I stayed at the Best Western Premier Eiffel Park in early May of this year for six nights. My mother and I booked into a twin room via the Best Western website as it had the cheapest rates, around 120 euros a night for non-refundable internet rates (there were several listed rates). I chose the hotel based on positive reviews from a few review sites, location and price being my primary needs.

The hotel is situated in the 7th arrondissement, about halfway between the Invalides and the Eiffel tower, and a ten minute walk from both. It is a quietish residential neighbourhood, sedate and a bit posh in places as many diplomats live in the area due to the various embassies being located there. That said, there were plenty of shops, bakeries and restaurants, and the Rue Cler market was only a couple of streets away. It was a lot more relaxed/less touristy than the Latin Quarter area where I had stayed previously, and while I liked this, people looking for dazzling nightlife nearby would need to look elsewhere. Although that said we found it quite lovely to wander over to the Eiffel tower at night and wait for it to begin its hourly sparkle-a-thon, a more dazzling experience you are unlikely to see in the City of Lights. Also in good walking distance of this hotel is the Seine and many of the boat rides. We took one before sunset but I have taken it at night as well and that would be a lovely way to spend an evening when staying in this quiet but charming area.

It has an unassuming façade and darkened picture windows on the outside. Inside it is quite nice, a desk with rattan chairs is set up to greet guests in an attractive lobby. There is also a sitting room/small bar, and a conservatory breakfast room, all nicely decorated in a sort of vaguely Colonial theme. The receptionist checked us in a bit brusquely (um she wasn't French so I can say this!), we weren't really given much information about the surrounding area, just handed a map, which wasn't quite as friendly as the prior hotel I stayed in. The room was meant to be a twin as Mother snores and we didn't want another incident with me placing a pillow over her head! (by the way she tried out those snore strips and they actually work quite well!). Well the room was still set up as a double, so much for twins having more space.

We made our own twin by pushing the beds as far apart as possible. There were two nightstands, a desk opposite the beds with no real storage, and a closet with the requisite pain in the wotsit non-removable hangers, about six of them. Also there were two shelves high up which we made use of, and a safe which we did as well. The safe required a 50 euro deposit for the key which was a bit much but c'est la vie. There was a refrigerator with various drinks inside, no food. The television was decent but French telly, while momentarily amusing to see various shows dubbed in French, is fairly useless for non-French speaking folk. There is a CNN channel which seems to rotate the same few stories over and over again, and at night there was a channel which showed some quite obscure English language films. The beds were quite comfy I thought, my mother found them too soft though. The pillows were not fluffy enough for me so I folded up a towel to make my own second pillow.

On my previous stay in Paris, it was in August, when the scorching heat made air conditioning in the hotel a must. I was aware that many hotels in Paris do not have air conditioning and so went out of my way to pick one that did. Even though we were staying in May I figured it might be warm. So as this hotel displays air conditioning as one of its amenities it was a factor in choosing it. That and it is a non-smoking hotel, another rarity in Paris. Well as I mentioned earlier our room was rather stuffy. It didn't take us long to work out there was no air conditioning on, there was a remote control but no temperature change available, just a fan.

The fan helped slightly but it was not the service they advertised and I was not pleased. I phoned again the next night, to make sure it wasn't just our room/a miscommunication, and was fed the same line. I found this a bit hard to swallow as the week before the temperatures had been unseasonably high, up to 30, and I mentioned this. Well it was deaf ears again, I said I had chosen the hotel for this reason and wasn't impressed they didn't offer the service they advertised. I don't think I was rude or demanding, especially when considering the lobby area was clearly air-conditioned with near sub-arctic temperatures; I thought it a bit rich for them to act as though the whole thing was beyond their control. So hospitality is not at the top of this hotel's priorities.

I cannot comment on the breakfast, they do serve a nice enough sounding continental spread, but 12 euros was a bit much we thought and there are plenty of delicious bakeries and cafes nearby. They did try to charge us for two days of breakfasts which we did not have though so check your bill carefully as they must just take people's room numbers at breakfast and some people obviously take advantage.

As for public transport, this area is not easily accessible from Charles De Gaulle airport. It is possible if you transfer on the RER line or take the Airfrance bus and then transfer to the metro, but that is a lot of hauling around luggage and the shuttle vans don't cost much more and are much more relaxing I found. (I took the RER directly to my hotel on last visit and did struggle to get my suitcase through the metro turnstyles). The Airfrance buses do stop at Invalides nearby, but only if you are travelling from Orly airport.

I would probably shop around for another hotel on my next visit however as I like to see different neighborhoods. I would say this area, while quieter than others, has plenty of nice restaurants. Even though it was sleepy we always felt safe wandering around at night and there were usually people about, just nothing like the hustle and bustle of the Latin Quarter. For a relaxing spot at the end of a busy day the 7th arrondisement is I feel underrated and as charming as any other in Paris.