Paris hotels: Londres Eiffel vs Hotel Duquesne Eiffel

Hi, I can’t speak about Hotel Duquesne Eiffel, but I stayed for a week at the Hotel de Londres Eiffel with the 1-week RS Paris tour. The room decor, hotel lobby, etc. were beautifully decorated, and the staff were very nice. Breakfast options were great. Since it was so close to the Eiffel Tower, I usually walked over there each evening for a stroll.

We stayed at Hotel Duquesne Eiffel back in 2015. We liked its location near the Eiffel Tower, swan island and Napoleon’s tomb. It seemed well maintained. We also walked all the way to Plaza de Concordia, but that may be somewhat far for some people. École Militaire metro stop is about a 3 minutes walk from the hotel. The standard room was nice, but very small with little maneuver room around the bed. Fortunately we weren’t in it very often. The day staff was friendly. The one night when we wanted to sit out front and drink some wine while watching the lights on the tower, the employee was less than motivated to unlock the chairs out front or provide a couple glasses for the wine. I don’t remember the breakfast there, but I’m sure we paid for it.

You might get more responses if this was posted on the France forum.

It has been MANY years since we stayed at Hotel Londres (in late summer) during our very first RickSteves' group tour. It is my recollection that the rooms were not air-conditioned (or if so, it was very, very weak)...we slept with our room window open. It was exceptionally hot in France during our tour over a decade ago (and it seems. since then, France has had some additional really hot summers).
So, if you are going in the summer, you might want to check about a/c.
Ice was also very rare. The hotel kindly gave my husband (upon request) a small cup full each afternoon, and that seemed to pretty much clean out their supply.
The staff was delightful, our room was tiny but charming, very clean, and one could not beat the location.. Easy walk to both the Eiffel and Rue Cler.
Overall, very fond memories.

Thankyou for these replies. Did you all stay in the Double Poets room or in the Pavilion room? Did you feel there was room for your suitcases? Closet room? We will have several. Cathy

My wife and I travel with carryon sized suitcases, one each. I just looked at my TripAdvisor 3-star review and submitted photos, written April 2015, and on the one side of the bed there was plenty of room for suitcases; not so on the other side of the bed. Our room was on the back side of the hotel. Also, there was a safe, not an electronic lock, and it was very small and almost useless.

Gosh......I do not recall the name of the room. It was upstairs and VERY small. We likely had enough room for our one RS rollaboard and our tote bag, and (at the time) we knew to expect small hotel rooms and stairs as part of the RSTour expectations (we were on the one-week Paris city tour, so we were there for multiple days).
If we were to go back to Paris, I would have no concerns about staying there again, if we were going during a time of year that we did not need to worry about air conditioning, but I would definitely choose for a much, much larger room.
Soooo many years ago now, my memory is fuzzy, but seems I recall going up the stairs and our room being right there as in right off the stairs to the right (maybe). I do recall having our own very small bathroom (and being thrilled that we did not have to share a bath).
OK, I just looked on their web site, seeing if that would jog my memory...maybe (key word) it was the Poet's Room (but appears there are two they call that???). If so, maybe the walllpaper has changed since we were there, or I just do not remember it. Fellow tour mates (a couple) that we made friends with had a larger room (we compared, because we both thought our rooms were small), they learned after seeing ours. But both rooms were very small.
If you travel with more than one small piece of luggage and a tote, and if you plan to be overnight in Paris for several nights, you might want to opt for a larger room (I would today...now a more seasoned traveler with standards that have risen over the years), especially if there will be an additional person in the room with you.

I just looked at the larger rooms at the Duquesne....and I think you will find they are MUCH nicer. I would go with that if I were going to Paris again.

Thx! My concern is that on TripAdvisor, Londres is # 272 out of 1600 hotels; Duquesne is #262. Since you’ve been there, please tell me if Duquesne would be a good location? Thankyou!

I would not worry about the numbers on Trip Advisor. They aren't doing a direct comparison between the two when they have those ratings.

What I would worry about is area of the room listed on the website and if it has air conditioning or not. I think both of these hotels have had good reviews on this forum for quite some time.

For what we wanted, Hotel Duquesne Eiffel was in a great location and a few blocks away from the hustle bustle of Rue Cler. You might get a better view of the Tower’s lights from the Londres Eiffel and be a couple minutes closer to some restaurants, but that’s about it. I’d have no problem staying at the Duquesne again, but it’s really a personal preference.

I agree that the TA numbers are pretty much meaningless as they change all the time and for these two hotels you may as well say they have the same ranking. If one was ranked #100 while the other was #1100, that would be worth paying attention to.

We stayed at the Hotel Dusquene Eiffel for the Best of Paris in 2019. We had a standard Rick Steves room, and although it was not roomy, it was adequate for size and for being in Paris. The room itself was up-date and comfortable. All the staff we encountered were helpful and friendly. Unlike the post above, when we wanted a glass of wine in the evening, the fellow on the desk was happy to help us. He had no idea how much to pour, so just said “Take what you want.” We, of course, showed him what a regular pour would look like.

It was easy to walk to the metro, and Rue Cler is nearby., as is Les Invalides, the Rodin Museum, and of course, the Eiffel Tower.

Some nearby restaurants we enjoyed were:

Le Septieme Vin (the 7th district Wine) for a small, intimate, lovely French dinner, reservations recommended, though not always needed. Staff lovely, the chef visited our table to see how everything was.

La Terasse Cafe—this is near the Ecole Militaire metro stop, and is a large cafe. We ate here on our own before the tour, then ate here for our first night tour dinner. Probably pretty easy to walk in and get a table.

A small place between the metro and the hotel was La Bistro Gasconne. Nothing fancy, but we had great onion soup here for lunch one day, and stopped in for drinks with a group of tour members after our Farewell Dinner.

That was our first trip to Paris, (except that I had been 50 years prior as a student) We were happy with the location for that trip. Next time I would chose a different location for a different experience.

THANKYOU so much everyone for your time in replying! We've decided to stay at Hotel de Llondres due to it's location to the Siene and Eiffel Tower for evening strolls AND were able to upgrade to a larger room.. APPRECIATE you all!

Ok, now that you've made the choice, here is a walk thru that neighborhood from Corey Frye, A French Frye in Paris! This is one of his early streamed walking tours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAY8vsAbpFs

When the video gets to about 9:55, the street going off to the right is "your" street and your hotel is the first door past the side of the restaurant.

He starts at 29 Avenue Rapp which is literally around the corner from Londres Eiffel.

https://goo.gl/maps/z7jBSPLKP5S9ehWU6

If you are a fan of Art Nouveau, I've got a couple of links for additional addresses in the area designed by Jules Lavirotte who designed the first buildings Corey shows.

We stayed at the Hotel Londres in December 2019 with the RS Best of Paris tour. It was wonderful - great staff, good breakfast, great location as others have noted. Our room was compact but well designed and we had enough room for our things. I was in Paris in early October and stayed at the sister hotel in St. Germaine - another great find! Fabulous staff and location.

Thank you all very much!!! Really appreciate it! Any advice from those that have experienced Paris is great!