PARIS has seen an explosion of mid-range style hotels in the past five years, with fashion and art houses complementing an already strong collection of traditional chic properties.

Alongside the seven big hotel palaces (Ritz, George V, Fouquets etc,.), the new wave of hotels gives Paris an unrivalled breadth of top places to stay - and many at very reasonable prices. Now, we could leave it to you to sift through the 17 Paris hotel features we have carried since 2004, and let you decide for yourselves which hotel takes your fancy (we've listed them at the end of the article).

OR, we could leaf through the features and see which hotels get mentioned time and time again, which is always a useful guide to the best (or at least the most fashionable and the ones writers want to stay in.

Furthermore, we could attempt a rating structure which awards points for the number of reviews, location of hotel, the most recent review, value for money and authority of the reviewer.

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Beyond that, everything is subjective - do you want modern, trendy, classic, boutique or arty? Up to you on that one. But using our basic rating guide, this is what we've come up with as....

THE 12 BEST RATED STYLE HOTELS IN PARIS

1 HOTEL DU PETIT MOULIN - decorated by Christian Lacroix, the hotel is in a 17th-century building and former bakery, says Paris native Alison Culliford. A "labyrinth of staircases" leads to 17 "curiously shaped rooms", decorated with a collage of "fabulous colours, textures and photographic murals". Room 205 has a "spectacular wall motif of coral formations and black-tiled bathroom with Victorian bath."

Hip Hotels author Herbert Ypma was also impressed. "The place is mad: each room is individual in terms of colour, style, furniture and mood. You could write a book on all the different creative elements brought into this one property." The Lacroix connection might have resulted in a gimmicky hotel, wrote Cath Urquhart in The Times, but there are "fresh, clean bedrooms and lovely bathrooms with good lighting - and excellent breakfasts."

It's also in a top location, said Christina Cook in the Sunday Times Travel Magazine, amid the couture stores of fashionable Marais - "stick on your Louboutins and trip down the street to Shine for funky jewellery". Comptoir du Marais is nearby, with two floors of "inexpensive one-offs from young French designers." The hotel is also recommended as the place for shopping in The Sunday Times as it offers a "VIP shopping package" that includes a 15 per cent discount card, valid for a year at Jean Paul Gaultier, Cacherel and more.

Rating: 93/100* - rooms from £150, 29 rue de Poitou

What the others say: "The phrase 'design hotel' finds its most literal embodiment at this hotel" - New York Times

"There's no confusing the place for a boulangerie inside - instead of bread it smells strongly of a heady perfume, Chanel no 5 perhaps. Something expensive, anyway" - www.hotelchatter.com

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