Les Jardins du Marais — Hotel in Paris

We stayed at this hotel as a part of a travel package. Positives- It is very close to the metro station, lots of restaurants near by to include a grocery store just down the street. Breakfast buffet was excellent and the fresh squeezed orange juice was something to look forward to. Chocolates in the room were good but the wine had no way to open it unless you travel with a corkscrew. Now to the not so good. When we first arrived there were 4 people at the front desk and one customer being helped. I was waiting to be acknowledged and people came after me, walked directly to the desk and were helped. This made me very upset. This may be the way in Paris but being a hotel that serves international travelers they could've done better. I felt very ignored like I was supposed to know to walk up and rudely interrupt conversation between the staff to be helped. It also took a long time because they kept stopping to talk to other staff members and customers while others were not busy. This put a bad feeling on our stay from the get go. We were in a junior suite for a family of 4. The second bed is a sofa bed, it was very uncomfortable and noisy, there was a support bar that rattled every time we moved in the bed, had to stuff a towel in it to keep it from making noise. We got into the room and there was no toilet paper, the toiletries box looked like it had been used before and had a shower cap and one cotton makeup pad. The water pressure in Paris is unreal and had to barely turn the water on so as not to flood the bathroom, the bathtub is also raised above the floor and I was weary getting in and out with a wet floor. Tile is outdated and dusty, The cleaning crew came thru and took all of the used towels even though we hung them up to let them know we would use again like the sign said and then didn't replace the washcloths that were taken out. The television never worked despite reporting it and being assured it would be fixed. We didn't really want to watch tv however our room was on the courtyard and it was very noisy well past midnight. Kids playing and screaming nonstop. I feel like the staff should've addressed at such a late hour. There was some kind of event going on like a birthday party, wedding reception etc for two of our three night stay. I would've appreciated the tv to drown out the noise. Also we could hear everything from the adjoining room to include their alarms. The windows were high and our view that we could see was of the other buildings. The room on the surface looked clean but the carpet needs a good cleaning and the baseboards and fixtures were all dusty. It's also very beige and outdated and could really use an update. All the furniture was nicked and scratched. The room included a dishwasher but no dishes? So that felt like a wasted use of space. Also no dishwasher detergent or dish soap. The room did have two wine glasses and that was it. The actual bed was comfortable with nice sheets. The housekeeping staff kept trying to come in despite having the do not disturb sign on the door. They would knock once then immediately enter the room. Had to ask them to not come in twice. Then we went out for the day to return and find our room had been cleaned despite telling them we did not require housekeeping. Also how does a hotel not have an iron available? Luckily the bathroom got so steamy I was able to get most of the wrinkles out by hanging the clothes in the bathroom while I showered. Overall I would not stay here again. It was far from all the attractions and even using the metro was a 20-30 minute metro trip to...

We have been arriving in the heart fo Marais on a Wednesday evening. One have to say that this season is not like it should be. Unlikely cold and rainy for the end of May but it should not dilute my impression of this hotel.

General Impression Arriving at the front door this hotel invites with plants and a glossy entry. It seems quite modern and the welcome is warm and friendly. The yard is one of its own. One must imagine that this hotel consists of several buildings that have their central entry from the room. These buildings keep most of the noises out of the hotel areal which can be battery charging. Once in a while one can hear a sirene but it is in general quiet. The yard itself is full of plants and invites to sit for a while and feels like a sanctuary.

Room The room we have booked was a simple chamber for two persons. First thing one must notice while entering the room. The odor. The curtains and carpet cried for a basic cleaning. Second thing one would have noticed, my girlfriend accidentally hit the wall which was covered by some tiles. They weren't atteached and so they fell down. The size of the room was okay. The room had a fridge and what was surprising as well - a hob, a dishwasher and a microwave. And of course the obligatory Nespresso machine including the capsules. After the first surprise the disenchantment came alive. There was no cutlery for the use of it! Only to find two glasses loveless placed without the presence of the amenity of a bottle of water. The double bed was consisting of two single beds. If you do not like open spaces in your bed then I cannot recommend this bed. The matress on the other hand was not saggy. The bath is quite okay but comes without a separated shower. The water is hot and fairly adjustable. What was missing was the toilet brush.

Staff The room service is very tidy but unobservant. After cleaning up the room which was okay for sure, they left bedside tables half a meter from the bed. Small things that have been left on the bedside table were thrown on the ground. Like our earplugs. We always found them distributed on the floor. The guy from the check-in was always nice - we have seen him several times during our stay but then while checking out the woman has been very unpleasant and unappreciative.

Breakfast It was okay. The breakfast room has the atmosphere of a school canteen. The food is okay but not very extraordinary. One could say a better intercontinental breakfast. If you are hungry then this place will satisfy you. The food was most of the times refilled. We preferred to have breakfast in Marais itself.

Conclusion The hotel is okay if you want to have a quick stay in Marais. If you do not hae eyes for details and have some spare money left then you could hit the sure sanctuary. But still it is not of the cheapest ones. We had to pay nearly 750 € incl. the city tax for two persons...

Completely incompetent front desk. While checking in they asked for a card to put a security deposit on, no drama we hand them our card, without advising us they then put a hold on the security deposit (can’t remember if this was €200 or €100) and an ADDITIONAL €1,500. We did not realise as they just swiped the card and gave it back, it’s only when we went up to our room and saw a notification from our Wise card that we realised, now €1,700 to us was at the time $2,800 AUD, we only had $3,000 for our short stay in Paris. We went back to reception and were told ‘We can’t see that you’ve paid for the room - this is to pay for the room’ we explained we had paid for the room months ago back in Australia and surely they could see that in their system, they said no we had to prove to them we had paid. In what world does a customer have to prove they have paid, why do they even have a front desk if I am doing their job? Absolutely ludicrous. We then had to contact our travel agent and have them reach out to the front desk for us with evidence. We were then given the run around and told they would release the funds and essentially ‘it was all done’ spoiler alert - it was not. We went down the next morning, funds still on hold and were told ‘yes this has been taken care of’ again, it had not been. By that afternoon we were furious and we needed that money back, we lined up again and asked if the funds had been released and were told there was only one person who could do it and they would do it that afternoon or the next morning, fuming I said ‘well we’ve run out of money, you are holding all of our money we will sit down right now and wait’. Then the manager of the front desk came out and almost joked about it - and explained that ‘we haven’t taken your money we are only holding it’ I said ‘let me put it like this ‘we have $3k to spend in Paris, you’re holding $2,800 - we have paid for this room and proved it, we need our money back’ he started saying ‘it can take up to 10 days to release funds’ I just shook my head at this stage at the complete incompetence, lack of apology, lack of urgency. Eventually the next day the funds were released - so not sure where he got the ‘10 days’ from? This was one incident of about 5 at this hotel. We also witnessed the staff forgetting to give people their passports back on multiple occasions, customers not having rooms ready until around 6pm the night of check in (this family had small children and looked exhausted) we had a power outage one night simply when we bumped a lamp and finally they delivered a small ‘thanks for staying’ treat to our room but it was addressed to another customers name. Simply unbelievable. Stay very far away...