Mama Shelter in Paris

Mama Shelter is the new “budget” conscious hotel by Philippe Starck which is located in beautiful Paris. What can one expect to sacrifice for bargain prices in a city which otherwise is over the top on hotel rates? It seems like the size of the rooms, service, and location are the most commonly expressed woes from people writing reviews on websites such as Travelocity.com, hotels.com, etc. I myself have not been to Paris for 20 years now, so unfortunately my comments are based purely on photos I’ve seen.

Well the size of a room has never bothered me. You’re usually in a hotel room only to sleep and shower, so your conscious time there is limited. Service, well that’s important to me but usually bad service experiences are isolated incidences that get press from those few that suffer from it. Location, well that’s somewhat important, but if you’re within Paris city limits, is that not good enough?

Now what can I say about the design. The exterior doesn’t excite or give any hints about what is inside, but that has always been a classic struggle between architecture and interior design.

Words are on all surfaces and are everywhere! I’m not one to usually like words on anything, especially fabrics and walls (maybe I’m too lazy to read it all), but it somehow adds to the youthful, graffiti like atmosphere which reminds you of the gritty side of a city that is normally all chandeliers and marble.

The lobby area seems to be casual and fun, with focus on communal eating and “experiences” more than anything.

The rooms looks simple, with quirky touches as expected by Starck. Rubber costume masks flank the beds and are backlit to provide subtle ambience. I mean, who wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep with Chewbaca watching over you. The carpet is interesting, again with white words scrawled across on a black background. The classic acrylic desk chair gets an update with a colour band across the top.

Overall I feel that this hotel would provide a nice, inexpensive way of experiencing a youthful and quirky Starck hotel in a wonderful city. Not sure if the connection between the two is there, but interesting nonetheless.