The Westin Paris – Vendôme was the clear winner in a choice of hotels in Paris, France where we could attempt to maximize our Marriott Bonvoy upgrade certificates. With a convenient location in the hip and upscale Vendôme neighbourhood of Paris, it met all the requirements for a deluxe hotel stay. How would we end up after experiencing the property for three days? Read on to see how we tested the Westin Paris Vendôme on our recent visit to Paris, France.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Jordan, Israel and France during the end of the pandemic. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

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Review: The Westin Paris – Vendôme, Paris, France

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“An Old School Westin Property that has a few cracks in it’s hardware, that still offers excellent Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Award Upgrades allowing for excellent Effiel Tower views”

Booking The Westin Paris Vendôme:

With dozens of Marriott hotels available throughout Paris – France, we were looking for an upscale hotel that was well located for sightseeing for a short three day stay. With no St Regis or Ritz Carlton properties in Paris due to copyright issues involving their names, the elite Marriott properties fell into the Luxury or Autograph Collection properties.

In tandem with these needs, we also had some Marriott Suite Night Awards rusting away in our Marriott Bonvoy account. We figured that the Westin Paris Vendôme would have a large number of suites available since the Westin Paris – Vendôme property has over 400 rooms.

Ultimately, this strategy worked. We booked into a Westin Paris – Vendôme base level Superior Guest Room at 504 € ($537 USD). After applying Marriott Suite night Awards, we were fortunate enough to be upgraded into a Westin Paris – Vendôme Junior Suite with a View, featuring 1 King with an Eiffel Tower view.

I booked direct on the Marriott Bonvoy website. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Level member, I would also be entitled to Upgrade to best available room, including select suites.

I did find that the hotel contained a lot of leisure travellers. During our stay, the Baker Tilly consultancy were also in residence, celebrating a multi day Christmas event. This led to a lot of group gatherings in the lobby and event space areas, throughout our stay.

Marriott Bonvoy Reward Opportunities:

The Westin Paris – Vendôme prices on the expensive side in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The property generally prices between 55,000 to 73,000 Marriott Bonvoy reward points, for a standard level room.

If you value Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.005 cents, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming points against a room at the property if you rate is above 258€ ($275 USD) based on a 55,000 point low level redemption or 342€ ($365 USD) at based on a 73,000 point high level redemption. You’ll possibly find some outsized value in the event the cash rate is exceptionally high, with often seems to be the case in the middle of high tourist season between June – September.

Suite Night Awards:

Marriott Suite Night Awards are for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium or Ambassador members and can be used to upgrade to a selected room in the suite (or almost suite) category, confirming it 5 days in advance of arrival.

The property participates in the Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Award program. At the time of our visit, the Suite Night Award pool inventory was full of both suites and non suite room categories.

I applied Suite Night Awards to both the top level Junior Suite with a View, mid level Junior and lowest level Prestige Suites for our reservation. They would end up clearing into a Junior Suite with a View at the five day mark; the highest possible upgrade under this program.

During our stay, the Junior Suite with a View itself was retailing for 930€ ($990 USD) a night, which was an excellent value given our room rate was only 503€. We didn’t get a further upgrade as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member when we checked in.

Ultimately, I was really happy with our Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Award successes at this hotel. The Junior Suite with a View added to the stay, making it that much more comfortable.

About The Westin Paris – Vendôme:

The Westin Paris – Vendôme was initially inaugurated in 1878 to welcome visitors to the World Exposition Fair. The hotel was designed by the architect Henri Blonde whose father in law, Charles Garnier, created the legendary Opera de Paris. The hotel was built over the ruins of the Ministry of Finance which was burned down and destroyed by the anarchists during the civil war “LaCommune” in 1871. The hotel originally had 600 rooms and 300 bathrooms versus 428 rooms (and bathrooms) todav.

In present day, The Westin Paris Vendôme was recently purchased by The Jumeriah Group of the United Arab Emirates. There has been some speculation that the hotel will be reflagged shortly. Not withstanding that the hotel is over a hundred years old, there were some areas of the hotel that looked a little drab and in need of refurbishment.

Getting to The Westin Paris – Vendôme:

Against my better judgement, we elected to rely on the Paris train network in order to get from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to the Westin Paris – Vendôme.

At the time if our visit, France was suffering from a gasoline shortage as a result of strikes at Total oil refinery and the war in Ukraine with 1 out of 3 gas stations completely out of gasoline. I figured this would have an adverse affect on Blacklane chauffeur and Uber car sharing services, so we decided to take the RER train.

