The Cinq is a 2-Michelin star extravaganza of a dining experience under the saintly gaze of Philippe Legendre. And a legend he is too. He doesn't like vegetarians or animal rights protestors who refuse to eat fois gras. Arteries are made out of reinforced titanium. It's also the restaurant where the notoriously bling-bling president Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his election victory. Must be fancy.

You can order your dinner and a full complement of waiters up to your suite if you like. My boss did that one day, although he nearly threw up over the bill afterwards.

Why go?
If you're the kind of person who eats ripe cheese without bread, who scoffs truffles in the morning, who pours cream on their cereal and spends their weekends sniffing antiques, then start saving your pennies. The George V'll make your painted toenails curl.

If your idea of luxury is more like mine, then pick a sunny day, buy a ripe camembert and a bottle of Merlot, find some good company, and settle down on a blanket on the bank of a river. Luxury.

Other luxury hotels in Paris:

L'Hôtel:
The classic of all classic hotels, the old 'Love Pavilion' of Queen Margot. No joke! Even Oscar Wilde deigned to die here. The list of celeb guests takes up several hundred megabytes of their website and Jacques Garcia has just renovated the place. Bootiful.

Hôtel Daniel:
Exotic mysticism from the east. The hotel equivalent of an orchid. Don't go if you have a loud voice or you're a bull in a china shop.

Hôtel Concorde St-Lazare:
Soundproofed windows! Luxury. The Taittinger champagne man renovated the foyer and it's now classed as a historical monument. Sonia Rykeil designed the bar and brasserie. No putting your feet up in the lounge. Good for designer shopping if you have any money left over.

Chateau de Montvillargenne
Picture-postcard chateau about 20 km from Paris - perfect for an easy flight and quiet romantic weekend. There's a whirlpool tub in every room, an indoor pool and sauna if you want company and three golf courses in which to lose your husband.

[Photo of George V room: AmandaNYC]

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Comments (11)

Return to » Paris Hotel Guide: The George V and More

<< The Cinq is a 2-Michelin star extravaganza of a dining experience... ... It's also the restaurant where the notoriously bling-bling president Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his election victory. Must be fancy.>>

Ah oui ??? I thought that he celebrated at the Fouquet's Barriere on the (ugly) Champs Elysees. That's how it looked on TV the night he won the election... He may have gone to the Cinq afterwards (when the TV people could not tape him), as this is a much better choice ((-:

Hey, do you work for the George V or something...?

All of us here in Paris seem to be obsessed with Sarkozy's private life. I guess because we all wish we were as rich and powerful as him.

I read an article after the election which said Sarkozy and his chums went to the Cinq after the Fouquet's Barriere for a private party, away from the cameras. One of the many outraged 'capitalist, money-flinging, show-off bastard!' articles there were around at the time. So perhaps we shouldn't trust it.

Either way, it's the kind of place he would go to...

PS - you seem to know a lot about Paris hotels...how come you don't write a review or two yourself?

Interesting stuff. I also read a more detailed review on Extravigator.com that went up last week.

http://extravigator.com/discussion/19/four-seasons-george-v-review/

DEFINITELY the right place for him (George "Vee" I mean)!

I sure know about Paris hotels, although I don't remember staying at any of them... Been working in Paris hotels more than 10 years, and in NYC 3 years (Swissotel The Drake, now turned into a condo if I'm not mistaken).

I guess I'm too shy to write a review yet, but maybe one day?

I like Hotelchatter a lot by the way (-;

Hey,
The extravigator reviewer sounds like a real bore:

"I found the desk and chair in my room to be too formal and clunky -- not very conducive to desk work."

Who on earth goes to the George V to sit at the desk and work? Unless they're Richard Branson, they'll almost certainly be losing money by the hour...

Mr Hotelmgr:
Most people who write about hotels don't know the first thing about them...so we'd love to read a review by you. No? Don't be shy. Go on...

I agree. He does sound like a bore. On the other hand, at least he told us more about the room than how "bouncy" the bed was. ;)

A posh hotel room's a posh hotel room. They're all the same. Big beds, too many sheets, heavy curtains, sinky carpets, big mirrors and old-fashioned picture frames. Disguised mini-bars and leather folders full of hotel stationery. Unnickable coat-hangers in the wardrobe and little slips of paper around the bathrobe reminding you not to nick that either.

You know all that, so why repeat it?

Okay, so my boss had one of those big suites. That also had a cd player, a box of chocolates, a rather fragile table and some museum-piece tapestry-covered chairs.

What else do you want to know?

heh i like to think i know at least A LITTLE about hotels now that i have been writing about them for almost three years. i will admit my grammar and spelling is borderline atrocious but i chalk that up to time constraints, hangovers, not enough coffee, and working east coast time on the west coast.

but back to the George V. they have a million euros a year just to do the flowers in the place. crazy!

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