Welcome Hotel

Welcome Hotel is housed in a six-floor 19th-century building with a green awning. While its lobby and hallways have a slightly dated look, the boutique property is nonetheless inviting, with plenty of attractive details throughout. Vivid red graphic-print wallpaper in the reception area is on-trend, and guests gather in the cozy breakfast room on a higher floor. The charming space has antique cane-back chairs with red velvet cushions, a wood-beamed ceiling, and a Persian rug, and light comes pouring in through French doors. In fine weather, guests often have breakfast outdoors at a row of sidewalk cafe tables separated from the street by potted trees and shrubbery. Clientele tends toward budget-minded leisure travelers and couples looking for affordable rates and an intimate atmosphere.  

The Welcome Hotel is on a busy tree-lined street in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood in the Sixth Arrondissement. Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a genteel and quintessentially Parisian district filled with upscale shops, art galleries, bookstores and publishing houses, cafes, and restaurants. The Seine-Buci bus stop is across the street from the hotel, the Mabillon metro station is a one-minute walk, and both the Odeon and Saint-Germain-des-Prés metro stations are within a three-minute stroll. 

The Eugene Delacroix Museum and Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés are two minutes on foot. The famous Les Deux Magots, Brasserie Lipp, and Cafe de Flore cafes are all within a five-minute walk of the hotel, as is the Church of Sainte-Sulpice of “The Da Vinci Code” fame, the Pont des Arts bridge and Seine River, and the Luxembourg Gardens. The Notre-Dame Cathedral, Sainte Chapelle chapel, Maillol and Orsay museums, Louvre, and Tuileries Gardens are all about a 15-minute walk or 10 minutes by public transit from the hotel. Charles de Gaulle Airport is 30 minutes to an hour by car (depending on traffic) from the Welcome Hotel, or about 45 minutes by metro and RER train. 

Guest rooms at the Welcome Hotel are well-maintained and have appealing, colorful decor. They feature handsome traditional wooden furniture, and red and hot-pink accents in fabrics throughout, and the overall effect is bold and striking. Some double beds are two singles pushed together. Units lack electric kettles and mini-fridges, but all come with air-conditioning, desks, flat-screen TVs, in-room safes, and free Wi-Fi. The hotel also helpfully provides Paris tourist guidebooks. Some rooms have views of the Rue de Seine outside, and they're generally quiet despite the hotel’s location on a busy street. All bathrooms are en suite, but some are bit cramped. All have distinctive blue-tile sinks and/or floors, showers or shower/tub combos, hairdryers, and toiletries. 

As a budget hotel, Welcome Hotel offers limited property features. The breakfast buffet (for a fee) offers a well-regarded continental spread of fresh-baked baguettes and croissants, plus yogurt, cheese, and hot and cold drinks. An outdoor terrace overlooking the Rue de Seine is open weather permitting, and breakfast room service is available. There's no full restaurant, but the hotel also sells hot and cold beverages during the day. Other amenities include luggage storage, airport transfer (for a fee), free Wi-Fi throughout, and a 24-hour front desk with tourist assistance. The hotel has no on-site parking (there's paid public parking nearby) and like many hotels in Paris, the elevator is small and it’s drawn complaints from previous guests.