After coming off Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Paris, we headed to the CDG TGV RER train station. Unfortunately, in a comedy of errors, they were undergoing track maintenance over the weekend and the CDG TGV RER station was completely closed.

We were bussed by Société National des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) over to the neighbouring Mitre Clary RER Station. We took the RER “B” into Paris, changing to the Metro at Chatêlet les Halles. We switched to Metro Line #1 and got off at Tuileries station. From there we walked the 200 m to the Westin Paris – Vendôme on flat and smooth pavement.

While this was advertised as a fifty one minute journey on Google Maps, it was well over one hour and forty five minutes by the time we had travelled door to door.

The Westin Paris – Vendôme is located in the upscale and elite Vendôme neighbourhood. The Vendôme neighbourhood is home to many of Paris’ most upscale hotels that include the Park Hyatt Vendôme, and The Ritz Hotel (where Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed spent their final moments).

The neighbourhood on the hotel’s north side features a Carrefour Express within 4 blocks, along with a whole host of boutique bistro restaurants, including the famous Café de la Paix. Shopping is also available nearby at the Galleries Lafayettes.

The hotel also fronts onto the Jardin des Tuileries, a large park that runs along towards the Champs Elysees and the Place de la Concorde. Needless to say, we were exceptionally happy with the location of the Westin Paris – Vendôme. It met the convenience factor of a perfectly located hotel for a tourist visit to Paris, France.

Checking into The Westin Paris – Vendôme:

After getting off at the Metro at Tuileries station, we easily located The Westin Paris – Vendôme hotel. The entrance was half a block up from the Rue de Rivoli.

The entrance to the hotel is set behind arches under a covered walkway, consistent with the building period.

On arrival, we were not immediately helped by the security guard / doorman. Despite this, I don’t really fault them for this since it’s not evident to detect arriving guests when you arrive to a hotel by foot and are already in the lobby.

The Westin Paris – Vendôme has a wonderful inner courtyard. The courtyard was covered as a result of the fall / winter season in Paris. It was currently being used as special event space on our visit.

We located the lobby off the right of the entry way. The lobby itself was looking a little dark and a little bit drab in colour. We had no wait at check in at 9PM when we arrived.

The front desk was in an “L” shaped configuration. Service seemed to be moving from both sides of the desk, although there were no Marriott Bonvoy Elite lines marked during our visit.

We provided both our passports for check in process. The check in was handled in both English and French. I was thanked for my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level loyalty, with breakfast selected as the Welcome Amenity.

We did not receive a further Marriott Bonvoy Elite upgrade on our Junior Suite with view. We were also offered Evian water for the room, which we carried in a bit of a clumsy manner since we were also navigating through the hotel with our luggage.

The Room: Junior Suite With View

We were assigned room #2050, which was located on the hotels’ second floor (or third floor if measuring by North American standards). With over one hundred and twelve rooms per floor, the hotel’s floor layout was an absolute maze of corridors. I actually lost MrsWT73 in the five twists and turns on the way to our room.

We eventually arrived to the double doors of the Junior Suite.

The Bedroom:

We led ourselves in to the Junior Suite with View. Despite having the “Suite” name, we found ourselves in a massive over sized room.

There was enough space for a large queen size bed, a foot lounger, a couch, coffee tables and a fireplace. The room had about fifteen foot ceilings, leading to a very grand looking space.

The room featured a Westin Heavenly King Size Bed. This was perfectly comfortable for sleeping in. The bed also had a substantial amount of room available on either side of it, making it easy to get in and out.

The Living Space:

While the living space of the room wasn’t officially separated by a wall, there was a couch and coffee table placed in the centre of the room. The couch was centred off an ornamental fireplace, with the television slightly offset from the couch. There was also an ornamental classic period chair in the corner.

The living space featured a small occasional writing desk that was consistent with the period. This became a laptop drop zone area. Unfortunately, since the hotel is so old, this also meant crawling around on the floor looking for power ports.

The living space also featured a fully stocked mini bar with drinks and snacks. Being France, there was also a small bottle of champagne available.

By the front door, there were also floor plans containing the hotels maze of corridors and hallways. There was also a small vestibule for hanging coats and placing of suitcases.

In general, the room itself was in a little bit of a “worn” condition. While there were no chips in the walls, the furniture had a few markings and stains on them. The furniture appeared to be definitely in the last third of it’s life cycle. If the property does intend to be reflagged by Jumeriah Resorts, management may be biding their time on spending the money on new furniture; if this is the case it certainly shows a little.

