J C.
Yelp
Nice little boutique hotel in the 11th.
Booked this hotel for 5 nights on a sale and with some 'reward points' I had and the reviews on other sites seemed good. It's a boutique hotel, so the rooms are very small (by North American standards) and it has a 'surrealist' theme. The short and sweet:
THE GOOD:
- good location - next door to a bakery (great for breakfast and snacks), down the street from a small convenience store and laundromat and plenty of eating and shopping in the area (hotel provided a pretty helpful guide of 'unusual' sights/restaurants around Paris. Short 10 - 15 min walk to a few metro stops. The 11th isn't a touristy area - so there are plenty of local spots that are reasonably priced by Paris standards
- staff is helpful and friendly -- was more than happy to help us open some wine bottles that I had bought but forgot we didn't have an opener
- hotel appears to be newly renovated - well maintained and was a lot nicer than I expected for the price I paid
- free WiFi
- the hotel provides you with a smartphone to use with 4G internet - we didn't use this as we had our own SIM cards with data and preferred to use our own phones. Unfortunately, the hotel phones don't allow tethering/mobile hotspot (hence getting our own SIMs). Also, note that the hotel phones are 'locked' down (presumably for security) - looks like you can look up directions, access social media, etc. -- wish the implementation was a bit better, but nice perk nonetheless
- the shower is fantastic -- combination of a overhead rainfall showerhead and a shower wand
THE NOT-SO-GOOD
- the hotel room is small - we had a queen-sized bed and the room had all the basics and was comfortable most of the time - but for 2 adults with one full-sized luggage and one carry-on, it was sometimes a struggle to find space to dig through your luggage
- there is one slow-moving elevator which only fits 2 grown adults - we stayed on the top-floor (5th) and a couple of times, as we were going down to the lobby, other guests had to wait until the elevator came back up or they had to take the nearby stairs
- breakfast was not included in our package and goes for €14/pp/day (competitive with other restaurants in the area). Not that I expected it for the price we paid, but the spread looked good from what I saw. However, we simply grabbed breakfast from the next-door bakery.
My complaints are very minor as this was a nice, no-frills hotel with a nice aesthetic in a great neighborhood.