Introduction: A Royal Visit To Versailles

Welcome to my next trip report series, covering a recent trip we took to France, primarily motived by checking out a hotel that has long been on our radar.

In this series, you can expect flight reviews of Air France’s 777-300ER La Premiere first class, Air France’s A220-300 business class, Austrian’s 787-9 business class, and United’s 737 MAX 8 first class. On top of that, there will be reviews of a few pretty awesome luxury hotels.

In this post I’ll outline all the basics of the trip, and then I’ll publish the entire trip report series in the coming days and weeks.

Why we took this trip

This trip was planned at the last minute, just a couple of days before departure. Ford hadn’t been anywhere in a few months, and we had a free weekend around Valentine’s Day, with everything going pretty smoothly at home. So we figured we might as well take advantage of that opportunity, and go somewhere.

This trip was largely about visiting a hotel that we’ve been wanting to stay at for a long time. Airelles is probably my favorite boutique luxury hotel group in the world right now. The properties are expensive, but the hotels really offer an incredible experience, with amazing service, food, and inclusions.

I’ve reviewed most of Airelles’ properties, including Les Airelles Courchevel, Airelles La Bastide de Gordes, Airelles Saint-Tropez Chateau de la Messardiere, and Airelles Val d’Isère. The one property of the brand we hadn’t stayed at yet is probably also the most intriguing. I’m talking about Airelles Château de Versailles, the 14-key property located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.

When it came time to plan this trip, all the stars aligned — the hotel had entry level room availability (the property is often sold out for anything but the top suites), and I found some good award options in both directions, which would allow me to try some airline products that have been on my list.

By my standards, this was one of the more straightforward trips I’ve taken in some time, as I flew a total of just four segments, spread across 10,619 miles.

The airlines we flew on this trip

I booked this itinerary as three separate tickets. While Ford and I flew the outbound together, I took a more roundabout return, to review some products that have been on my list (Ford flew back to Miami nonstop on American, and I even managed to find saver award availability).

To kick off the trip, we flew Air France’s Boeing 777-300ER La Premiere first class from Miami to Paris. Flying Blue greatly restricts first class awards — they’re only available to Flying Blue Platinum members, and award pricing is steeper than with just about any other program.

I booked the following for the per person cost of 236,000 Flying Blue miles plus $302.10 in taxes & fees (as you can see, this included a stopover in Paris, and my connection to Vienna in Air France’s Airbus A220-300 business class):

2/15 AF99 Miami to Paris departing 7:50PM arriving 10:45AM (+1 day)
2/19 AF1739 Paris to Vienna departing 3:30PM arriving 5:25PM

Next up, I flew Austrian’s Boeing 787-9 business class from Vienna to Washington Dulles. I booked the following for 70,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $115.17 in taxes & fees:

2/20 OS93 Vienna to Washington departing 10:35AM arriving 2:35PM

Lastly, I flew United’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 first class from Washington to Miami. Somehow I hadn’t yet flown a United jet with the carrier’s new narrow body interiors, so I was looking forward to checking that out. There was no saver level award availability, but I booked the following in first class for $399.86:

2/20 UA1706 Washington to Miami departing 5:30PM arriving 8:26PM

There won’t be many lounge reviews with this trip report series, with one exception. I’ll be reviewing the Air France La Premiere first class arrivals lounge in Paris, which only recently opened.

The hotels we stayed at on this trip

During this trip, I stayed at three different hotels, so let’s go in chronological order. As mentioned above, our primary destination with this trip was Airelles Château de Versailles, where we spent two nights.

This is a unique, one-of-a-kind experience, and it exceeded my (high) expectations. It’s somewhere between a traditional luxury hotel, a history safari, and an immersive, performative experience. Yes, you get unparalleled access to the grounds of Versailles, and that’s great. But you also get woken up by having someone scratch on your door, come in with a lantern and music, address you as “king,” and then draw your curtains and make you a bath. So that’s kind of fun… or something.