The Bathroom:

I wasn’t expecting too much from the bathroom space, given that the hotel was well over one hundred years old. The bathroom was modernized as much as to be expected.

The bathroom featured a small stand up combination bathtub shower, along with a single vanity sink and a WC. All were situated in the same room, without any dividing walls.

The toiletries on offer were Collection Lalique. Lalique is a french luxury brand that sells house furnishings, dining, lighting, art and perfumes among other things. Initially, I thought that the bottles were cracked. However, this turned out to be a design feature on the bottles.

Room with a View:

The Westin Paris – Vendôme Junior Suite with a View offered a pleasant and calming view over the Jardin des Tuileries. It was certainly and experience to be relaxing in your hotel room with a view of the Effiel Tower; certainly something very cool about it.

The Effiel Tower is located 2.6 kilometres away from the hotel. While not exactly close, it’s close enough to be able to stare out the window from your hotel room bed, watch the effiel tower and see the light show every evening at the top of the hour. It was a truly special experience that really complimented our stay.

Food and Beverage:

Le First Restaurant:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

The Westin Paris – Vendôme’s primary restaurant is called Le First Restaurant. At the time of our visit in the fall, Le First was only open for breakfast hours. However, in the summer months they do open all year round for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We enjoyed breakfast in Le First every morning of our stay. We were provided access to the full buffet breakfast courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level status; valued at 39€ ($41.75 USD) a person. The hotel also provided a straight forward a – la – carte menu that you might expect in a Westin Hotel. While a western menu is a comfort for some, it also didn’t have many specifically french items on there except for “Parisian style baguette”.

The first impressions arriving into Le First are impressive. The Le First Restaurant is decorated in elegant purples with deep upholstered chairs. The colours of the room are exquisite. It’s not every day that you get to enjoy breakfast in a room decorated such as this.

Our initial coffee order was taken through the wait staff. Refills were available from an espresso machine that was often lined up about two to four people deep. Similarly, our egg order could be placed through staff, but they were, at times, a little difficult to get a hold of because they were really busy.

The breakfast buffet on offer was less impressive than the dining area. The food presented as being quite simple in nature. While some hotels aim for a simple presentation, this one seemed very basic in delivery.

In a really surprising absence, there was no french champagne or sparking wine available at breakfast. While I wouldn’t necessarily expect champagne to be available, I was surprised not to see any sparking wine for a country that is known for vin mousseux. It’s not a deal breaker, but a bit surprising since we typically see sparking wine during our weekend stays at hotels in Europe.

Although it met the needs of a full breakfast buffet, it was less than some of the other lower tier hotels that I’ve recently stayed in. It was less impressive than my last stay at The Westin Venice, The Westin Madrid, and even Le Meridien Munich; all of which seemed to offer more engaging and appealing buffet breakfasts.

This added to my impression that the hotel may have just been biding its time until it undergoes a full reflag or refresh, in my humble opinion.

Bar des Tuileries

The hotel also operates a Bar des Tuilieries or Tuileries Bar. It is located off the lobby.

The bar is the only location where you can get dinner on the property outside of summer. It was quite busy on most evenings when we passed through. Inside, it has a typical compact European feel. Although much like other areas of the hotel, I thought that it was starting to look a little dated and less bright than it could have been.

It also seemed to be the only place in the hotel where you could get a bucket of ice for the room since Ice Machines seemed to be missing from each floor.

Checking Out of The Westin Paris – Vendôme:

We had no issues checking out of the Westin Paris – Vendôme. Everything was in order on our bill and our Marriott Bonvoy points posted within three days. We left the hotel and returned to the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for our return flights to North America via Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Paris – Reykjavík and Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Reykjavík – Seattle.

Bottom Line: The Westin Paris Vendôme

The Westin Paris Vendôme was a great hotel stay. We had excellent use of our Marriott Suite Night Awards by upgrading into a Junior Suite with a View. We also enjoyed the hotels excellent location, which is very accessible to the upscale Vendôme neighbourhood and well situated for sightseeing in central Paris. There is also nothing like seeing the Effiel Tower from your hotel room.

However, I couldn’t help but feel that the hotel was showing slightly past it’s prime. The room had seen better days in terms of wear and tear, and some areas of the hotel are looking a little drab; perhaps shining less brightly than they could.

Despite this, I enjoyed my stay and would easily return to this location again, thanks to the great service, the convenient Vendôme – Paris location and the wonderful Marriott Bonvoy Elite Upgrade treatment.

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If you have stayed at the Westin Paris Vendôme, did it enhance your stay in Paris, France?

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