Saint James & Albany Hotel-Spa Paris
Reviews and Rates
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202, rue de Rivoli, (Formerly Clarion Saint-James & Albany) Paris, Île-de-France, France, 75001, 33-1-44584321
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Travel Blogs by Travelers Who Stayed at the Saint James & Albany Hotel-Spa Paris
21 October, 2008 We arrived in Paris today after an amazing flight across the Atlantic. When we got to the airport in Chicago, we inquired about upgrading to 1st Class. This was one of the things we were unable to do on our honeymoon and we wanted to see if we could do it this time. With the help of a nice lady at the counter and a passenger willing to move for us, we successfully upgraded to 1st Class using our miles and some well earned cash. This was the first time for either of...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
22 October, 2008 Today was a leisurely day near the hotel. With our hotel being mere steps away from the Louvre, the Jardin de Tuillieries and the Mussee de'Orsay, it was easy for us to hit the Louvre for a couple of hours then take a quick nap before enjoying the rest of the evening. It is amazing how lucky we were to get into this hotel, because it is literally walking distance from nearly every major monument, museum and shopping district in central Paris. Speaking of the hotel, h...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
23 October, 2008 Today we went to Versailles, the palace of the Sun King Louis the 14th. This was our first time using the metro (actually RER) while in Paris and it went pretty well. The RER is very much like the Metrolink in LA. Its a double tall train that services the outer suburbs of Paris. In this case, it serves the small town of Versailles that has built up around the palace. I shot lots of video of the train ride and was mocked by Diana for photographing the trains that w...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
24 October, 2008 Today we went to the Musee d'Orsay and had what could only be described as a very "religious" experience. As growing fans of "Impressionist" painting, it was an inspiring trip to see some of the greatest works from the masters like Cezzanne, Degas, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet and Renoir. The Musee d'Orsay is in the old Paris-Orleans train station about half a mile from our hotel on the other side of the Seine river. It was a quick walk from our hotel to a nice little bra...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
25 October, 2008 Today we spent the day with Alan and Anne Precourt and their friend Ben. After a pleasant "sack" lunch around one of the fountains in the Jardin de Tuilleries, we headed back over to the Louvre. Since Alan had not seen the Dutch masters here, we went through these again with a few detours through the sculpture gardens along the way. We eventually moved on to the French painters from the 14th to 18th century. At a certain point in the French painters, Alan hit that "ar...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
26 October, 2008 We slept in while Alan, Anne and Ben tried in vain to get Alan's sister her gift. We hooked up again in the Jardin and headed off to Eiffel Tower. We hopped on the metro and got out in an area where you couldn't see the tower. After doing some searching we eventually found the tower and gardens that surrounded it. After taking quite a number of photos, we approached the tower hoping to go up. Unfortunately, the crowds were huge and lines were long. After some del...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
27 October, 2008 - Shopping Day I started the day with an early morning game of World of Warcraft with my Sunday night group. It started at 9pm PDT which was 5am in France. I overslept and got on at 5:30. After playing for a few hours, I went back to bed. We eventually got up around noon and decided to make this "Shopping Day" because it was supposed to rain most of the day. One of the things Diana really wanted to do was go to a French shopping mall. Not shopping in the tourist ...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
28 October, 2008 After a week in Paris, we had planned to head to Paris Disneyland. However, Diana had a hard time falling asleep the night before and I had a pretty fitful sleep myself, so we decided to push that to another day. After we got up, we planned out the rest of the week and decided to try and hit some of the smaller sites and get me some Beef Bourgignon for lunch. It was supposed to be in the mid forties (most of the time it was in the 50s or low 60s), but actually felt ...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
29 October, 2008 For all those who think Disneyland might be cool in winter, it isn't. If it was snowing, it might have been better, but yesterday was bloody cold. The weather was cold, damp and overcast. While we knew this was a real possibility traveling this late, we were still startled by how cold it was. We started our day by taking the Metro and then an RER train to the train station that was literally right outside the park. The trip took about 45 minutes and allowed us to ...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
30 October, 2008 Today was a lay about the hotel room day. We had reservations for a dinner cruise along the Seine in the evening and had planned to go up in the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon. But the weather was pretty bad, so we bailed on the Eiffel Tower and decided to relax in the hotel until we had to leave for the cruise. We had been up the tower 9 years ago, so we didn't feel the need to freeze just to replace some photos we lost on that last trip. The dinner cruise was grea...
Paris, Île-de-France, France cdspring
Historical Traveler Reviews of Saint James & Albany Hotel-Spa Paris
Pros and Cons
Great Hotel and Location
The hotel is located in a great location right next to the Lourve and across from a metro station on the Number one line of the Metro system.
