Hotel de la Bretonnerie — Hotel in Paris

Our stay at Hotel de la Bretonnerie was fantastic. It's a beautiful old building (with antiquated features, so if you are overly fastidious and pedantic, don't choose this one.). I loved it for its charm, it's character, and each room is delightfully different.||We chose a junior suite for our stay,. For 2 people this gives you plenty of space. |In older buildings rooms are fairly small, but one must accept this as a part of Paris character, not a flaw. In fact this choice of room provides a larger bedroom with a beautiful bed, a small lounge, a bathroom and a toilet room.||The check in was easy, after a long arduous flight from Australia. Reception was quick and professional. Each time I had contacted them for one reason or another over the last few weeks (by email) I was answered quickly and professionally. This made me feel very comfortable with my choice.||We were on the 3rd floor. It was quiet. Luckily for us there was a small lift to help with suitcases. The keys are a little heavy, I suggest key rings be changed, I don't like the idea of leaving keys at the reception, and prefer to take it with me, but they're like lugging a small sack of dollar coins around!||The room was sufficiently ventilated (no A/C as government rules prevent this in the heritage Marais area.) With two windows, we were able to open both in the afternoons, to cool off any risen heat. ||The decor was delightful, all throughout the building, lovely antique furniture. Again, if you are Mr or Mrs Extreme Fusspot, don't bother reading. The antiques are as you find them, au naturale - not all polished to death. I loved it. Each room, each floor had different unusual and lovely period furniture. I loved the floor to ceiling wallpaper (which was sometimes on the ceiling!!) Perhaps some of the lights could have been a little brighter, we found it a little on the dark side at times, but again, part of the character. |The foyer was gobsmacking! Huge timbers - the original 1600s ones, were exposed and just astonishing. ||The bed was delicious. So comfortable, the pillows absolutely heavenly. Maybe a few too many cushions. I just loved the bed. I haven't slept that well in ages.||The room had two bathroom vanities. Very convenient. The bathroom was acceptable, it was adequate, supplied with lovely soaps, shampoo etc. Yes, the bath was very small, I worried that the shower always squirted out as the shower screen was not big enough to stop the floor getting wet, but ...go with the flow, pardon the pun.||My TWO small complaints would be that the grout and silicone around the shower/bath was dirty./ dark / mouldy. It should have been cleaned, bleached and the silicone replaced as it looks unpleasantly dirty. It probably wasn't, so I ignored it. |The second being that the little kettle/jug for boiling water had the shortest cord...and could not be moved easily. It was also very small, and overflowed when boiling often. Ah...first world problems. Ha ha.||Security seemed excellent, a good safe, and someone at the hotel desk 24 hours. We were absolutely comfortable with the level of security.||Breakfast was very pleasant. A small but varied selection, fresh orange juice, and delicious pastries. Well worth the E15.00 ea. I was sometimes confused by the lovely lady who looked after breakfast, as I don't speak french and she didn't speak English. (and why should she, after all.) A small blip. Breakfast was served in a fascinating cellar. The house cat slinks in and out sometimes, a delight.|I must comment on the delightful music that plays during breakfast, beautiful ballets etc. ||The location is first class. Step out to a small Monoprix supermarket. Walk a few steps to ancient buildings, gorgeous bistros, and delightful cafes and patisseries. Close to a number of metro stations, this is definitely the hotel I will be coming back to next time, for all the charm and flair that Paris and The Marais can give. ||Thankyou for a lovely stay. We will be back....

