Brief history of the hotel (2 hotels in Paris)

Two hotels referenced in the best tourist guides

It was in 1997 that Franck Laval, a Breton living in Paris, bought in the 14th arrondissement, at 22 rue Boulard, a 5-storey building to be renovated. He quickly transformed it into a hotel, modern and comfortable with an adorable garden at the back. He pays particular attention to prices and offers economical prices. The Hôtel des Voyageurs was born.

Very quickly this simple and comfortable hotel with a backpacker atmosphere, youth hostel, attracts the attention of the main tourist guides. The hotel is immediately placed in the favorite accommodations of the “Guide du Routard”, the Rough guide and the Lonely Planet. In 2010, the hotel even entered the list of hotels distinguished by the “Paris Pas Cher” guide! In direct competition with the best youth hostels and small traditional hotels.

A hotel almost always full

This is one of the great prides of Franck Laval. See your hotel recognized and ensure good profitability while offering overnight prices among the lowest in Paris.

Building on this success and the excellent room occupancy rate, he is renovating his second Parisian hotel located at 22 rue Daguerre, a pedestrian street 50 meters from the Hôtel des Voyageurs. This hotel will become the annex hotel of the Solar hotel, named “hotel le Lionceau”.

Regularly renovated hotel rooms

To maintain a good level of comfort, even at a low price, the rooms of the two hotels are regularly renovated. The bedding in each room is changed every year.

It was in 2009, during a major renovation of the Hôtel des Voyageurs, that Franck Laval decided to apply his militant, eco-responsible principles to his main hotel to make it the first ecological hotel in central Paris. Installation of solar panels on the facade, rainwater collector in the hotel garden and even on the sidewalk (a little snub to the town hall of Paris which is not yet very ecologically oriented), organic breakfast included in the price of the rooms, recycled furniture and materials with no harmful emissions, low-energy light bulbs, selective sorting of waste, compost, green-labeled cleaning products and above all many green tips given to hotel guests for getting around Paris using soft modes.

The committed hotel even provides free bicycles for its customers. A great idea from Franck put in place long before the installation of Parisian Vélib’.

The alliance between sustainable tourism and savings in a single eco-responsible hotel!

The success of the Solar hotel

On the strength of this major renovation and its ecological approaches, the Hôtel des Voyageurs is changing its name to become “the Solar hotel”. It was then that the reputation of the first eco-friendly hotel in Paris at an economical price was really publicized. Many environmental sites talk about the Solar hotel. Magazines, other tourist guides, radios and even the big national TVs make reports to present the ecological hotel approach of the place.

Despite this success and notoriety, the prices do not change. Whether you want to stay in a single, double, triple or even family room, the Solar hotel will welcome you with always attractive prices and a friendly atmosphere like at home. The hotel maintains a single price, organic breakfast included, simple and without surprises.

The Solar Hotel and its annex the Hotel du Lionceau remain among the cheapest hotels in Paris.

In 2011 the hotel obtained the “green key” and “Euro ecological label” labels and won the SNCF trophy for responsible tourism. Great rewards for these efforts.

It was in 2017 that François Laval, son of Franck, took over the management of the two hotels in this ideal location, close to Montparnasse. It therefore becomes necessary to launch an online hotel room booking platform; The one you can currently use to book a hotel room for a night, a week, a year… find out about availability, see the rates for overnight stays… and always at the best possible price.

In 2020, the Solar Hotel network was created to develop the concept. The Hôtel de la Tour in Montparnasse has been a member of the network since that date.

The new Solar Hotel website has been available since 2022 of course in French and Spanish, to be even more international and attractive.