Overall, Hotel Regina was very nice. It reminded me of a small boutique hotel. The rooms were spacious enough for the 4 of us traveling (2 adults and 2 children). We really appreciated the fact that they offered adjoining rooms, so our children were in their own space but right with us, too.
Prior to our arrival, the pre-planning with the hotel concierge wasn't completely smooth. I will say that the concierge was always very responsive via email. Definitely a plus! However, I think there were several issues. One, there are multiple people working the concierge desk so not everyone is up-to-date with communications we had with one of their colleagues. Two, unlike an Inspirato property, the concierge at the hotel isn't the best at coming up with things to do or making suggestions. They were good at making reservations for the activities and tours we came up with on our own.
This is something we feel is lacking with using Inspirato for their hotel offerings. When booking a hotel through Inspirato, we know we will have a top-notch hotel, but the experience cannot be compared to the experience of staying in an Inspirato managed property, which is upsetting because we pay the same amount to Inspirato whether we stay in a hotel or an Inspirato managed property. We have mentioned this to Inspirato, so hopefully we will see some changes in the future with regard to the member's Team working with the hotel concierge in a more productive way, so that the member doesn't feel like they aren't getting the service they expect from their trips.
The hotel concierge did handle all our dinner reservations. I told them that we didn't want anything too fancy and that we needed kid friendly restaurants. Most restaurants fit the bill, but only one restaurant (out of 5) had a kid's menu. I wouldn't say any of the restaurants we ate at were amazing, but the food was consistently good at every restaurant the concierge booked us at. I will say that after 5 days in Paris, I was craving a little variety from the usual French cuisine. We were able to get our 9-year-old son to try escargot once!
Once we arrived, the concierge was great. They had all our pre-purchased tickets, tour information, and dinner reservations in an envelope waiting for us. We pre-booked the Louvre Express Tour (which was perfect for our kids' attention spans and allowed us to see the highlights), a Tour to the summit of the Eiffel Tower, and a food-oriented walking tour of St. Germain. We enjoyed them all.
The Wi-Fi is not great at the hotel. When we mentioned it to the concierge, they placed a wi-fi booster in our room. Unfortunately, that didn't work. The Wi-Fi was spotty all around the hotel.
The hotel is very centrally located, steps from le Louvre and le Jardin du Tuileries and very close to the l'Opera. If you're one who loves to walk around Paris, this is a great location. If you love to take the metro, it's a bit more tedious because of how the lines run and how the transfers with the metro lines and the RER lines work. Not a deal breaker, but worth mentioning. The Tuileries is the metro stop we used that was closest to the hotel.
On our own, we discovered and enjoyed walking through the passage-ways in Paris. We went a little early in the morning (9:00 a.m.) and, while most of the stores were closed, it was peaceful, quiet and fun to just window shop. The Musee d'Orsay was also incredible. Very, very busy, but incredible. We pre-purchased tickets ourselves online and did the kids audio tour. It was ok. I would have preferred a guided tour of some sort to hit the highlights, as there are so many, but just the building itself is so interesting to see inside.
Also on our own, we went to le Jardin du Luxembourg. Our kids loved pushing and following their boats in the fountain there. It was a great way to spend 5 euro and entertain our kids. Felt like a great break in the walking and sight-seeing. Also, great people watching!
The summit of the Eiffel Tower was awesome. If you aren't afraid of heights, go for it.
The Louvre is the Louvre. Amazing, historic, and crazy busy! The Louvre Express tickets got us through the line quickly though and our guide easily got us around the crowds and showed us several highlights. We even got fairly close to the Mona Lisa!
Our kids are 11 and 9 and were AMAZING walkers! We covered SO much ground, yet 5 days in Paris is still not enough! One thing to note is that we went in mid-June. The sun doesn't set until almost 10:00 p.m. and therefore the Eiffel Tower doesn't "sparkle" until 11:00 p.m. It's just because of the time of the year but note when the sun sets during your trip so you can plan to see the "sparkling." It's worth it!
I probably wouldn't stay at the Hotel Regina again, only because I'd like to try a different location in the city (and one with better wi-fi!). The rooms and bathrooms were spacious and staff was friendly. The included breakfast was plentiful as well.