Make haste if you want to experience the last breath of that dying species, the two-star Parisian hotel. The Jeanne d’Arc, always one of the friendliest and best-placed of the bunch, has a talented new owner who will soon be wielding her design flair and filing for an upgrade. She has already lifted the façade with glorious torrents of geraniums – the neighbours love them too. Hurry if you want to enjoy fresh croissants beneath the extravagantly kitsch bling-before-bling mirror in the airy breakfast room, a landmark for generations of Paris-loving guests. The hallway has already been beautified with soft pinky-mushroom paint over a gleaming white dado, some shower rooms have been done up with smart white tiles and trendy strips of brown wafer slices while others await their turn in their spotless but fuddy-duddy dated garb of bubbly tiles and reedy pictures. The staircase will soon match the hallway, all bedding is to be renewed and the brocante-style furniture mix brought up to date, but not at the price of the essence of the place, its cosy friendliness and superb value for the lively, trend-conscious Marais quarter.
