Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel

The Rive Gauche, Paris’ left bank is famous for its artists cult and intellectual thinkers: from Europe’s most prestigious university La Sorbonne to Les Deux Magots where Hemingway and Picasso drinking Kir Royales.

Near Montparnasse Blvd and the famous artists café lifestyle in the 14^th arrondissement, Marriott Hotels acquired the formal PLM St Jacques Hotel and gave it a 35 million Euro stylized makeover. It echoes of the former funky days of the seventies when it was the happening PLM with its hip lobby, retro carpets, and mood lighting. Today, it is “business chic”-- a conference center with the capacity to entertain 2,000 participants in its ballrooms and over 770 luxurious rooms to offer a restful stay on pillow toped mattresses with Marriott’s impeccable service.

Paris is a hyper-dense city with millions of people in just a few square miles inside its tight corset of the périphérique. You can never really be along way away from all the romantic history, the night lights and the Seine River. This quiet residential neighborhood in the southern part of Paris is just far enough from all the tourists and hub-bub of activity to offer some rest and relaxation after days of busy sightseeing and a more peaceful stay than you would get anywhere else in this active though magical city. Just outside the Rive Gauche hotel are two metro stops with a direct line to the Eiffel tower. Walking distance is Paris’ famous Chinatown --where I stopped for my annual pilgrimage to Pho 14, the Cartier Foundation is around the corner with its wonderful exhibitions (David Lynch right now) and forest gardens, the Pantheon and Latin quarter is just up the “rue”.

At a ribbon cutting ceremony in Paris, Mr. JW Marriott Jr. spoke to a crowd of dignitaries, press corps and dedicated employees about future properties in France, 80 years of Marriott, and fostering service and quality in all their hotel brands. American Ambassador Craig Stapleton addressed the crowd in French and lent a hand with the giant scissors.

The occasion, May 22^nd was exactly 80 years that Mr. JW Marriot Senior and his wife opened a Root beer stand in the United States which soon became Hot Shops, then eventually motor inns and into the world class hotels that they are known for today. Marriott’s presence in France today is 8 hotels under three brands: Marriott Hotels, Renaissance Hotels and Courtyard by Marriott and they expect to open a Renaissance Hotel near the Arc de Triomphe in 2009. Also on the horizon is Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyon and two more in Paris just outside the périphérique.