Luxury hospitality on YouTube: Check-In tests a treehouse in Touraine and a secret suite in Paris

The second episode of Check-In, La Revue des Hôtels’ YouTube series on luxury hospitality, has been online since 3 November 2026. In 8 minutes and 26 seconds, Raphaël Simon, founder of La Revue des Hôtels, tests two places that could not be more different: a lodge perched in the forest in Touraine, then a suite with a private spa in the heart of Paris. At the end, two scores and one question: team treehouse or team suite?

☰Contents

1. Check-In, our YouTube series on hotels
2. A night 4 metres up in the trees of Touraine
3. What the camera never shows
4. Paris 8th: the Signature Suite and its private spa
5. 9.2 versus 9.9: two reviews go head to head
6. Where can you watch Check-In?

Check-In, our YouTube series on hotels

Check-In was born on 22 October 2026 with a first episode filmed in Ramatuelle, near Saint-Tropez: our review of La Ferme d’Augustin, rated 9.5/10. The principle stays the same: a real stay, filmed from arrival to check-out, and everything that happens, the good and the not so good.

Each hotel receives a score out of ten, built on six criteria: location, setting, service, food, room and value for money. The episodes are gathered on our Check-In page and in the channel’s “Check-In – La série LRDH” playlist.

A night 4 metres up in the trees of Touraine

First stop: Loire Valley Lodges, in Esvres-sur-Indre, south-east of Tours. Its 21 lodges of 35 m² stand on stilts 4 metres above the ground, each with a 25 m² terrace and its own private jacuzzi facing the trees. No TV, no wifi in the lodges: that is the whole point.

The episode follows the stay hour by hour: dinner at Ardent, chef Rémi Berment’s restaurant in the Michelin Guide selection, waking up in the trees, breakfast delivered to the foot of the lodge in a basket, then the pool and the Nordic bath. Our score: 9.2/10. Our full review of Loire Valley Lodges details the prices, from €310 a night on weekdays (checked on 21 October 2026).

What the camera never shows

Between the two hotels, Check-In goes behind the scenes. In the evening, in the jacuzzi, the first memory card is full, then the second. The spare card was left in the car: the only option is to cross the forest in complete darkness, lit by an iPhone.

At the Royal Madeleine, it is the phone that rings: brands want to approve or correct information before publication. Saying no politely, while handling the filming and a midday check-out: that is the invisible side of being a hotel journalist.

Paris 8th: the Signature Suite and its private spa

Second setting: the Royal Madeleine hotel, a 4-star on rue de l’Arcade, a stone’s throw from Place de la Madeleine. Its Signature Suite is an 80 to 85 m² duplex designed by Effe Architecture, with two entrances, one on passage Puteaux and one on rue Pasquier.

In the episode, the tour is narrated in voice-over: the marble fireplace, the private bar, then the stainless steel jacuzzi and the sauna, reserved for the suite alone, the staircase with illuminated steps and the freestanding bath. In the basement, the spa’s 9-metre pool can be booked in private 30-minute slots. Our full review of the Signature Suite gives all the details, from €1,000 a night for two according to the hotel’s press kit.

9.2 versus 9.9: two reviews go head to head

The treehouse wins you over with the total silence of the forest and its restaurant. The Signature Suite scores 9.9/10, the highest score in the series so far, for the suite itself, its private spa and its service. The episode ends with a question for viewers: a treehouse in the woods, or a secret suite in Paris?

Where can you watch Check-In?

Episode 2 is available on YouTube, on La Revue des Hôtels’ channel. Episode 3 is in the works: subscribe to the channel to be notified when it comes out.