Au Royal Mad — Hotel in Paris

I don’t have words to describe the way this hotel looks like. We came for the olympics and had to book last minute, so we had little options and this hotel was the only one at a decent price (still incredibly high for what you get). The only reason this has 3 stars on gmaps is because people need to give at least 3 stars for the location which is pretty convenient. Otherwise, it would be a solid 1 star. We arrived and were immediately shocked at the very bad juju this building gave us: something like 90s soviet medical clinic, with plastic dirty floors and really old and “clinical” doors and furniture. The smell was matching as well, chloride and the smell of sickness. We didn’t have big expectations for this 2 night stay so we told ourselves we can suck it up. During the evening, when we were preparing to return to the hotel, I had the genious idea to read these reviews on gmaps and was immediately scared by the fact that 1 in 2 people mentioned bedbugs. We decided to do an inspection of the bed on our return and voila, we found bedbugs marks under the first mattress (see pictures in attach). Thank god we could find another hotel really last minute, just 5 minutes away. When we passed by the reception to leave the keys and told the man there we were chrcking out he didn’t even ask us why, probably they are used to this. I can’t understand how this place can function...

Pleasant budget hotel, however they have a SEVERE bed bug problem which is not being handled properly, nor disclosed to guests. I told the check-in clerk about my bug allergy when I arrived. He swore up and down that I had nothing to fear, then put me in a room on a lower floor, directly below a group of 3 rooms that were being actively treated for bed bugs! He didn't tell me this, of course, but I got attacked overnight, and all the bites swelled up painfully, then erupted into weeping blisters. I even managed to catch a live bedbug and showed it to a night staffer, whose solution was to take it away from me and wash it down the sink! Royal Mad later moved me to a new room on a high floor, assuring me this one was definitely safe, but I got bitten again in the second room, and decided to check out early. By this time I was miserable and disfigured (the bugs even bit my face!), I could barely function due to exhaustion (jetlag + lost sleep + massive doses of antihistamines) and I had to change all my plans, because I was stuck waiting around for managers and customer service agents, disinfecting my clothes and luggage, cleaning and ziploc-bagging everything at my own expense, and hauling it all across town to a newer and more expensive hotel. I did eventually get a partial refund from Booking.com, but I still wish I'd never set foot in Au...

Pleasant budget hotel, however they have a SEVERE bed bug problem which is not being handled properly, nor disclosed to guests. I told the check-in clerk about my bug allergy when I arrived. He swore up and down that I had nothing to fear, then put me in a room on a lower floor, directly below a group of 3 rooms that were being actively treated for bed bugs! He didn't tell me this, of course, but I got attacked overnight, and all the bites swelled up painfully, then erupted into weeping blisters. I even managed to catch a live bedbug and showed it to a night staffer, whose solution was to take it away from me and wash it down the sink! Royal Mad later moved me to a new room on a high floor, assuring me this one was definitely safe, but I got bitten again in the second room, and decided to check out early. By this time I was miserable and disfigured (the bugs even bit my face!), I could barely function due to exhaustion (jetlag + lost sleep + massive doses of antihistamines) and I had to change all my plans, because I was stuck waiting around for managers and customer service agents, disinfecting my clothes and luggage, cleaning and ziploc-bagging everything at my own expense, and hauling it all across town to a newer and more expensive hotel. I did eventually get a partial refund from Booking.com, but I still wish I'd never set foot in Au...