Style
You're heading back several centuries when you enter Le Bristol - back to the 17th and 18th centuries in fact, when Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette were hanging around. Staff are oh-so-traditional in a very French old-fashioned sense, and rooms are spacious and flowery. Bathrooms are a dream.

If you're lucky or polite to the check-in girl, you get a room overlooking the inner garden, which is far preferable to the noisy street outside.

Location
....location, location, so important, especially if you're just here for a two-day conference and don't want to be sprawled up in Paris traffic. The Bristol's halfway down the rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, great for all the government institutions and the Champs-Elysées and all that business side of things.

Not so good if you're after the trendy clubs of the Marais and Left Bank or a shop that doesn't sell tailored suits and expensive perfume.

Dining
Apart from breakfast (see below), dining at Le Bristol is one of the finest, most French culinary experiences in Paris. They serve exquisite dishes in their elegant, old-fashioned and perfectly decorated Summer restaurant, and have a superb wine list with some of the best French vintages. Proper crystal wine glasses too, which makes all the difference.

My clients often hold conference dinners at Le Bristol and can confirm they handle large groups with ease and precision. The waiters clearly have been there for a long time and know what they're doing. The place has two Michelin stars and we'd agree it's worthy of them.

[Ed's note: Our friendly businessman didn't say anything about prices, but we recently reported that George Clooney once treated the Ocean's Twelve cast and crew to a $4,000 champagne and foie-gras feast here....either there were a lot of cast and crew, or a lot of champagne and foie-gras.]

Breakfast
The Bristol's biggest downer. Despite having 161 rooms and potentially over 320 guests, the breakfast room is absolutely tiny. At any given moment, there's a mile-long queue to be seated, and when you are finally seated, there's a half-hour wait to be served.

When you're caught in the queue making forced small talk to a colleague when all you want is a cup of coffee and a croissant to fill your growling belly, the Bristol's poor performance in the breakfast department appears a hellish crime against humanity. Even a downmarket 2-star can do better than that. And then you have to sign a bill for €53 ($82) - yes, that's $82 - just for an American breakfast. You can tell this is a subject that makes me angry...

Is it worth it?
Are you worth it, do you mean? It's worth it if your boss or client is paying - all you have to do is close your eyes when the bill comes and sign on the dotted line.

But with rates running from the cheapest double at €730 ($1,130) to anything from €2,200 ($3,415) upwards for a suite, plus a hellish amount for breakfast, plus every single other little extra you might need, you won't catch us booking this on a personal credit card.

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