Sofitel Paris Baltimore Tour Eiffel review

The hotel stands at 88 bis avenue Kléber, near Trocadéro in the 16th arrondissement. Accor lists Boissière, on métro line 6, and a bus stop at 50 m, and Charles de Gaulle-Étoile at 500 m, where métro lines 1, 2 and 6 and RER A stop; it gives no walking times. The Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe are a published 500 m away.

By car, the hotel publishes Gare Saint-Lazare at 4 km and 10 minutes, Gare Montparnasse at 4.8 km and 12 minutes and Gare du Nord at 6.1 km and 15 minutes. It names no airport and gives no time to La Défense.

Measured in a straight line, which is a map distance and not a journey time, the Grande Arche is 4.9 km away, the second-shortest line to La Défense in our Paris ranking, and the Palais Garnier 3.2 km. On the same basis Orly is 17.2 km off and Charles de Gaulle 24.7 km.

The meetings page lists seven spaces. Trocadéro is the largest at 102 m², for 90 theatre-style, 60 in a classroom layout or at banquet, 120 for a cocktail and 45 for a seated dinner. Eiffel is 45 m², Kléber 40 m² and Foch 30 m², sizes that suit a board meeting or an interview day. The main page speaks of four meeting rooms, which matches the four named rooms. No business centre is mentioned.

Three other spaces can be booked for events: the 90 m² Lordy's Paris Club restaurant, the LPC cocktail bar and the terrace. A client evening can move from a presentation in Trocadéro to drinks on the terrace without leaving the building, as long as it happens on a weekday, when the restaurant is open. The setting is a Belle Époque mansion that became a luxury hotel in the 1920s and took the name of its first well-known guest, Lord Baltimore.

The hotel is a member of the She Travel Club, an independent evaluation for women travellers, useful to know when you book for a colleague travelling alone. Delegates who drive can use 50 indoor parking spaces, charged separately.

Lordy's Paris Club, the hotel's restaurant, cooks Parisian bistro dishes with a British touch under chef Damien Gomes, in a 90 m² room styled like a club house. It is Ecotable-certified and serves lunch from 12:00 to 14:00 and dinner from 19:00 to 22:30, Monday to Friday only, closing on Saturday and Sunday. Room service is available. The LPC bar mixes classic cocktails with an Anglo-Saxon twist, among them a martini served in a vial and drinks brought under a smoking cloche, and publishes no hours.

The fitness centre opens daily from 06:00 to 22:00, with treadmills, bikes, elliptical trainers, a Kinesis system and free weights, and the hotel offers personal training, yoga and Pilates classes and jogging maps. One guest review on Accor's site calls it small and dated. There is no spa and no pool, although the hotel's FAQ says massages and facials can be arranged, without saying where they take place.

Choose with care, because the range is wide and the total number of rooms is not published. Accor lists the Classic Room, which it calls a Parisian cocoon, at 15 m² over the courtyard, and the Superior Room at 16 m², although the hotel's FAQ says rooms start at 20 m². For a working week, the Luxury Room with a private balcony, 21 m² with a king bed, or a Luxury Premium Room of 23 to 24 m² gives more space. The Luxury Junior Suite with an Eiffel Tower balcony is 33 m², and the Eiffel Signature Suite, 54 m² with a lounge, looks at the tower and the rooftops. The Lord Baltimore Apartment has three bedrooms over 110 m² for up to eight.

Guest scores shown on Accor's page are weak for Wi-Fi and room comfort, so ask about the connection before a day of video calls. No kitchen or long-stay offer is published. Check-in is from 15:00 and check-out by 12:00.

The hotel holds the Green Key label, and its CSR page says linen is changed on request and more than a quarter of the menu is vegan.