Hotel description

The budget boutique has come to Paris. As improbable as it may seem in a city where high prices and high opulence rule the day, the Standard Design Hotel is a pared-down contemporary-design boutique hotel — in fact it’s reminiscent in terms of aesthetics and atmosphere of the similarly-named (but entirely unaffiliated) Standards in Los Angeles and Miami Beach.

Minimal is the natural style for low-budget boutiques, and white the natural color; in the Standard’s case the owner spent some time in Spain, and there’s more than a little Iberian style to these largely monochrome rooms, livened with judiciously applied touches of color. The accommodations are comfortable enough; they’re not luxurious by any stretch but nor do they feel cheap, which is quite an achievement in this price range.

And the Standard resists another common boutique temptation as well: some stylish hotels pour on the attitude, but this one is uncommonly friendly, almost familial. Add a location right off the Bastille and close to the Marais, in one of Paris’s most happening nightlife districts, and you’ve got a winner — go expecting a five-star and you may be disappointed, but it’s hard to imagine getting better value (or style) for your money than the Standard.