Mob Hotel Paris Les Puces

Parisian real estate being what it is, there’s almost no way to open a hotel that’s both humanely comfortable and genuinely affordable within the actual city limits. Which is why you’re looking at a hotel in Saint-Ouen. This is the product of Cyril Aouizerate, a hotelier whose populist bona fides are indisputable — he was one of the co-founders of Mama Shelter. So we’re inclined to trust him when he says his new project, Mob Hotel of the People, is worth a few extra minutes on the Métro.

It’s a sensible location for a youth-culture hotel, set as it is within walking distance of the famous Saint-Ouen flea market. And once you’re on the Mob’s grounds you’ll be shocked by the amount of space — not just in the rooms, which are a shade more generously sized than the Parisian norm, but in the hotel’s public spaces as well, including its rooftop terraces and the restaurant’s courtyard garden, which also serves as an outdoor cinema and occasional music venue.

Rooms, meanwhile, are pared-down, unfussy, and stylish, with all the necessary comforts. The Mob’s target audience — the People, if you will — aren’t here for palace-hotel luxury. What matters is that the rooms are a relaxing place to sleep and an attractive place for some small-scale entertaining, to complement the social life of the hotel’s common areas. All this, and you’re just minutes from the rest of Paris by car, bus, or subway.