This is a budget basic option - so if that's what your looking for you should be happy and on a positive note the Reception staff were lovely and very helpful. Our Room however, was tired and dated and in need of a freshen up. Note: the hotel is located down a private road - so if driving to Aix-en-Provence, the hotel is hard to find. The only sign we finally found at the entrance to the private lane was tiny - so wear your glasses.
This is a basic option, as a place to rest - but you will want to be out and about elsewhere during the day - so it's a good thing I guess that this hotel is located in Provence. We would look for something else if visiting Provence again.

The litter strewn street on approach should have been a warning of what was to come! On arrival we were told initially we had no booking and had to insist it had been made and paid in advance. No parking was available, despite requesting a place, and after receptionist told us to park in front of hotel, we were harangued by someone else not happy about this. The building itself is in poor state of repair, and though linen and towels were fresh and clean, the walls of our apartment were grubby and the sofa cover was heavily stained. Safe deposit box not working, and we returned from a day out to discover cleaning staff had left room door open. Desribed as an aparthotel, with self catering facilities, but equipment very poor and basic. In accomodation designed for 4, there were not enough plates. Publicity material claims 15 minute walk to Aix city centre - it is nearer 30 minutes and I am a keen walker! Building is located in an industrial area, so even with a balcony it was pretty much unusable unless you wanted to be overlooked by the office block next door. On the up side, it is cheap, near the motorway and had good hot water and air con. So if you are stopping off for a night en route it would probably be ok. But if you want a few relaxing days to enjoy Aix, pay a few euros more for a city centre hotel as the Citea is not the place to chill out.

I think the people before were unfortunate to get that receptionist as the one we dealt with was lovely. We did have a few problems finding it as we took the wrong bus. Its bus no 6 from the gare routiere. Theres no problems getting into town as there is a bus stop opposite.

There is only three things we had a problem with and these are all minor:

1. Hot water is limited in the shower.
2. Breakfast isn't really worth the money.
3. As opposed to the previous review our bed was so soft it sagged a bit in the middle.

We received a very poor welcome when we arrived at 9.30pm after a long and tiring drive from Toulouse - the night reception man was thoroughly inappropriate, telling my partner and I that he thought we were sexy and wanting to know if we were a couple. He also tried to charge us 400 Euros for a three night stay instead of the quoted amount of 184 Euros, initially even entering 600 Euros into his calculator! He then changed it to 400 when I started protesting and finally tried to make out that it was our misunderstanding when we showed him our booking email that quoted 184 Euros!

The room itself was fine and fairly clean, but we were woken up on the first morning at 6.30am by constant banging from the room above us; we assume there were children running back and forth across the room; the ceilings/floor seemed very thin. On our second night we could not sleep at 11pm because of the same banging from the room above, and when we did eventually get to sleep, we were woken at 3am by shouting and yelling from the room directly opposite us where a group of young men were having a party with their door wide open (which they promptly slammed when we open our door to look out). Our room was filled with cigarette smoke which came under the door and we had to get up and put a wet towel by the bottom of the door to try and stop the smoke coming in, as well as opening the balcony door. We would have gotten up and complained to the night receptionist, but because he had been so inappropriate and sleazy on our first night, we did not feel safe to do so.

I personally wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone wanting a nice break; I'm sure it would be fine if you were on business, or indeed on a very tight budget and it is the getting away in itself that is the most important thing rather than where you stay. A group of young friends might well find it perfectly acceptable and indeed there did seem to be school groups using it when we stayed (along with people who appeared to be living there full time).

It is really quite difficult to find, and like a previous reviewer said, it is best to look out for the Kyriad hotel which is visible from the main road because the Citea is not. We didn't have too many problems with parking and did not use the hotel's payable spaces, but I imagine if you go during peak tourist season you might encounter more problems. They advertise themselves online as being ten minutes from the town centre, but it really is closer to 20 mins by foot at a steady pace, and along a very main road to start with. My partner and I walked into town one evening because we wanted to be able to have a drink with dinner, and whilst walking in when it was still light we agreed that we would not feel safe walking back after dark, so took at taxi home which came to just under 10 Euros.

One thing I will say for this hotel is that the chamber maids were excellent- our shower cubicle leaked on the first morning and so we had to use all of the towels to mop up the mini-flood and left these wet towels piled in the shower cubicle. When we came back that evening it was all cleaned up, the towels replaced, our bed made and it all looking very tidy. We left the chamber maids a tip because we thought they did a great job.