Review: the Canopy by Hilton Paris Eiffel Tower hotel

This is our review of the Canopy Paris Eiffel Tower hotel.

Hilton is currently running its latest sale for hotels and resorts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

You can get up to 20% off participating properties for weekend stays up to 8th September 2024.  You must book by 3rd September 2024. You can see full details on the Hilton website here.

To show you what sort of hotels you could book in the Hilton sale, the HfP team split up and visited four different properties in four different countries.  We’ll be bringing you these reviews over the next four Saturdays.

Hilton provided all four hotels in this series for free for review purposes. HfP paid for all of its incidental expenses. The articles are not sponsored and Hilton has not seen the reviews before publication.

Since staying at my first Canopy hotel, the newly-opened Canopy London (review), in late 2021 I’ve made an effort to see more of the brand, including Canopy Downtown Boston (review), Canopy Cannes (review) and Canopy SOMA San Francisco (review, the ex-Virgin Hotels site). I’ll soon be staying at the new Canopy Seychelles in another tough HfP assignment.

This time, however, it’s the turn of the Canopy Paris Eiffel Tower, which actually opened half a year before the London Canopy, back in May 2021.

The hotel website is here.

Canopy Paris Eiffel Tower location

For those unfamiliar with Paris, the Palais de Trocadero offers arguably the best sightline of the Eiffel Tower thanks to its elevated position at the top of Chaillot hill.

Unfortunately, these sightlines are also being used to maximum effect as part of the Paris 2024 Olympics with what looks to be a media chalet complex for broadcasters offering glittering views of the Eiffel Tower day and night.

You won’t get these views from any of the guest rooms bar a couple of suites at Canopy Paris, as the hotel is located in a 1930s building about 100m down the street, but you can see the Eiffel Tower from the rooftop bar.

The area is home to 19th Century architecture, large avenues and a number of museums including those for anthropology, architecture, maritime and more. The Paris Aquariums are also here, as is the national dance theatre.

Outside of these attractions the 16th Arrondissement feels relatively residential and quiet.

When it comes to public transport, the area is served by Lines 6 and 9 on the Paris Metro from Trocadero station. Travel to or from Gare du Nord, for Eurostar, takes around 30-40 minutes and one change whilst travel time to Charles de Gaulle Airport is just over an hour.

Inside the Canopy Paris Eiffel Tower hotel

The 123-room hotel is a conversion of an industrial 1930s building, with the modernist stone facade a foil to the more decorous surrounding styles.

From the outside, the hotel looks rather skinny, and indeed the footprint is a long, thin rectangle. The majority of rooms overlook an internal courtyard with skylights for the ground floor reception and hotel restaurant.

You immediately get a sense of the Canopy’s style with some open light boxes featuring all sorts of objects before the high reception bar, replete with (mostly unused) bar stools.

I was quickly checked in and my Hilton Diamond status acknowledged, including my entitlement to the hotel’s breakfast.

Rooms at Canopy by Hilton Paris Eiffel Tower

I was told at reception that I had been upgraded but, looking at the website, it wasn’t much of one. Virtually all rooms are 27-30 square metres with only suites sitting above that.

This was my King Premium Room, although I did benefit from a higher floor, on the 5th. My room capped the building so it had a slightly different layout. The bathroom was split into two, with a ‘proper’ toilet cubicle on the right with a self-closing door.

Next to this was the shower and washbasin. It’s not a huge bathroom – comfortable for one but definitely a squeeze for two.

Toiletries were the usual uber-lemony ‘thankyou.’ brand for Canopy.

You then have the bedroom:

On the right is an open wardrobe, as is customary for the Canopy brand:

This is also home to the mini bar, with a Nespresso machine, kettle and an empty mini fridge available.

The in-room safe is also integrated whilst the iron and ironing board are in a separate utility cupboard opposite:

True to its name, a big curved wooden canopy hangs over the large king bed which clearly makes a statement. Light switches are available on both sides of the bed, as are two USB-A ports and a European mains socket.

Opposite the bed is the large flatscreen TV, wall mounted above a long thin desk and industrial-looking shelving:

Meanwhile, on the left side of the bed, you get a recliner:

I’m not sure how useful this is over a sofa or chaise longue. Personally, if I wanted to take a nap I’d simply get comfortable in bed. An alternative sitting area would have been better, I think.

I had a view right down the internal courtyard. To be fair to the hotel, they’ve done a good job of beautifying the area with the addition of a green wall:

Like other Canopy hotels, you don’t get free water bottles daily but instead a glass bottle that you can refill from a filter tap. Unfortunately, it seems the only filter tap is on the ground floor by reception, somewhat reducing the value of this.

I had an issue with my in-room thermostat and air conditioning and was unable to set this myself. A quick call to reception and they were able to set it up remotely to my desired temperature as well as send up an engineer within 15 minutes to check it was working.

Gym and rooftop at the Canopy Paris hotel

As a four-star hotel the Canopy doesn’t have a huge amount of amenities, but there is a gym at the very back of the ground floor:

Meanwhile, the rooftop bar offers a decent view of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, bar service was suspended on the night I was there due to forecast inclement weather but the terrace was nonetheless accessible and people did use it, particularly around sunset.

and

Breakfast at Canopy Paris Eiffel Tower

As Diamond, I was given access to the hotel’s buffet breakfast for free. Inline with their four-star positioning, Canopy breakfasts are rarely expansive but it did the trick.

Let’s start with the hot food, of which there were just four dishes available: scrambled eggs, bacon, ratatouille and sausages.

The good news is that you can order eggs made to order from an a la carte menu. The bad news is that this literally just means egg – my query for eggs royale or eggs benedict was met with a stern ‘no’. So, whilst they’ll poach the eggs for you they won’t do the rest and you’ll have to DIY your eggs royale from the buffet!

Smoked salmon was available, as were a variety of cured hams, saucisson salami and French cheeses:

A small number of cereals were on offer as were pots of orange or grapefruit slices or fruit salads, as well as chia puddings, yoghurts and fruit juices:

Baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat were amongst the assortment of baked goods:

Conclusion

If you’ve stayed at a Canopy hotel before then you’ll know what to expect from Canopy Paris Eiffel Tower: modern, updated rooms with character and a handful of amenities. I liked it a lot.

Room rates start at €368 for bookings beyond the Olympics, whilst Hilton Honors redemptions start at 80,000 points per night. There should still be time to squeeze in a weekend sale trip before the Olympics kick off.

You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.