Hotel Review: Renaissance Aix-en-Provence
The Renaissance Hotels brand was formerly owned by the Ramada group. In fact, it was an upscale version of Ramada Inns, and after Marriott acquired the brand in 1997, it was rebranded as Renaissance Hotels. While Marriott has been pushing for the brand to be an eclectic piece of its brand portfolio, the Renaissance Hotels brand hasn’t quite resonated with me. Like the Sheraton brand, I often encounter generic and incohesive design elements that stray from an immersive lodging experience. Marriott noticed the need to refresh the brand and has been implementing upscale and hip brand elements to astonish visiting travelers. When planning for my trip to Aix-en-Provence, I saw Renaissance Aix-en-Provence was at the heart of Aix-en-Provence and decided to give the brand another shot. While my stay wasn’t perfect, I’m more optimistic about Renaissance Hotels and its potential to bloom in the near future. Here’s my review of Renaissance Aix-en-Provence:
Renaissance Aix-en-Provence is located at 256 Av. de Pérouse, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France.
What Card(s) Should You Use to Book?
I earn tons of Marriott Bonvoy points by using my American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card. It currently offers a sign-up bonus of 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points when you spend $3,000 within your first 3 months of card membership. The card earns 6X Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar when you book directly with Marriott, 3X points on dining and flights booked directly with airlines, and 2X on all other purchases. Paired with Marriott’s promotions and AMEX offers, it opens doors to endless points-earning opportunities.
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card does come with a hefty $450 annual fee but offers tons of perks to significantly offset its costs. The card features the following benefits:
Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status, the mid-tier status offered in Marriott’s member ecosystem
$300 Marriott Bonvoy statement credit that can be applied towards your room rate
$100 property credit when booked directly with Marriott and staying a minimum of two nights at Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis properties
One free night certificate, redeemable for properties worth up to 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night
Access to Priority Pass lounges
15 elite night credits that can prove helpful for chasing Bonvoy status
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card comes with great benefits that can substantially offset its annual fee.
Even if you don’t stay at Marriott properties often, this card is still a must-have, in my opinion. It’s a true example of a keeper card that offers benefits that outweigh the annual fee.
If you’d like to apply for the American Express Bonvoy Brilliant Card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! http://refer.amex.us/EDWARSMaWs?xl=cp19&mpt=v0
If you are looking for a Marriott Bonvoy credit card with a low annual fee, consider the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card. It currently offers a sign-up bonus of three Free Night Awards after spending $1,000 in three months, each covering up to 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. I personally value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents each, making the 105,000 points offer worth $840. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card earns 6X points per dollar when you book directly with Marriott, 3X points on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases every year on dining, grocery stores, and gas stations, and 2X points on all other purchases.
The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card’s annual fee is $95, and it offers useful perks to offset the cost:
Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status, the low-tier status offered in Marriott’s member ecosystem
One free night certificate, redeemable for properties worth up to 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night
15 elite night credits that will help you achieve a higher Bonvoy status (this cannot be combined with 15 Elite Night Credits from the AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card above)
Be aware that 15 elite night credits from the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card can’t be combined with 15 elite night credits from the AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card.
Please note that you can only earn 15 elite night credits from a personal credit card and the other 15 elite night credits from a business credit card. Thus, if you own both AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant and Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, you would only earn 15 elite night credits.
If you’d like to apply for the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! https://www.referyourchasecard.com/252f/QJPU5UFB4R
The last Marriott Bonvoy credit card you could use would be the AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business card. It currently offers a sign-up bonus of 125,000 Marriott Bonvoy points when you spend $5,000 within your first 3 months of card membership. Considering that the annual membership costs $125, you get paid to have the card! The card earns 6X Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar when you book directly with Marriott, 4X points on dining, U.S. shipping purchases, U.S. wireless telephone services, and at U.S. gas stations. All other purchases earn 2X points.
The Marriott Bonvoy Business card’s annual fee is $125, and it offers valuable benefits to justify the cost:
Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status, the low-tier status offered in Marriott’s member ecosystem
One free night certificate, redeemable for properties worth up to 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night
15 elite night credits that will help you achieve a higher Bonvoy status
The Marriott Bonvoy Business Card is the only Marriott business card on the market.
