Hotels Close to the Center in Paris
Please note that in order to receive the University of Chicago discount mentioned in the first three entries, you will need to contact the hotel directly when you book, without going through the central office. You should also be prepared to show your University of Chicago ID when you check in.
Home Business Paris Grande Bibliothèque (70 avenue de France, 13th arrondissement, Metro: Bibliothèque). This brand new facility—completed in 2009—is a mere 3-minute walk from the University of Chicago Center in Paris, and is located just across the street from the Bibliothèque (Metro 14 or RER C) metro station. It offers an attractive array of services and amenities at reasonable rates. All 113 rooms are suites of varying size and configuration, ranging from 215 to 600 square feet. Each suite is equipped with a work area, private bathroom with tub and shower, LCD TV with satellite, safe, and kitchenette with Nespresso machine. There are also laundry facilities and a 24-hour receptionist on the main floor. Those affiliated with the University of Chicago qualify for a special rate that can range from 120 euros/night for a Classic Suite to 175 euros/night for a Privilege Junior Suite. If your stay extends beyond three nights, further reductions on the order of 20% for week-long stays and 25% for month-long stays apply.
Park & Suites Paris Grande Bibliothèque (15 rue de Tolbiac, 13th arrondissement, Metro: Bibliothèque). This hotel runs on the same model as Home Business (see above), but is three stars to Home Business’s four. This shows up in a number of details, from the more uneven quality of the rooms—some are spacious and well appointed while others are smaller and less appealing—to the slightly worn character of the public areas. At first glance, Park & Suites does not compare favorably to Home Business. It has similar rates, but is a little farther from the Center (a 7-minute walk), smaller rooms, less modern amenities, and “fewer stars.” Yet, for those who prefer the bustle of rue de Tolbiac to the avenue de France’s more business-like calm, and “stone and mortar” over “glass and steel,” Park & Suites remains an option.
Holiday Inn Paris - Bibliothèque de France (21 rue de Tolbiac, 13th arrondissement, Metro: Bibliothèque). Situated three doors up the street from Park & Suites (a 7-minute walk to the Center), Holiday Inn Paris offers 69 rooms equipped with air conditioning, individual climate control, minibar, safe, cable TV, internet, and hair dryer. All in all, this hotel offers reasonably comfortable accommodations at the lowest price in the neighborhood—a negotiated rate of 105 euros/night for 1 or 2 people for those who ask for le tarif Université de Chicago. The rooms at the Holiday Inn are perhaps smaller than those at the Park & Suites, but common areas are pleasant and attractive. Unless you are of the mind that breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day, consider forgoing your petit déjeuner at the hotel, which will set you back 13 euros, and instead enjoy coffee and pastries at Eric Kayser (77 quai Panhard-Levassor) just one block northwest of the Center. You will eat twice as well, while spending half as much.
Pullman Paris Bercy (1 rue de Libourne, 12th arrondissement, Metro: Cour Saint-Emilion) is a good choice for those seeking a first-class full-service hotel within easy walking distance of the Center in Paris (a 12-minute walk). Rooms are spacious and elegantly appointed, and hotel services—too numerous to outline in this short paragraph—are more fully described here. The Pullman is located across the Seine from the Center in Paris in the 12th arrondissement, at the southern end of the elegant Parc de Bercy, just steps from Bercy Village and the Cour Saint-Emilion metro stop. There is a substantially lower price—around 200 euros/night—if you reserve via the internet.