Hôtel Balzac Paris & Spa Ikoï — Hotel in Paris

We have stayed 3 times at the Balzac’s slightly older sister property, the Hotel Norman. Eventually we grew tired of the Norman’s shortcomings (friendly but somewhat confused staff, weird electrical issues, service oversights, etc)||For our 4th visit to Paris, we decided to take advantage of a suite upgrade offer at the Balzac, which otherwise would be beyond our desired budget.||The front desk staff is cordial, professional, efficient and largely well organized.||There were a couple of minor missteps in the service during our stay. The package we booked included a bottle of champagne which was not in the room upon arrival. We had to ask for it. ||On the one day we had the room serviced, housekeeping neglected to replenish our water, coffee, cream or cups. This was a regular issue at the Norman. I’m not sure why the minibar is such a problem for these 2 properties. ||The suite itself was very nice, with high ceilings, freshly refurbished. The bed and couch were very comfortable and the room was mostly quiet. ||The living room was oddly spare. There was a desk, a comfortable couch, a coffee table, 2 chairs and the mini bar, but lots of wasted space and almost entirely bare walls in both the living and bed rooms. Not much in the way of decorations. No ottomans. No day bed or couch side tables. No cozy lamps. It looked and felt incomplete. Certainly not “luxurious”. While a bit crowded, the Norman’s decor is much homier and more inviting. The Balzac room felt a bit sad and lonely by comparison. ||The bathroom was our only major disappointment. For a suite in a brand new refit, it was surprising to have a single sink and not a double vanity. There was no room for toiletries on its narrow sink’s sides. The lighting was also a bit dark. The small toilet seat was already loose and would not stay up, and had a quite old style flush button. It almost seemed to be an older toilet from the previous hotel. ||The shower was a major problem for us. None of the pictures on the website indicate there are rooms without a walk-in shower, and we have never encountered a modern hotel without one, yet our room was tub-only (with a rain shower head above). The tub itself was quite tricky to get in and out of, as it is raised several inches above the floor and has wide marble sides. There are no handles anywhere to assist exiting the tub. I had to sit down on the edge of the tub and swing my legs over the side to avoid risking a fall. ||I was told the rooms have a mix of tub and walk in showers. It would have been nice to have been made aware of this in the room description or given a choice upon check in. Next time we visit, we will ask for a shower suite, and if one is not available, we will have to consider a different hotel.||The largest downfall of the hotel is its breakfast service. We had stopped by the Balzac (during a previous stay at the Norman) for a coffee one weekday afternoon and were impressed by the weekday staff. Very attentive and efficient. We later realized this was because it wasn’t busy.||Upon staying over a weekend, when things were busy, our experience could not have been more different. They were clearly understaffed. We were ignored for several minutes, so decided to seat ourselves, whereby we went unnoticed for several more minutes. We counted around 6 uncleared tables, including the one next to us, all covered in dirty plates.||Service was slow but the food was decent. ||Some days we were immediately given nuts and olives during afternoon or evening visits to the bar, while other times we had to ask. ||We were excited by the bar snacks menu listed on the website and printed on the menu, but were told the snack menu was no longer being served. This seemed odd for a brand new hotel. So we never got to try the truffle croque monsiuer. :(||We always try to give a new place the benefit of the doubt, and we will try the Balzac again to see if the rooms receive some nicer appointments and the breakfast is tightened up. But we also gave the Norman the benefit of the doubt 3 times and they never improved on the their weak spots. Being that the Balzac is under the same ownership, we are not super confident they will address the shortcomings. We hope...

I recently stayed at Hotel Balzac in Paris and, unfortunately, it was one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve ever had — far from what you would expect from a five-star establishment.

From the very moment we arrived, the service was shockingly poor. No one greeted us or offered to help with our luggage. We had to rush inside and ask at the front desk for assistance. Not a great start.

Our reservation was also mishandled. The hotel began charging our card earlier than expected, and it was incredibly difficult to get in touch with anyone to fix it. I had to spend almost an entire day calling them repeatedly to clarify the issue.

