For our lovely weekend in Paris, I wanted to make sure we stayed somewhere convenient, relaxing and upscale, and the Sofitel Paris Baltimore seemed to tick all the boxes.

Available through our travel advisor, we booked a Junior Suite with an Accor Preferred rate, which included additional niceties, such as early check-in/late check-out and room upgrade subject to availability, daily complimentary breakfast for two, $100 credit per stay, and a ‘VIP Welcome’ whatever that means. A Sofitel is bound not to be the most economical option, and that set us back €1,646 for the two night stay.

Before we’d arrived to the hotel, we’d been relatively inundated with e-mails and whatsapp messages with a ‘personalised’ guest link, then a request to check-in online, and details about check-in times. I have to say, for a hotel at a premium pricepoint, I would expect a level of personalisation and service that firstly doesn’t insist on online check-in ‘to save time’, and also has some cognisance of the early check-in benefit rather than insisting on the standard check-in times. Similarly, we were in the property only an hour before I received a whatsapp asking how was my experience so far – very difficult to say, when you’d only been there an hour or so.

In fact, probably one of the pieces of feedback I feel most strongly about was the sheer volume of communications – aside from the above, plus a pre-departure survey (and a post-departure survey), I also received whatsapp messages advertising ‘Sparkling Hours’ and pastries at LPC Bar the following day. Let me just enjoy my trip!

Arriving to the property, we were quickly welcomed and checked-in, with our luggage escorted up to the room separately, before we were shown to our room, Room 109, a Junior Suite (no upgrade forthcoming, apparently).

The room was incredibly spacious, featuring two full-height bay windows looking out over a relatively quiet Parisian side-street, a gigantic (and very comfy) bed, a set of wardrobes and drawers housing a little library collection in the corner, along with a chaise longue to the end of the room.

The bathroom meanwhile featured a separate room for the toilet, and then a combined bath/shower tub, sink, and wall-mounted Balmain Paris toiletries.

Vannesha didn’t waste any time and set about immediately using the $100 room credit to order what was a very delicious, and quickly presented, cheeseburger (that classic French dish!) – which I ended up sampling it was so good, before we hit the streets of Paris.

In terms of location, you can’t really do much better. Sofitel Paris Baltimore is located down Avenue Kleber, about a 5-minute walk to Trocadero, with its beautiful sunset views across to the Eiffel Tower.

On the other hand, the Arc de Triomphe is the opposite direction and equally only about a 15-minute walk. For areas farther afield, such as Montmartre, we used Uber or Bolt, and had no difficulty getting a ride every time.

When we returned that evening, with no note or any kind of indication as to why, we had received a lovely bottle of wine housed in a wooden case. I would have to imagine this related to the Accor Preferred room rate and status, although some indication would have been nice. We even pontificated on whether it would be charged or not, if we were to crack it open, such was the level of uncertainty.

Unfortunately we were woken a little earlier than desired on the first morning due to noise from whatever was next to our room – it didn’t appear to be another guest room, but seemed to be the source of occasional noise, like packing or moving, presumably made worse as our bedhead leaned right against that wall.

Breakfast on our first morning was a little hit and miss. The breakfast, located at Lordy’s Paris Club on the reception floor to the end of the building, consists of a great selection of cold meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, juices and yoghurts available buffet-style.

Hot food however is cooked to order, selected from a menu. We both picked our orders and waited – and waited. For context, the dining room is not especially large so we reckoned it would be pretty obvious we’d been sitting there for the better part of approaching 40 minutes.

Ultimately, we had to ask and it appeared our order was forgotten – we were even more convinced of this the following day, when the food only took 5 minutes from ordering to present itself. Nothing major, but again, at a hotel of this rating and pricepoint, not wonderful.

Similarly, late that afternoon, we opted for another round of room service given the successes of the previous day (and of course to use our room credit). This time, we both received what felt like miniscule portions, warm but certainly not hot, with a promise to ‘bring the bread in a minute’ which ultimately never came to fruition.

Next morning we were up early – and as I say, with a much more rapidly-delivered breakfast – for our flight back to Dublin.

Check-out was a breeze, with the room credit correctly utilised, and we were quickly sat waiting in the cosy front lobby area for our Uber back to the airport.

The lobby stretches right along the side and partial length of the building, and includes several seating areas, including a very classy bar just past reception.

Overall, in spite of a few stumbles, we enjoyed our trip to Sofitel Paris Baltimore; the location is perfect, the property itself is very elegant and tasteful, reception staff couldn’t be more friendly, though some minor improvements to mealtime consistency and messaging reduction would go a long way.