Do not stay in this hotel under any circumstances. I booked a room for myself and my boyfriend in April 2007. When we arrived we were told the room was not ready yet despite the fact that it was 3pm. When we came back 2 hours later the room was still "not ready" and finally one of the two men on the front desk informed me that someone claiming to be my boyfriend had checked into our room at 1am on the previous evening! We asked how this was possible and he just shrugged and said he wasn't really sure but was I sure I didn't have another partner who checked into the room?! After much discussion we were finally placed in another very grotty room with two seperate uncomfortable beds. The lift which took us up to the top floor was tiny and creaked dangerously. The grimy corridors were pitch black and we had to grapple in the darkness to find a light. I felt really unnerved by the whole situation. Security was non-existant - when we returned to the hotel later that evening there was a guy on the front desk who was fast asleep and basically just threw our key at us. The final straw came when a cupboard in our awful room simply fell apart leaving pieces of wood scattered all over the floor. Thankfully we only stayed one night and left as early as possible the next morning!

Room 103 was like a mix between the set of Psycho and The Shining. Our room was on the 2nd floor and the corridor was quite scary as the timer on the light would run out before we got there so we'd be stuck fumbling with the key (attatched to faded foam cartoon character - classy!) in the dark. The bathroom was small, quite clean etc. BUT is remisicent of a certain Alfred Hitchcock film - the scuffed bathtub, old shower head, shower curtain. The ceiling was bizarre, at first glance it seemed to be covered in fresh vomit and when my friend jumped on the bed to touch it, the WHOLE ceiling wobbled like a trampolene.

The breakfast was constipating - hard croissant, bagette, jam, butter and the orange juice was watered down. The good thing about this hotel was that we could come in quite late at night to retrieve our keys. The hotel is on a street full of risque DVD shops and is opposite 'L'erotique' - complete with pink neon sign. It's very near the tube, which is handy.

I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep because of the noises from inside the hotel - toilets flushing, footsteps etc. On the whole this hotel was alright - since we were in a big group and could liven it up a bit.

We booked 2 nights in this hotel and we actually left after the first night even though we had to pay for the 2 nights. My general impression is that this hotel is gloomy and not really clean. They did not even hoovered the room before our arrival (we found some coins and pieces of paper on the ground). The bed was very old and unconfortable. There were no pillows and the blanket wasn't warm. We could hear every noise from the room next door and from the street. This hotel is a rip-off for tourists. Don't stay here.

Having read some of the other reviews I would like to reassure prospective travellers. I am a very frequent traveller and this hotel is a good choice if you want to be central, near to many bars and a variety of good restaurants, easy access to Orly airport and the metro.
The rooms are typical of a middle of the road French hotel, ie functional with good toilet and shower/bath, clean if rather dowdy. The breakfast is fine but a bit pricy. Go and sit at the bar in a cafe up the road and have a big coffee and a croissant for just over 3 euros.
The lift is very small but efficient.
Staff were fine and spoke reasonable English, though I speak French anyway.
If you want to stay at the Mercure just 50 metres up the road and pay 220 euros for a twin room instead of 90 euros at this one you'll get more luxury but is it worth it.
I would certainly use it again, it's good value for money.