Free coffee self-served all day. Order food anytime most of the time. Buy a meal from the deli and microwave it if it is the middle of the night. Place your order at the counter and take a seat, setting your numbered flag on the stand in front of you; when it is ready, we will bring your freshly cooked meal to your table. These techniques may be alien to the French but the café is building a loyal following. Cuisine is not French, methods are not French, but the result is pleasingly informal with good food served with style, at a reasonable cost

Of course for a chain the bottom line is training staff to do two jobs so that the hotel uses less staff. Design contributes to this, giving flexible areas that can be seen and controlled from reception. The open plan space still works with clever use of colour, carpeting and furniture making demarcation of lounge, café and meeting area evident. The house colours of Marriott, the famed green, gold and red, work in this situation, helping to provide the differentiation required through carpet and upholstery colours.

However this training also makes the Marriott Associate multi skilled and smoothes their path from one area of the company to another. As Marriott are great believers in promoting from within (indeed many of their senior management started out as bell-hops, night-reception or other lowly positions) this aids the company through broadening the understanding of what is involved in running an hotel amongst all the staff involved. With only 35 staff, plus a force of contract housekeeping staff, the staffing is supported by the design and the relationship of parts that make up the hotel.

Marriott Courtyards have been in Europe for some time, and there are a number of them operating, but this marks an attempt by the company to hone the concept for the Continent, taking on board that there are cultural as well as stylistic differences between the good ol’ USA and ‘Yoorop’. In some ways the prototype will evolve, and is also not representative of a true Courtyard in that is has a standard Marriott bedroom, but that makes this a great offering for the guest, especially for the predominant target, the business traveller.

The hotel is well located, easily accessible from the Peripherique, and within an easy walk of a rail station for easy access to the Metro system and the centre of Paris. The building backs onto a residential area and a small park linked to the painter Manet. It has its own underground parking lot accessible through a key card. The main entrance opens directly into the open plan ground floor, with the reception desk immediately visible, as are the rest of the facilities. At the rear of the ground floor all the doors open out onto a terrace that runs the length of the dining area, providing for ‘al fresco’ dining in the summer months.