We stayed in a superior room that was very large compared to a hotel that I had stayed at before in Paris. It was thoroughly cleaned every day during our stay and the strong A.C. was very welcome after long days exploring Paris on some of the hottest days of the year. The restaurant is currently being renovated they did however provide a very nice buffet style breakfast in one of the hotels downstairs conference rooms. This was included in our room price be sure to ask about it.
They did offer a limited food service through out the day but we did not use this. We ate a two of the small cafes that were on either side of the hotel most of the time both provided good food and portions for a reasonable price. The hotel staff was very helpful and assisted us with our daily sightseeing by telling us which Metros to take to various attractions. I highly recommend this hotel and will stay here every time I visit Paris.
Don't Even Think About It
Magnificent
Wonderful hotel in heart of Paris
This is the best 4 star hotel we have ever stayed. We reserved a standard room at a very reasonable rate. Both times we were upgraded to a superior. Both times, the rooms were wonderful -- large, wonderful oriental rug, extremely comfortable and attractive couch, desk and couple of chairs. The decor was lovely and tasteful. Both rooms overlooked a small courtyard and were very quiet. We had a bathroom and separate toilet room, about five closets, one of which was a walk-in.
The room was extremely clean and the service excellent. The best part of the hotel is its location, right across from the Tuilleries Gardens in the center of Paris. The subway entrance was directly across the street. I would never dream of staying anywhere else in Paris. -- Belinda Nichols, Woodlawn, Virginia.
Terrible rooms
My husband, daughter and I were not in the best of spirits with such a terrible room to come back to after being out all day. We complained when checking out and all they did was take 140 euros off the bill. The walls were so thin that when the people in the next room entered their room it sounded like they were coming in our room. Stay away from this hotel!
I was completely disappointed.
I had read the reviews on this site and was very impressed by what everyone had to say about the accommodations and facilities the St James had to offer. Unfortunately, the St James I stayed at was nothing like what I had read about. Our room was extremely small at the end of a hall where 1/2 the rooms were being rennovated. We were awakened each morning at 7 am to the sounds of motorized saws and hammering. When the workers were not hammering, they were painting causing the fumes to penetrate the rooms and hallways. Our room overlooked the preferred sidewalk grates for homeless people to spend the nights. Our room had twin beds which the staff did move together to make a king size bed but... each day it was a surprise as to whether the beds remained together or pulled apart as separate beds. When this happened, we would go down to the front desk and request that the bed be made up again, which the staff did do. We were under the impression that breakfast was included but were told that since we booked the room thru a "online discount hotel booking agent", it was not. Some days we would have glasses in the bathroom and then other days there weren't any. One evening we came back late from walking the city at midnight. We asked the front desk if bar was opened and we were told that the bar stays open until 1 am. We proceeded to order a coffee but were tld that they could not serve us because they had to count the bottles! Upon checking out, the hotel had charged our room with pay TV and 12 breakfasts ($21/meal)! Thank goodness we checked the bill before signing it.
Saying I was disappointed is to put it mildly. The rating of this hotel is 4 stars. I would hate to think what a 2 or 3 star hotel is like if the St James is suppose to represent an above average hotel.
Paris is a beautiful city but my suggetion is to stay anywhere BUT the St James.
Love this hotel
St. James & Albany good value
It was actually two rooms. We entered a small hallway with a half bath and big closet (w/white terry bathrobe) and full length mirror. Then onto a smallish living area with a sofa, desk, tv, telephone & minibar. Then onto a medium sized room with a king bed (two twins w/king bedding), two more closets, another tv and another phone. Then onto a HUGE bathroom with a large new tub, separate glass shower, long sink space for two. All newly tiled and fresh. Really nice lighting, towels and toiletries. Everything was very clean. The only disappointment was the carpet was a tad dingy w/a few stains (clean, but stained). We could hardly complain.
The room included a breakfast buffet and we were not disappointed but we are not big breakfast eaters. They had great coffee (au lait for me) and the staff walked around with refills. Yummy, fresh croissants, pain, and pain au chocolat. There were cereals, hard boiled eggs, three kinds of juice and a few things I couldn't figure out. The hotel, at least while we were there, had a lot of young Japanese on tours and perhaps the hotel tries to accomodate many different nationalities. There was also bacon & sausage and perhaps some eggs. We stuck to the croissants, juice (really good grapefruit juice) and coffee.
The public areas were very nice -- painted murals, leather seating, marble or tile floors. In summer there's a beautiful courtyard (it was winter) in which to dine or have a drink. The bar was comfy but overpriced compared to other places. The staff was nice but not gushing. They made resevations for us and gave directions promptly.
Overall, I really liked this hotel and the price was great. It's not like the Ritz or Scribe, but then again you're not paying that price. They do have certain amenities one would expect like a doorman and such. The rooms were quiet at night and we loved relaxing in the living area after shopping. I would stay here again in a heartbeat.
Clarion St. James and Albany
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