As you can see, the card’s benefits are less substantial than the ones from the Bonvoy Brilliant card, but it is a great long-term keeper card due to its annual free night certificate perk. Furthermore, it is absolutely necessary if you want to chase a higher Marriott Bonvoy status because it is the only Marriott business card that is on the market and will grant you an additional 15 elite night credits. Lastly, even though it is a business credit card, it is very likely that you could get it approved. Check out my article on how to apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor.
If you’d like to apply for the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! http://refer.amex.us/EDWARSN1lx?xl=cp19&mpt=v0
Lobby & Check-In Review
We drove from Marseille to Aix-en-Provence using Google Maps. When we arrived at the hotel, signage told us to loop around the hotel to park the car in the underground garage. I didn’t want to pay for valet service anyway, so I didn’t mind the extra driving. The direction was straightforward, but there was no ticketing system in place, and it wasn’t clear where I could park my car. After parking the car, we jumbled through multiple doors and finally found an elevator that took us to the hotel lobby.
There were multiple front desks to accommodate multiple parties at once, and the staff was very kind and friendly.
For those planning on parking a car, I suggest parking your car on the garage's second floor; otherwise, you may have to walk for a bit. The lobby was decorated with lemon trees and evidently was full of a strong citrus scent.
Menton lemon and lavender—the two most provencal specialties greeted us in the lobby.
There was a pool table in the middle of the lobby, which was surrounded by design-centric seating arrangements. I didn’t expect them to be comfortable, but they proved me wrong.
The pool table was showing age, but its classical charm matched the rugged yet well-maintained wooden floor.
The rest of the floor featured about 40 artworks by 17 contemporary artists from Grand Midi studio.
The collaboration with Grand Midi studio turned the lobby into a small art gallery.
Some of them were available for purchase, and I liked that the hotel took a non-traditional approach and turned the lobby into a semi-art gallery.
The hotel bar was on the ground floor, and lounge chairs in the lobby doubled as bar seats at night.
After enjoying a collection of local artworks, I checked in at the front desk. The staff immediately recognized my Titanium Elite status and upgraded my room to a room with a balcony on the property's top floor.
Feel free to grab a book and and unwind in the lobby.
The front desk agent thoroughly explained breakfast hours and my daily food and beverage credit, which was €10 per person. After learning more about the hotel, we went up to the fifth floor, where my room was located.
Bedroom Review
The bedroom was carpeted and primarily utilized a combination of light gray and yellow colors to accentuate interior design elements. The bed was plush and comfortable, and I was happy to learn that the pillows had more volume than the ones from the Intercontinental Marseille.
Does the pattern on the headboard remind you of another provencal specialty?
The oversized headboard featured patterns resembling calissons, a local confectionery from Aix-en-Provence. Speaking of calissons, the hotel surprised me with a nice box of calissons along with a kind note.
If you are in Aix-en-Provence, make sure to try calissons; it perfectly pairs with sweet white wine.
If you are a fan of almond-flavored sweets, this is the specialty to try when you are in Aix-en-Provence. I usually get a bottle of wine or generic desserts from hotels as welcome amenities, and while I appreciate anything from hotels, it was refreshing to see a local specialty. Perhaps it resonated with me more because I was visiting from the United States. The room came with a Nespresso machine, and the calissons paired perfectly with both coffee and tea.
Any hotel room with a Nespresso machine automatically wins a few points from me.
The hotel provided takeout cups as well for those who wanted to take them go. Going back to the bedroom, night lights were integrated into the headboard, and the bed came with mood lights, adding a refined ambiance to the room. Each side of the bed had a chrome-finished white marble nightstand and a 230 V outlet to keep your devices charged.
The nightstand’s white marble finish complemented the overall white theme of the bedroom.
Next to the bed, a big, oval-shaped mirror was wall-mounted. It was the only full-length mirror the room had, but the location wasn’t ideal since the bed would block the lower portion of the mirror.
Am I the only person who thinks that oval mirror resembles a calisson?
There was a work desk with a bright yellow top across from the bed, but it didn’t come with a desk lamp.
The desk could’ve benefited from an additional light source.
