A big thank you to StayForLong for providing my accommodations at Residhome Paris-Opéra so I could write this review of my experience. This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. For an explanation of our Advertising Disclosure, visit this page.
On May 1, I was fortunate to fly Norse Atlantic Airways on their inaugural LAX to CDG route. Their PR team reached out to JohnnyJet.com and offered up a seat in premium economy and a stay at a hotel in the middle of Paris, which was so generous. As the writer assigned to cover this story, I stayed four nights at the ResidHome Paris-Opéra courtesy of StayForLong, a long stay accommodation booking platform, in the middle of the busy shopping district near the Paris Opéra and St. Lazare train station. Because of the upcoming Olympic Games, there is much global interest in the city I consider The Center of the Universe. Here’s what my stay was like:
The hotel
The hotelResidhotels is a chain of short stay aparthotels in France and Luxembourg. Thanks to the Norse Atlantic marketing team, my hotel in Paris was at 30 rue Joubert, one of the busiest quartiers of Paris. When I got to the hotel after stopping for a wonderful sushi dinner at the Galeries Lafayette food hall, it was about 9pm. The front desk host was smiling and gave me two keys. As one key is needed for the slot by the door in the room to turn on all the electrical outlets, it’s great to have a second key to keep in your wallet or pocket.
There are two elevators, both slow, and the room has a thermostat that does not allow you to change the temperature. Reading online reviews later, I found that that these two features of the hotel seem to be the main problems. Everything else about the room was great.
Bathrooms are typically small in Paris, and in fact many homes and hotels just have tiny little corner showers. But the shower in my room was spacious and had a door that opened inwards, with pump bottles of shampoo/shower gel and conditioner.
The night I got in, I was wired from flying, taking pictures to write a thorough review for Johnny Jet, and landing in my beloved city of Paris. The foaming shower gel came in handy, as I passed out and managed to get a good night’s sleep … until the delivery truck from the next door Monoprix supermarket showed up the next morning at 6am. Right under my window.
Since it was, after all 6am and I had things to do, I got up and used the electric kettle to make lovely tea. The kitchenette is complete: Nespresso machine with capsules, milk, sweeteners, French tea bags of chai and herbal detox varieties, cups, cutlery, dishes, cooking pans for the induction stovetop, a microwave, a tiny drawer dishwasher that I want my husband to buy for our micro apartment, and a refrigerator with small freezer compartment. During my stay I was able to make ice cubes for my DIY iced coffees with a tray that made about 40 to 50 perfect little square cubes. The French may laugh at me because as an American, I love ice cubes but I don’t care. To me, the good life is an iced coffee with plenty of glaçons. The area under and next to the sink had cleaning supplies and a dish towel. Everything was spotless.
Another great feature of the room – the many outlets for both mains electricity and USB plugs. I counted four USB plugs but may have missed some as I kept finding more switches and outlets during my stay. The room was nicely decorated, but I did move small tables and ottomans around to make room to stretch and to sit and work at the small round table. There is no actual desk in the room I had, nor is there a business center in the hotel, but most of us work with tablets, laptops and phones now so it wasn’t a problem for me. Boulevard Haussmann is a five-minute walk and has FedEx and print shops if you need such services during your stay.
The breakfast buffet
As a guest of the Norse Atlantic PR team, I was set up with breakfast included. If you think you will not need it daily, there are many places just outside. At the hotel, the buffet can be purchased for 20 euros on the days you want to eat there. The buffet was the same each of the four days I came down for breakfast. The hours are 7am to 10am Monday to Friday and 7:30am to 11am Saturday and Sunday. On the first day, I had a bizarre encounter with the woman who was checking guests in to the dining room. She grudgingly checked my name on the prepaid breakfast list but then sternly told me not to take pictures of the croissants. What? Should I play my journalist card? Should I have a celebrity meltdown? Nooo, I’m the guest, it’s the first day, just play along. I did eat some good scrambled eggs, haricots verts, and lovely tiny croissants.
When the check-in lady wasn’t looking, I stashed a mini gourmet jam from the buffet in my pocket, my husband loves that stuff. You know the individual little jars that fancy buffets have – well the hotel had Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, fruit jams, choco-hazelnut spread (Nutella dupe), and honey. All made in France, gourmet quality.
Over the weekend, the breakfast buffet hostess was a very nice woman. She was just as nice and professional as the rest of the hotel staff in the lobby and I enjoyed chatting with her. She explained that ResidHomes has a catering agreement with top French producers of charcuterie, cheese, bread, and the condiments that we had at the buffet.
Family groups predominated in the weekend dining room with many seemingly on a big shopping weekend in Paris. I took a ton of pictures and swiped two tiny jars of mustard for my husband. Monday was my check-out day, and you-know-who was back at the hostess stand. Friday must have been her better mood, because on Monday she went positively medieval on us unfortunates in the dining room. It was me and another family of three, parents with their adult daughter. It seemed like they didn’t speak much French or English … maybe a good thing for them as they couldn’t understand what the hostess was saying. I was waiting for her to summon her dragons and have them rain fire on us but managed to finish my eggs and stuff a croissant in my mouth before that happened.
Neighborhood attractions and getting around
Check-out time at the hotel is noon, and they have a free baggage storage room I took advantage of on the last day. It was convenient because the area is colloquially called Grands Magasins after the famous Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores. Having last been there many years ago, it was fun to take pictures for Johnny Jet readers. A constellation of other shops is all around, and the Paris Opéra house is just a few minutes’ walk. Because of all these attractions, there are many above- and below-ground transport hubs. Just a few are Gare St. Lazare with RER, Métro, and SNCF links, and the Opéra Métro station. Both areas have free WIFI and connect to the rest of Paris.
For more information and to book your stay via StayForLong, click here.
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