When we finally arrived, we were shocked to find that the room we booked — with twin beds — was not what we received. Instead, there was one large bed. We called reception and explained that this was not what we booked, and were told they would “fix it” in the same room. When we returned, they had simply pushed two single mattresses together on the same base — which is not a twin bed setup. It was completely unacceptable.

To make things worse, I had to sleep on the couch because I was traveling with a friend and her child, and they needed the bed. The sofa itself was stained and dirty, and when I went to prepare it for sleeping, I found crumbs, dust, and general filth inside. I had to lay my bedding on top of it just to make it usable.

The cleanliness overall was unacceptable. Furniture throughout the room was worn out, scratched, and stained — from chairs to tables. For a hotel claiming five-star status, this level of maintenance and hygiene is absolutely inexcusable.

The water provided was a filtered jug that was never refilled, and the bottled water was an in-house brand labeled “Balzac” sold for 6 euros — nothing premium or special at all.

The only competent and professional staff member we encountered was Michel — he was polite, helpful, and clearly understands what five-star service should be. He offered us an alternative room with a sofa bed. It turned out the hotel doesn’t even have rooms with real twin beds — something that should have been clearly stated when booking.

Even then, moving rooms the next morning was a nightmare. After breakfast, we called reception to say we were ready to switch rooms, but they told us they had to “check the room first” and asked us to wait an hour and a half. No one followed up, and we were ignored until we had to escalate to a manager, who also showed very little professionalism or care.

The second room was only marginally better. The previous room had a bathtub that leaked all over the floor, and no proper shower. The new room had both. But again, it was far from clean or properly maintained.

Only on the last day did someone finally help us with our luggage and arrange a taxi properly. That was the first and only moment I felt remotely like a guest in a hotel.

The overall stay was extremely disappointing. Poor communication, rude or indifferent staff (with the sole exception of Michel), filthy conditions, damaged furniture, and absolutely no five-star quality service. Even the breakfast was average at best. Guests from outside were freely walking in for photo shoots — it felt chaotic and unmanaged.

This hotel does not deserve five stars. It negatively impacted our whole trip to Paris. I sincerely hope management takes this feedback seriously and improves — but I would never stay here again, and I cannot recommend it to anyone expecting quality, care, or...

DISGRACE

Decency/respect: 0

This wasn't our first time staying here but it sure is the last time. Because of the HIGH RISK DANGER to travel to Champs Elysee during "yellow vests" prostest, the violence and road blocks, we asked to cancel our hotel reservation. They refused and said no everything is fine no worries. So we get to Champs Elysee and protesters everywhere bombing with tear gas and being violent. The taxi couldn't get through so he dropped us off with our 4 luggage. We had to walk up the hill with some protesters being filthy. It started to escalate before we could get to Hotel Balzac. We couldn't breathe or see so another hotel security ran and took us in for shelter and locked their doors, gave us water and masks. It was a war zone. We had to stay there for hours with bombs going off, cars being flipped and lit on fire. Protesters breaking windows. So after a long flight and road to get to that "5☆" hotel.

Cleanliness: 3☆

Found body hair on the towels. Robe dirty with makeup stains. Table sticky. Sink and tub drain barely drains. Toilet seat not properly screwed in and barely flushes. Dishes not cleaned well due to understaffing and expired food (we were told). 2 staff came into our room when the "do not disturb" sign was on.

Breakfast: 3☆

Breakfast is good and relaxing however it was a battle everyday to get water during breakfast. But the most DESPICABLE part of the entire trip is one waiter said to the other in french they are serpent, they stay hours and eat. During our morning breakfast of maybe one hour sipping coffee. I think when you have 1 week vacation a year and you go to Paris to what is called a "5☆" hotel. You don't expect the staff to treat guests this way. I confronted that filthy waiter and told the receptionist and she looks at me and says "oh okay". Like...are you serious. What is the matter with these people.

And finally our last day, we ask the receptionist to get us a taxi at a specific hour to leave for the airport, and OF COURSE no taxi in sight. Ran down the street and waited 30mins to find one.

I mean, filthy, savages, liars, greedy and cheap. For lack of better words, that's how i would...