Even though there was a light fixture at the corner of the room, it wasn’t sufficient for reading a book or working late at night. Moreover, there was hardly any padding on the desk chair, and I couldn’t imagine sitting on it for an extended period of time. Above the desk, a traditional TV was wall-mounted, but I wish it were a smart TV so that it could cater to international travelers visiting Aix-en-Provence. A lounge chair and a small end table occupied the rest of the room.
I applaud any hotels that use eco-friendly disposable water bottles.
The lounge chair was comfortable, and two complimentary paper water bottles were available for us. I appreciated that the hotel was taking sustainability into account, and it would be amazing to see this change at other Marriot hotels. The balcony was very narrow, and it had just enough space for two adults.
Only the rooms on the fifth floor came with a balcony.
There was a small round coffee table between the two chairs, which was good in theory but severely limited already cramped leg space.
You can see how cramped the balcony space was.
The balcony overlooked the city of Aix-en-Provence, but the view was nothing to write home about compared to grand views from Intercontinental Marseille. If you want a room with a balcony, remember that only the rooms on the top floor have it.
The view from the balcony wasn’t spectacular, but having balcony access in Europe was a privilege.
Despite the small balcony and generic room styling, I didn’t mind my room. However, I ran into a problem with the room’s temperature control setting at night. Since I was in Aix-en-Provence in mid-March, it was still chilly outside, and the heat function was active. We wanted to cool it down at night, but the control panel didn’t properly operate. We inquired the front desk about it, but no clear direction was given, and we ended up keeping the balcony door open to let cool air in from the outside. I hope the hotel upgrades the thermometer to a newer version where guests can easily visualize changes in a digital fashion.
Bathroom Review
The bathroom was located by the room entrance and used a sliding door to work with limited space. The bathroom was fairly standard; it featured a single sink vanity and a walk-in shower with a rainfall-style showerhead.
The narrow profile of the sink wasn’t ideal when washing my hands.
The mirror was oval-shaped, and at this point, I was associating anything oval in the room with calissons. The sink was quite narrow, and because of the awkward placement of the faucet, every time I washed my hands, I splashed water all over the place. Then, I realized that bathrobes were hung right in front of the toilet.
I wish the hotel placed towel hangers somewhere else other than in front of the toilet.
Some other walls were available in the bathroom, and I couldn’t understand the rationale for these arrangement decisions. The walk-in shower was free of a door, but with a rainfall showerhead, a simple barrier was sufficient to keep the water out.
The ledge on the shower wall provided an extra space for personal toiletries.
The toiletries were by Tokyo Milk and were communal for the shower but personal for the sink.
It was my first time using Tokyo Milk products, but I was pleasantly surprised!
They were gin and rosewater scented and didn’t strip moisture off of my hair and skin. It sounds like an obvious objective, but so many hotel toiletries cannot achieve that simple goal, and whenever I encounter moisturizing products, I genuinely get excited.
Mouthwash should be included in every amenity kit.
The entire bathroom was void of color except for the top portion of the shower booth, where it used yellow ambient lighting. The color matched the desktop from the bedroom, and I wish there were more bright yellow colors in the bathroom to make the environment more inviting and invigorating.
Bar & Breakfast Review
The Bar L'Avant Scene was located on the ground floor, and we decided to grab a glass of wine at night to use our daily food and beverage credit.
The bar served everything from wine to cocktails, but I suggest indulging in local wine.
The bar didn’t offer bar seating, but any lounge chairs in the lobby doubled as available seats for a nightcap.
The low tabletop wasn’t the most comfortable option, but the atmosphere made up for it—thanks to the art collaboration with Grand Midi studio.
The hotel carried a decent selection of local wines and offered craft cocktails. We opted for provencal rosé and cote du rhone, which were equally delicious.
Our complimentary food and beverage came in handy when we enjoyed our nightcap.
If you plan on visiting the bar, note that the prices could be quite steep, depending on which beverage you select.
You could also get lunch or dinner at Atmoph’R, but there are so many other options around the hotel serving you authentic provencal meals.
Breakfast was served at Atmoph’R , located on the ground floor. It was served from 6:30 AM to 10 AM on weekdays and from 7 AM to 10:30 AM on weekends.
You could dine outdoors when the weather is warmer and more pleasant.
