France Albion — Hotel in Paris

Totally mediocre. Pros - great location, quiet. Cons - only one towel provided, very small room, kind of shabby, my shower’s ‘hot’ water was lukewarm, the 15€ breakfast is not close to worth it and 100% gave me the runs; unfriendly, unhelpful staff.

I booked this hotel because of all the positive reviews especially regarding the staff and service. I consider myself a pretty low maintenance guest with modest expectations and I was still quite disappointed. Parisians have a reputation in the US, perhaps undeserved, of being snobby and/or rude but I found almost everyone in Paris to be very kind and friendly…with the exception of the Hotel Albion staff. I was sent a bunch of emails prior to my stay including a survey asking if I wanted any recommendations for things to do, where to eat, etc. This seemed like a thoughtful gesture but I’m not sure what the purpose was, considering nobody offered me any recommendations during my stay anyways. Can you recall a time you stayed at a hotel where you got an actual key instead of a keycard? That’s the case here. Which would be fine if you didn’t have to stand outside the hotel waiting to be buzzed in every time like it was a youth hostel in a bad neighborhood. I don’t know if this is always the case or a recent / temporary change because of the riots; One of the receptionists explained they had recently had someone come and steal a bunch of luggage, which I guess was supposed to be reassuring…I complained about the hot water on a Sunday morning. they seemed utterly unconcerned and said they’d get someone to look at it the next day (when I was leaving). The morning that I left it was impossible to hail an Uber, I asked if they knew of any car services available to call, the receptionist said “they’re probably all already booked but let me check” and less than 10sec later just said “yeah they’re all full.” Great, huge help.

EDIT IN RESPONSE TO OWNER: I have never stayed at a hotel where a guest is only provided one towel. That means I can only take one shower for the next 24 hours. I had just been traveling for 9 hours. Is it unreasonable to think I might want to take a shower when I arrive and another when I wake up the next day? As far as the hot water is concerned, I’m not an idiot, it wasn’t a complicated shower. The hot water was lukewarm! And if it was so easy to check, why didn’t the employee offer to look at it herself or politely suggest I try a different method when I spoke to her about the issue? Because she didn’t care.

Why didn’t you say “welcome” when I checked in? Or ask me anything about my trip, was it my first time in Paris/France, what are my plans, do I need any recommendations, etc. I am staying in Greece now and all of these things happened immediately when I checked in to my hotel here. They knew my name without me even telling them. And they did this despite not sending me a survey ahead of time asking me if I wanted any recommendations. You sent me a survey and still didn’t offer me any. Because you don’t really care.

That’s fine if you prefer physical keys, however, that doesn’t change the fact it is an added inconvenience for guests compared to the electronic keycards used at virtually every other hotel I have stayed at.

I did not suggest you are responsible for me booking an Uber. But the employee could have at least asked me where I was going and made transport suggestions based on that but it was obvious she didn’t feel any responsibility to help me. Maybe she knew a faster route on the metro. Maybe she knew a good street nearby where I could try to hail a cab. Again, she just didn’t seem to care. This is simply mediocre,...

Very happy to have chosen the France Albion. We selected it due to its value and relative proximity to Gare du Nord and ended up not using the station at all.

Happily, it's closeness (less than 100m) to the Saint Georges Metro - line 12 - proved to be an even happier and unplanned consequence. With direct connection to Montparnasse and trains from the South, and simple movement between other Metro lines this was invaluable.

The area was great, with no shortage of dining options and only a short distance from Montmartre.

Service was great and the staff were happy to help with anything we needed. The front desk was staffed 24/7. The airport shuttle they recommended was both affordable and reliable and made life incredibly easy for us at the end of a long trip. Breakfast was just what we were after and was comparable with that offered at a four star hotel we'd stayed at in Bordeaux. The dining room was small but we never experienced any waiting or overcrowding.

Our room (60) had the only view of the Eiffel Tower and was extremely quiet with regard to outside noise. With expectations being low with regard to room and bathroom size, we were pleasantly surprised to find that while cosy, we had all the space we needed. The bathroom was slightly dated, with shower over bath, but was always clean and entirely functional. The bed was firm but this suits us and we both slept well for the three nights of our stay.

Located on the top floor, it did seem to be warmer there than on other floors but with opening windows and air conditioning this was swiftly addressed when required. The lift was big enough for the two of us and our luggage and we typically only used it when going up.

The only very small issue we had was with corridor noise. The doors/seals provide little soundproofing in this regard and with room keys and somewhat noisy locks still in use, occasional distraction was difficult to avoid. Most guests however behaved respectfully and we only had one noisy duo return after a Friday night on the town. While notable, this was of minimal concern and extremely consistent with most two star hotels.

An extremely...

We enjoyed my stay in France Albion a lot. We made a pre-reservation of 5 nights through the hotel website. Actually, the rate offered at the hotel website was slightly cheaper than the rates from Expedia or Agoda. We also pre-reserved breakfast for the price of 11 euros per person, which is very reasonable considering the prices in Paris. You need to pay 15 euros per person if you don't pre-reserve breakfast. On the fourth day of our stay, we received an email from SNCF that the train from Paris to south of France got cancelled due to the national strike, so we decided to leave Paris one day earlier. Zorana, the receptionist of the day, helped us change the train reservation and graciously let us not pay for the fifth night. She said this reduction was possible since we made a reservation directly with the hotel and did not pay in advance. We were really impressed with her flexibility and willingness to help us in this unexpected situation. She should receive recognition for this! The location of the hotel is great. Roissy Bus from CDG airport takes you to the Opera, and from there, you just need to walk about 10-15 minutes to get to the hotel. It only takes 25 minutes to walk to Orsay, and about 20 minutes to walk up to Sacre Coer and Monmartre. Our room was not large, but you cannot expect a large room in the middle of Paris. Overall, a very nice experience. We will definitely come back to this hotel next time I...