Hôtel Bellevue Montmartre — Hotel in Paris

Rude and incompetent staff being the biggest adversity in staying here. Mario greeted us with poor attitude consistently throughout our trip. The hotel has an absurd policy in which you must return the key to the reception desk everytime you wish to leave (Despite demanding a €100 deposit upon arrival). On one instance, my partner went to Mcdonald’s to buy food, whilst I stayed in the room. She locked me in and provided Mario with the key at reception. Mario then promptly lost our key in the 5 minutes he was left with it, and proceeded to blame my partner for losing it. When this was proven false, he went on to lie, stating he passed the key over to myself. As I was locked in the room at this point, I can confirm this was not the case. Reception staff then kindly freed me from the locked room. I was then forced to demand a thorough search for the key, as Mario didn’t seem particularly bothered, presumably planning what he would do with my €100 deposit. Mario had placed it in the wrong location. He went onto state ‘someone must have put it on the wrong peg’. By this point I was exhausted with listening to Mario and returned to my room with no compensation for my trouble.

They also lock the main door, despite offering a 24/7 reception.There is no doorbell, you must wait for reception to finish what they’re doing to allow entry.

The rooms are dated, we had no toiletries provided on arrival aside from two measly bars of soap. There is a receptacle in the shower for gel, however this was empty and falling off the wall. Through fear of breaking it further and losing our €100 deposit, we used the bars of soap. The website states toiletries are available on request, and we were provided with a quarter bottle of shampoo when we requested the basic amenities for the room. Following this slap to the face, we opted to purchase any further toiletries as the dribble of shampoo provided appeared to have come from lost property.

An iron and ironing board were provided on request. When using this, the ironing board was so thin it actually burnt the pattern of the grid below the sheet onto my shirt. Other provided amenities included a kettle with a cord too short to reach the desk, and a telephone, in which we were called on in the early hours of the morning to return the iron back to reception.

With the room being a tiny box, there was minimal space for anything. A rail is provided, with 4 hangers to share between us on our 5 night stay. A small television, which if you squint you may be able to enjoy one of the few provided channels.

Energy saving is a big theme in Hotel Bellevue, with lighting that switches off after a few moments. This is the case on the stairs, in which no natural light comes in, leaving a pitch black narrow staircase to navigate if you dare to adhere to the energy saving advice the hotel passes to you on your welcome card.

We did make use of the fan, which was invaluable in the summer heat. However, despite the heat in the room we dared not to open the window. As you will have seen whilst scrolling the reviews for this hotel, there appears to be a trend of burglaries that have occurred here. I’ve noted the replies from the owner to these reviews. These responses at best, pass responsibility to the individuals who were robbed in their establishment and at worst, downright accuse their clients of telling lies. I can only presume Mario has been taking some time out from losing keys to respond to the honest feedback from his rightfully outraged guests.

I have made allusion to the €100 deposit multiple times in this review. Predictably, this was not returned to us on time. We had to email the hotel (as they would not answer the phone) to demand the deposit be returned.

This is a one star experience advertised as three and a half. A budget hotel with absurd fees, I would rather join the droves of homeless people outside the property than stay here again.

EDIT - the response...

To be clear, I did not book this hotel personally, rather I was in Paris for a job, and my employer / host booked this hotel on my behalf. For the budget minded tourist who does not plan on staying in the hotel other than to sleep, this could be a suitable option, as it is basically one notch above a hostile. They do in fact, provide free wi-fi & a continental breakfast and the girl at the front desk was very nice.

The rooms are small, which wouldn’t be so terrible, but the hallways are very tiny and the walls are so thin, you can hear the person talking in the next room as if they are in your own. The decor of the rooms is not very appealing to anyone with contemporary tastes. The furniture in the room is cheap, plastic and uncomfortable. The television is a complete after-thought and there is No Air Conditioning in the room. You are provided a plug-in oscillating fan, however, it provides little relief.

You have to leave your room key at the front desk every time you leave the building and there are signs in the room that state the hotel is NOT RESPONSIBLE for stolen items. Which makes absolutely no sense. The Window was wide open upon entering my room, and it appeared as if a person could easily jump in from the outside.

Upon checking in I was issued the keys to someone else’s room, which freaked me out. The hotel clearly has an issue handling breakfast flow, however they do their best to manage expectations by requesting you “sign up” for a breakfast service time. It’s in a very touristy part of Paris and robberies are very common in this area, especially at night.

In summary, it’s not without its low budget charm, however, it meets only the bare minimum of standards and I personally would not stay here. In all fairness, I did not actually stay the night nor did I try the bed, after checking in I realized that the hotel was so far beneath my personal standards, I had my employer book me into a higher end hotel property that better suited my personal needs.

Their website says they have a 3 Star rating, but I’m not sure what the rating service is That rated them that way, by North American / US standards it does not qualify as a three star property (See Below). Again, if your trying to see Paris on a budget and just need a place to crash, this is an option. However if your looking for something with amenities and a more contemporary feel, this is NOT the place for you.

For the record, a THREE STAR PROPERTY is defined as such: Properties that deliver a broad range of amenities that exceed above-average accommodation needs. Good quality service, design and physical attributes are typically fit for purpose to match guest expectations. By this definition, this property is not a legitimate 3 Star Hotel and travelers should be aware of this mis-representation in hotel star rating standards. It would however qualify as a (Soft) 2 Star property,...

Do yourself a massive favour, look for another hotel. This really is a waste of money. Far too expensive for what they have to offer. The area the hotel is located is dirty and attracts homeless sleepers in doorways around the hotel and adjoining streets. It is directly opposite a residential apartment block, so those living there can see straight into your rooms if you don't close the curtains, and vice-versa, we are not talking a wide road, a one way street approximately 15 meters wide. The reception is tiny and crowded when more than 3 people are waiting. I booked a twin room and it was tiny, the beds were pushed together with only the width of a pair of legs to move around 2 sides of the room. The entrance to the bathroom was next to the other side of the bed. The curtains didn't join in middle, and because of the situation of being able to see into the rooms from across the road, we used hair clips to hold the curtains closed. There was no wardrobe, just 2 shelves and a bar to hang your clothes on. The whole place smelt of vinegar, im assuming the cleaners use white vinegar to clean, perfectly fine but not what you want to smell the whole time. The kettle was not able to be used on the counter top because there was literally only 10cm of cord. The kettle had to be boiled on the floor. Drinks in the room consisted of 1 tea and 4 coffee sachets, no milk and no sugar. These had to be requested from reception. The television hasn't got a single English speaking channel, and is so tiny, it's a waste of time having one in the room. Maintenance in the room, especially in the bathroom was clearly done on a shoestring budget by amateurs. Breakfast was in 2 sittings because the dining area is tiny and they ask you to arrive at the first sitting to avoid over crowding the second sitting. Dont be misguided by the photos on the website. We arrived for breakfast at the second sitting, to be told it had all gone. After I persisted and told them 2 sittings were advertised at the dining room entrance, they allowed us to enter. All that was left was cereals, cold eggs, 3 croissants, slices of salami sausage and stewed coffee. Again after complaining, cash was taken from the reception and someone quickly disappeared to the local supermarket for more food. We didn't bother with breakfast again, instead preferred to use local cafes for breakfast. Paris Metro is very close and so is the Sacré Coeur. But honestly those are the only 2 positive points...