Apr 18

Apr 18 WOW Round 2 - Waldorf Astoria Versailles

The Waldorf Astoria brand is really growing on me. Fresh from an incredible stay at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos, I decided to try to pretend to be a king for a day and live it up at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles Trianon Palace. And for the price point of around $400, this definitely is worth it.

Overview

Quick history lesson: King Louis XIV decided in the late 17th century to construct Versailles, and despite several revolutions and World Wars, the palace has kept going. Today, over 15 million people visit the Palace, and it costs up to 40 Euros to visit (more on that later), although there are free admissions days along with discounts for certain groups. One thing to note is that tickets are NOT included in your hotel stay, and the hotel charges a 5 Euro convivence fee, so buy your tickets online first.

Location

One of the best things about the Waldorf Astoria Versailles Trianon Palace is that it’s literally a 2 minute walk to the Palace groups. As for getting there from Paris, it’s quite easy to take the RER C train, and then bus / taxi to the hotel. There’s also the option of taxi / Uber / rental car, and there is valet parking on the grounds.

CheckIn

Walking into the hotel, you are greeted by some imposing but beautiful gates, as well as a menu for Gordon Ramsey’s Au Trianon restaurant.

One important point is that there is actually two hotels: the 4 star Pavillon du Trianon and the 5 star Trianon Palace. The Michelin guide savagely says “we cannot in good conscience recommend the Pavillon rooms”, and I have to agree.

Based on data points, Hilton Gold / Diamond elites typically get upgraded to the original 5 star Trianon Palace rooms, which I appreciate the hotel doing.

Walking into the Five Star Trianon Palace, I was immediately transported to France’s golden age, however one wishes to define it.

The lobby is immaculately decorated, and not overcluttered.

I was immediately greeted by an older, experience gentlemen who directed me to check in, and helped with answering a few questions about Versailles.

Check in was prompt, and I was given a voucher which offered several discounts and a complementary champagne drink at the Bar Galerie. The bar’s decor was fantastic, and the drink was extremely well balanced.

Room

My original room was a King Superior Mansard Room room, with Mansard referring to the 5th floor sloped roof of the hotel. The room itself was a tad small for luxury hotel, but then again this is better than more European room sizes.

The bathroom did take up quite a bit of space, and could have been reduced in size for a larger room. However, I really liked the style, and the provided Aesop amenities.

However, upon opening the closet, I noticed that there was a significant brown stain, which may have been either sap or coffee. I notified the front desk, and to their credit they sent someone to take care of it whilst I ventured on the grounds of Versailles.

Upon returning to the hotel, the front desk kindly noted that they had been unable to take care of the issue, and offered to move me to another room, the Palace 5 Star - King Deluxe Park View Room. Great service!

The new room was rather unassuming, on the 3rd floor, behind a rather plain large door.

However, upon opening it, I was greeted with an almost suite sized and tastefully decorated room.

Or rather, a lobby given the size of this room - it’s not listed, but I’d imagine the room to be somewhere ~500-600 sqft, vs my last room of maybe 300 sqft.

Behind that door was the closet, which contained a handy umbrella.

Entering the main room, there is a functional desk with free water, as well as a 20 page paper printout of all the amenities of the hotel.

Directly left of that was a full length mirror, which when folded out displayed the room’s fridge and coffee maker.

Beside it was the fireplace, though to be honest I wasn’t really sure how to turn it on.

And finally, the magnificent park view.

It was certainly a real treat waking up to this view, and sipping Nespresso coffee.

The king bed itself was definitely comfortable, no complaints here.

Moving onto the washroom, there definitely was a lot of care put into this one, starting with the beautifully decorated twin sinks.

There was slightly less wasted space here given there was a massive bathtub and shower combination.

Finally, there was a fully enclosed toilet.

Overall, the room stuck the right balance between cute and regal. I would recommend booking the Park View over the Garden View, especially since the latter is only ~5% more expensive.

Amenities

Maybe because the hotel was right besides Versailles, the Waldorf Astoria Versailles Trianon Palace spots a cute park and surrounding getaway that also lit up late at night.

Hidden in the basement, the hotel also had a relatively well stocked gym, as well as a pricey, but likely good, spa.

Beyond the gym, there was a very large pool stocked with a coffee machine and snacks.

However, the star of the show was definitely the dining, with Gordon Ramsay Trianon Palace and an amazing breakfast. The restaurant and bar was housed in the middle of this imperial looking hallway.

While the restaurant was a bit out of my price point for dinner, I got to enjoy a great breakfast thanks to my Hilton Gold Status. Speaking of which, despite the terms and conditions technically only allowing a Continental Breakfast, all the Hiltons I stayed at in Europe, whether it was this one or a Garden Inn, kindly provided a full buffet breakfast.

And my goodness, was the breakfast varied and high quality. I have no idea how they did the eggs, but they were fantastically fluffy and light. One hilarious note was that the maple syrup was a supermarket variety, a big no no for this Canadian.

One can always chose to sit outside. However, when I visited, there were definitely mosquitos out and about, so make sure you were your bug repellant.

The Service

Service here was, similar to my Air France flight, highly polished and on point. The front desk guide, as well as the entire team, carefully made sure I had an excellent experience without being overbearing. I was pleasantly surprised that right when I got back from my Versailles outing, that the hotel front desk knew right away to call my room to tell me about my upgrade. Or how one of the staff members, who wasn’t on the front desk, went through the Versailles map, and carefully pointed to their favorite spots. Also, unofficially, I asked to buy a charger, and the front desk comped it for me based on the room issue. Again, truly the mark of a 5 star experience.

The Point

I hate to use the term affordable luxury, but this is certainly what describe this hotel. The Waldorf Astoria Versailles Trianon Palace certainly lives up to it’s description of a 5 Star Hotel. As one of my friends said on my Instagram story, “I wonder who gets to stay here”: this place is definitely fit for a honeymoon, or a quick city getaway. Despite being over 100 years old, the bones of the hotel are well maintained and meticulously decorated. The soft product was similarly wonderful, as was the food and drink. Given the price point, I would highly recommend it, as it makes one of my top 5 favorite hotel stays of all time. And plus, it’s hard to miss sipping coffee staring at Versailles.