Monday, 3 January 2022

Mama Shelter gambles on a bizarre Paris location

I am a huge fan of the Mama Shelter hotel brand that burst onto the scene with its quirky and innovative first hotel in Paris in 2008. 

I've stayed in that property a couple of times since, as well as Mama Shelters in Bordeaux, London and Los Angeles.

I enjoy both the youthful vibe, ultra comfortable beds and bargain basement prices if you book earlier enough. Great work by the founding Trigano family, of Club Med fame. 

Mama Shelter will be launching its third Parisian property in a few weeks time - and it will not be one to seduce me. 

The new hotel will be in the La Défense neighbourhood, in the heart of the city’s soulless high-rise financial district. 

It will take up 14 floors in the former Litwin Tower office building with 211 rooms. 

Highlights will include two all-day restaurants, a sports bar, coffee shop and a games arcade, while the trademark rooftop will have views across the French capital. 

Which is all very well, but no one in their right mind would opt to stay in La Défense rather than in the city itself, perhaps with views of the Seine? 

La Défense is derided by many Parisians as gauche and unworthy, other than providing easy office access to 180,000 workers each day in its 72 glass and steel high-rise buildings.

There is little, if any, evening activity and you're not within walking distance of any tourist attractions.

Such a bizarre choice for a group that has made an art form of choosing offbeat locations and making them hip.  

Not for me thanks - but I'm happy to return/to Mama Shelter Paris East, happy to try Mama Shelter Paris East and certainly tempted by the new Mama Shelter Lisbon. 

mamashelter.com

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