ProfRT
Google
We stayed at 9Confidentiel for two non-consecutive nights in June and July. Though the. hotel certainly has its charms, it comes up short more often than not.||Though the hotel has six floors of rooms, a rez-de-chaussée, and a subterranean breakfast area, there is but one elevator. It is slow, finicky, and of limited capacity. It uses the now-familiar key swipe technology to activate — a common security measure these days. However, this is the only elevator I have ever encountered where you have to swipe to go down from your room to the lobby, a more-than-occasional inconvenience.||The electricity to both sockets and lights in the room is activated by a key inserted in a slot near the door. If you do not have a key in the slot, you cannot charge any electronic devices you might wish to leave in the room. We got a third key to leave permanently in the activation slot: I’d suggest you do the same.||Though some of the staff were accommodating and helpful, particularly Cecile, overall the service was ranged from perfunctory to dismissive. ||On both nights of our two stays, we had problems with hot water early in the morning. On the second occasion, I went down to the reception area and told the receptionist on duty. He suggested his colleague, not on the premises at the time, would take care of it when he got in. I was rather surprised at his matter-of-factness and lack of concern regarding this most basic of hotel “amenities.” I had a similar problem on our first stay. I suspect, but they would not admit, that hot water is available only after a certain hour in the morning — maybe 6:30. Once is an accident. Twice? You decide.||9Confidentiel is not the only hotel we’ve stayed in where the bed was made with a heavy duvet, which, for us at least, was inappropriate for the season. My wife slept with a bathrobe as cover. I went commando. At most hotels, requests for alternate bedding are dealt with, sometimes on an ad hoc basis, other times with a completely satisfying alternative. A request for an alternative at 9Confidemtiel was simply denied, leaving us to accommodate the hotel rather than the hotel accommodating us.||We stayed both nights in room 55, one of the larger rooms. The bathroom included a versatile shower with plenty of water pressure. The large bathtub, however had such low water pressure for hot water that it took almost 20 minutes to fill to a basking level. A nice bathroom touch I hadn’t seen before was a sophisticated toilet/bidet combination the bowl of which remained illuminated at night providing exactly the needed beacon for occasional late night relief. ||It seems to me that the very best reason to stay at 9Confidentiel is the location. It is in the Marais, within easy walking distance of much of the best Paris has to offer. For us, this was a limited benefit, as we were using the hotel as a way station to other destinations. ||We stayed at 9Confidentiel because not every Parisian hotel offers a king sized bed and many require an in-season stay of at least two consecutive nights. On this score, the policies of 9Confidentiel accommodated us. Were it not for the hot water issue, I would have given 9Confidentiel 3 stars. The water issue, for me, was a dealbreaker. It could have been worse, but it could also have been much better.
