I stayed at this hotel in the 8th district from Friday, December 9th 2004 checking out Tuesday, December 14th on the top floor, in room #602 as part of a Continental vacation package so the room cost me $394.00USD (or $98.50 USD/day). The lift only goes up to the 5th floor so I had to walk my bags up the additional floor. My room was large enough for me (I traveled alone) as all my stuff fit nicely and had plenty of move-about room in the room. It contained 1 full size bed, 1 dresser with 3 drawers, 1 tv (only 2 English speaking channels of CNN)(also, no free porn which I am used to when in Europe), a refrigerator (stocked with chargeable mini-bar items), 2 chairs, 1 nightstand, and a closet whose clothing bar is about waist high on the slanted roof. There is 1 window on the slanted roof that had a “black out” shade which made the room pitch black (very nice). The squeal of children having fun occurs around 8:30am and 3:30pm every school day as there is a school in the neighborhood and it is loud enough to hear up on the 6th floor. There was a constant whistling noise of wind in the bathroom, which I surmised to be some sort of air pipe that happened to go right through my room on its way to the roof. I closed the bathroom door when I slept. The bed was comfortable, the room was clean, there were no bugs. The bathroom was equipped with 2 plastic cups, 2 containers of shampoo/body gel (very runny, not worth using, bring your own shampoo & conditioner!), 1 slice of soap, a floor towel, a bath towel, a facial towel and a hand towel. On my last day, I received a bottle of shampoo/conditioner so the maid just continued to give me the wrong cleaning products. But again, bring your own stuff! Breakfast was included with my room, served from 7am to 10am. It included: croissants, chocolate bun, brioche, hard boiled eggs, pre-packaged wedges of Presidente white cheese, pre-packaged wedges of another type of cheese, jams, jellies, butter, pre-packaged hardened toast pieces, pre-packaged other bread type, orange juice, water, milk, plain yogurt, fruit cocktail, 2 or 3 types of deli meats, Coffee, Tea, rolls, and fresh fruit. You can order with the breakfast attendant: omelets, scrambled eggs, bacon (like Canadian bacon, not American-expected looking bacon) and sausage. The attendant does not move that quickly so don’t expect to enjoy some coffee and rush out of there. I was glad there was breakfast as I could leave and start sightseeing. But I’ve had better continental breakfasts in Paris before. The hotel is 1 block up and 1 block over from the Mesomesnil Metro station, which only service lines #9 & #13. There are 5 different entrance/exit ways to this Metro station so be careful when leaving the Metro to find the hotel….it’s easy to get disoriented. I like to stay at hotels that have more metro lines at my disposal, but the price was right for this hotel. Regarding the other reviews for this hotel, I’ve stayed at 1 other hotel in Paris in #2 and found that closer to more attractions than this hotel. This one took me to places I did not have time for before. If you need to be “in the thick of it”, then stay elsewhere. At night, the hotel is not on the brightest lit of streets, but I wasn’t truly worried about getting mugged as there was no one else walking around this area at all. As a single traveler on this particular trip, I’m sure I freaked myself out more than the situation dictated.
I found the hotel staff friendly but only 1 staff member really understood English well enough to communicate. The others nodded and agreed…but just didn’t get it. The chair in the room needed to have the wood sanded down as it ripped my pants. Hopefully the person in the room after me did not encounter this problem as I don’t think the staff understood what I told them. They would not let me check into my room 2 hours prior to check in, even as they let me pass out asleep in the lobby area. Once they did let me into my room, I was very sure that the room had been cleaned hours ago and they just want to be annoying…maybe my own complex, maybe not. Overall, if I were to go back to Paris again, the room was the right price and it suited my needs. I was not spending any time in the room on this trip, it was for pure, exhaustive sightseeing. I was just aiming for a clean bed and bath. There is no concierge so if I were looking for more services or needed help or tickets planning my Paris itinerary, I would go elsewhere.