Your hosts

We are sisters, Maria and Sophie, founders of The Parisi Hotel and Townhouse, who combine many years of luxury hospitality experience with a great love of the fabulous city of York where we live and grew up.

We love sharing our city with guests as well as tips for exploring the wider area, including the North York Moors, The Yorkshire Wolds, The Dales and the heritage Yorkshire Coast.

We are passionate about great customer service and design and are proud that The Parisi Hotel has been selected for entry into the prestigious Good Hotel Guide, Sawday’s Special places, and retained the number one spot for hotels in York on TripAdvisor since 2015.

The Parisi competes with some of the UK's best hotels, being awarded numerous TripAdvisor’s Travellers' Choice/Best of the Best Awards for Best Service and Romance, putting it amongst the top 1% of hotels on the site.

Highlights include being rated the third best for service in the UK, sixteenth in Europe and the sixth most romantic place to stay in the UK by reviewers on TripAdvisor in 2018.

The hotel has often been included in ‘best places to stay’ features in titles such as The Telegraph, The Independent, Conde Naste House and Garden, Grazia Magazine and The Sunday Times Travel magazine.

Our ethos

The historic Parisi building is full of character, built along generous lines in around 1880 as the rectory for the beautiful, ancient Grade I listed St Denys Church opposite (which has been a holy site since Roman times and contains some of the oldest medieval stained glass in York).

We have filled it with original art, antiques and vintage items and a mishmash of colours and fabrics, featuring the work of brilliant local artists, artisans and craftspeople.

We try to keep comfort and sustainability at the heart of everything we do. Purchases are carefully considered for style, comfort and longevity, favouring natural, local products and vintage over new wherever possible. If we can mend or reuse in-house without compromising your experience we do, and if something has to be thrown away, the waste removal company operates on a 0% to land fill basis.

We hate the amount of plastic waste generated in the industry and so supply generous amounts of luxurious sustainable  toiletries and cleaning products in refillable bottles for use during your stay. They are plant based, vegan, cruelty and paraben free, made in the Yorkshire Dales using water from the North York Moors by our wonderful zero waste, closed loop supplier, Miniml.

We have planted bee-friendly plants in the garden and it is visited by various birds – even the Peregrine Falcons who nest at the Minster (and have their own twitter account!) have been spotted in the garden on several occasions. The choice of gravel over hard paving allows rainwater to soak away slowly and the plants help combat air pollution.

We are always trying to improve what we do and are constantly on the lookout for good ideas.