Wedding Blog

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, we thought we should investigate what the hotel rooms at our top three hotel choices for our Paris honeymoon were really like. Sure, all the hotel and vacation booking websites show pretty pictures, but are these pictures realistic?

I’m a big fan of user reviews, whether it is for hotels or for blenders, and travelers have made use of Trip Advisor in large numbers. Not only do they post reviews of their hotel stays, but they also post candid pictures. I thought it would be interesting to see if there was any resemblance between what glossy advertisements show and what hotel goers actually experience.

The top pictures are what the hotels and websites give us themselves, and the bottom pictures are the ones taken by the travelers.

These first ones are from the Sofitel Trocadero Dokhan. The lighting is not as inviting in the traveler’s pic, and I don’t see the orchids or champagne, but all in all, I’d say it still looks like an inviting bed, and I’d have to admit that the traveler’s shot is more zoomed in than the hotel’s, making it more difficult to judge if the hotel’s picture is an accurate portrayal of the room:

These are from the Sofitel Arc de Triomphe. Although from different angles and different zoom levels, the rooms look almost identical, no?

These next pictures offered the biggest disappointment, especially because this hotel, the Pont Royal, was our # 1 choice. The travelers’ pictures could not be, in my opinion, more different than the official ones given by the websites and the hotel. In fact, there are two types of rooms shown here and both look sadly disappointing:

All three hotels got great reviews, for the most part. But I can’t help but discount the Pont Royal when I see that sad little picture. Wouldn’t you want to stay in an incredibly romantic room if you were going to Paris on your honeymoon? And more importantly, shouldn’t there be truth in advertisement?