Thanks to my Titanium Elite status, it was complimentary for my fiancé and me. The dining area consisted of traditional tables and beautiful booths with modern chandeliers.
I loved modern design elements in the restaurant that really elevated the atmosphere.
Tables were first come, first served, so if you desire privacy, I suggest you secure the booth. The breakfast was buffet-style, and the hotel used lamb sausage instead of typical breakfast sausage.
Why can’t we have breakfast lamb sausages in the States?
It was phenomenal, and I also enjoyed a side of sautéed mushrooms. There was a simple salad station next to the meat and cheese station. Everything was fresh, and the kitchen staff continuously brought out new trays full of food as soon as there was a sign of depletion.
The salad station was quite basic, but I still appreciated having an option.
The bread station was full of buttery croissants and pastries. They were perfectly buttery and flaky, and I kept reaching for more even when I was full.
The hotel had many types of flakey and butttery viennoiseries that would pair perfectly with your morning espresso.
The yogurt station was also impressive; I had a drinkable yogurt called Actimel, which reminded me of the Korean yogurt I used to have as a kid.
Don’t forget endless condiments to level up your bread game!
At the center of the restaurant, four Nespresso machines were available, and I barely waited to use the machine.
Those two Nespresso machines could yield four drinks at once, which means you will rarely wait to get your morning coffee.
Time after time, I am galvanized by how spectacular hotel breakfast could be at international properties.
The lamb sausage was hands down the best breakfast sausage I’ve had in a while.
Complimentary breakfast at foreign properties is overwhelmingly superior to breakfast at domestic properties. It is another reason I strive to qualify for at least Marriott Platinum Elite status every year.
If you are familiar with a Korean drinkable yogurt called Yakult, you can imagine what Actimel tastes like.
Gym & Pool Review
The gym was very difficult to locate. I went through multiple doors, passed through the hallway overlooking an event space, and finally reached the gym. The fitness center had the bare minimum equipment; there were cardio machines and an adjustable bench with dumbbells.
The gym was spacious but didn’t have a great range of equipment.
While a small gym is typical in a European hotel, it was unfortunate to witness the floor plan being underutilized. If the hotel were to arrange the gym equipment creatively, they could fit more gears, broadening the experience for guests.
I wish the gym offered heavier dumbbells in order to cater for heavy lifters.
You could head out to the deck from the gym and enjoy the outdoor pool.
The outdoor pool was closed at the moment, but you have an indoor option.
Because I visited Aix-en-Provence in early March, the outdoor pool was closed at the moment, but the indoor pool was fully open for guests. The best part of the pool was that the water was heated.
The indoor pool was serene and gently heated.
A spacious sauna was available in the corner for those looking to relax after working out or swimming.
The sauna was a relaxing way to decompress after an intense exercise.
The floor and wall tiles in the sauna were used for the swimming pool floor, and it was pretty to see the tiles subtly reflecting the light during the day.
If you visit the Renaissance Aix-en-Provence in the summer, you have access to both indoor and outdoor pools.
I’m sure the outdoor pool would be nice in the summer, but don’t skip on the indoor pool when you visit Renaissance Aix-en-Provence.
Summary
Renaissance Aix-en-Provence was the only Marriott property in Aix-en-Provence, France. The hotel’s strategic location meant I could walk to major sightseeing spots from the hotel. Because of my Titanium Elite status, I was upgraded to a room with a balcony. While the narrow and tiny balcony wasn’t the best I experienced, it saved me at night because the thermostat in my room malfunctioned, and I was able to open the balcony door to cool the room down during my sleep. The hotel offered me a box of calissons—an almond-flavored local delicacy—for my welcome amenity. The calisson-shaped design language was everywhere in the room, and whether it was intentional or unintentional, I thought it was a clever way to connect guests with the region’s specialty. The outdoor swimming pool was closed when I stayed at the hotel, but the indoor pool and sauna provided a tranquil outlet for the guests. The breakfast at Atomoph’R was outstanding; the restaurant was gorgeous, and the complimentary breakfast was a great reminder of how valuable Titanium Elite status could be, especially at international properties. Overall, if you are in Aix-en-Provence, give Renaissance Aix-en-Provence a shot and immerse yourself in a modern provençal lifestyle.