Once again, we had the pleasure of staying at the wonderful Hotel de la Bretonnerie, in the heart of the beautiful Marais area of Paris. ||||Stay in this enjoyable hotel if you like: quirky and interesting furniture, antique and historic rooms with charm and atmosphere. Stay if you want lovely staff, and a top breakfast. Stay if you want value and a true Paris feeling.||Don't stay if you want everything modern, greige, and slick. Because you won't get it. ( I saw a while ago someone complained about furniture not matching....hahahaha, cretin.)||||In our (two) experiences with this hotel:||||Location:||is sensational. Near two train stations, and in the middle of dozens of restaurants and the atmospheric Le Marais quarter. It's charming, easy to move around, safe, and convenient. It's an easy walk to Ile de la Cite etc. ||||Check in: simple and quick. Having used the Hotel's own website for booking we got the best deal, and were in touch with the staff by email to confirm. They had our room ready, and we were in it in minutes. ||||Value: Excellent value for Paris. Given it's proximity to things, and it's charm and history, I think it's great value. ||||Rooms: depending on the room you choose, Paris's rooms are quite small, compared to some modern hotels, especially considering this is a historic building with REAL rooms, not hotel rooms. Our room, the junior suite, was wonderful, big enough to spread out a little and an enjoyable few windows that look out to the internal courtyard, not a view as such, but we always liked looking out. Thankyou to the staff who allowed us to have the beautiful room.||||bed: is SOOOOOO comfortable. Loved it. The pillows are great, the bed is soft, the covers are warm. No complaints here. I could live in that bed.||||bathroom: as an older building the bathroom has it's limitations. The shower is in the bath, and sometimes sprays out. Maybe there should be a handle to help one get OUT of the bath/shower (at my age I probably needed it.) A bit of a re-grout wouldn't go astray either. They're very small issues, and didn't detract from our stay at all.||||Conveniences: Unusually, this building has a lift. Fantastic!||Coffee and tea are provided with a kettle, and there is a Monoprix right next door to get your milk, drinks, bread and cheese should you wish to picnic in your room. There is a refrigerator. Some small amenities are provided in the bathroom. ||There is no air con, but we have never needed it, not this stay or the last. The windows do a great job of cooling off, and when it's cold, it is nicely warm in the room anyway. ||||Breakfast: for the small price, we absolutely loved it. The best orange juice ON THE PLANET (please fix/keep your machine, it broke while we were there and thank goodness we got to use it before hand.) The small array of pastries, cheeses, breads, cakes, meats, cereals etc, was more than enough to satisfy us. We loved it. The music they play is wonderful, and the breakfast room in the cellar is charming. A small room, but never over croweded. The breakfast lady with blonde hair is delightful. The other one, not so much.||||Problems: none - ever. If ever you had any, they'd be onto it immediately.||They rang taxis for us, gave us great advice, helped us with questions. The staff are great.||||We will be back. We recommend it to everyone and if YOU end up going, don't forget to notice the wonderful timber in the building, which itself is many hundreds of years old. Especially the foyer, wow. ||||Thanks HDLB, we had a...

Tried very hard to like this hotel due to it being recommended in Rick Steves' book. However, I would strongly advise travelers to look elsewhere.

$600 in cash was missing from a jacket pocket after a cleaning lady came into the room while our relative was in the bathroom. The situation was very suspicious for several reasons: the room key was still within the light switch (indicating that the guest was present). We had not requested the room to be cleaned. The bathroom door was closed with the light on. After our relative came out of the bathroom, the cleaning lady immediately rushed out without a word. Several pockets of my backpack that I never use were left open. Of the cash, only the $100 bills were missing, and the smaller bills were left untouched (if just feeling for the cash from outside the pocket would not notice easily anything missing).

It took talking to two different staff at the front desk before we were taken seriously (they immediately defended the cleaning lady, then questioned why we did not use the security box, then accused us of misplacing the cash ourselves). Why would we be expected to lock up our belongings if someone's still present, just in the bathroom? After reluctance they finally called the police, who took the matter seriously but could not find the cash at this point. At check out, we were asked how our stay was and when I answered honestly, they were surprised to hear that the cash had not miraculously turned up in our belongings. The experience was upsetting in that not only did we lose money and an entire afternoon, we also felt unwelcome and treated with suspicion. The hotel does not carry any form of theft insurance that other 3 star hotels such as Ibis offer. The cash was never recovered.

They only provide one room key, which you must leave at the front desk upon leaving. On our last night they lost our door key and immediately questioned whether we had forgotten to give it to them. When I asked about this during check out, they said they had found it; they misplaced it in a different shelf. However we were never informed and spent a long time looking through our belongings for the key. An apology was not issued.

The rooms/facilities are very old. For example, the bathroom door/closet doors were very difficult to close. The room smelled dusty. There is no AC. The elevator only comfortably fits one person. The "king size bed" is just two twins side by side. Noise...