Novotel Paris Les Halles — Hotel in Paris

After reading countless reviews both positive and negative. We were a bit hesitant initially and honestly was considering another that is right beside this hotel, but after communicating with the hotel via e-mails and getting swift replies and assurances with regards to certain needs, we took the plunge and WE LOVED IT!!!

If this is your first time in Paris, be realistic and forget those people/influencers in Tik Tok and other social media saying you should stay in certain Arrondissements to get the feel of living and exploring like the locals. If this is your first time and what you want is to be as safe and efficient as possible as you might be in Paris for a limited number of days and would want to make the most out of it. That said we made this hotel the base area of our exploration that has access to trains (RER) or metro, and on days that we were too tired from previous day, there are lots of things to explore within the area of the hotel.

Location: This hotel is the ideal location for first timers to Paris. The hotel is literally located 15 - 20 steps away from the entrance to one of the biggest train station Les Halles (Chatelet Les Halles), and also walking distances to Cafes, Restaurants and our favorite Boulangerie La Parisienne, where we would get our breakfast from. Also if you need get still (bottled water) there is a small mini market to the left of the hotel.

The hotel is basically a 15 to 20 minute walk to Le Marais, Pont Neuf, St Germain, Louvre and many more. As I have mentioned above 15 to 20 steps away from Chatelet Les Halles, we are able to take the RER to visit the Palace of Versailles, Disneyland and more, and getting home late and tired, nothing beats exiting straight to your hotel, diminishing the need to worry if it is safe to walk the streets at night to return to the hotel especially if you are travelling with children. Your favorite sign to see to get straight to the hotel is Sortie 1 (Exit 1).

Staffs: Upon arrival we were warmly greeted, and check in took us about 10 minutes. We were shown to our room by Ms. Claire (Guest Relations maybe?) She told us if there was anything such as restaurant reservations or anything that we need we could go to her (Thank you again for the extra pillows). Overall the staffs were friendly and not to worry they speak good English.

Room: We were pleasantly surprised by the room. We had the extra bed and still have plenty of room to move about. The bathroom partition glass has a cool feature that can be blurred or clear at a touch of a button/switch. The toilet has a door so is not an open layout, so one can take a shower or brush your teeth while the the other does the number 1 or 2 in private. Body soap is provided but not shampoo. There is also a built in hair dryer.

A boiling kettle is provided and also a mini fridge that is stocked, charge will incur automatically if any of the items are removed. Towards the end of our stay we discovered there was an ice machine on the 3rd floor.

The bed is comfortable, a bit small for 2 but when you are tired after walking and exploring a whole day it matters not. One thing to note though, the AC could be a little bit colder, understood the overall weather that generally does not need a very cold AC, but during summer the AC was a bit lacking, I think this is the same in almost all hotels we stayed in France, where some does not even have AC.

Overall we had one of or the best stay in France in Novotel Les Halles. Location is without a doubt one of the best. Supported with good staffs and a comfortable room. Infused water and free ice creams (maybe only during summer) were given out between 4 PM and 6 PM in the lobby. Umbrellas were available to borrow during rainy days. 2 Things I would suggest to the hotel though, 1 if possible colder AC and 2 an empty fridge, that will be more useful, to store pastries, butter, cheese or even bottled water.

We have recommended this hotel to our friends travelling in the coming months and would definitely be back here again for our next...

We specifically selected this hotel for the Novotel reputation, location, and equally important, air conditioning in the room considering that in Europe this can be hard to come by.

The website, app, and every document related to this hotel reservation indicated A/C would be available.

Upon checking in, the rooms(we had two) were incredibly hot. We let AC run while at dinner and came back to discover no change.

Upon inquiring the hotel informed us that the AC is only available in Summer months(we were there mid-April). We had simply been running ambient air thru the fan. We asked to move rooms and were accommodated and new rooms were marginally better. All of this happened at 11PM.

We were told to keep the windows open but with young kids this was not an option as the windows are low enough for them to easily fall out.

We all slept poorly. B/c we were only in Paris for 3x days it was not worth moving hotels despite looking into it. I inquired the following morning with the manager regarding a refund/discount because we were not receiving accommodation that was advertised. We were offered free breakfast and for them to put fans in our rooms to see if it would help.

Unfortunately the fans were inadequate and very loud making sleeping with them on unacceptable.

The following day upon returning mid afternoon for a nap, the rooms were exceptionally warm. Again I inquired with a diff manager and this time I was offered "$80 in Accor credit and free breakfast". This was unacceptable. I explained that we had booked two rooms at an exceptional cost based on completely inaccurate advertising and that more needed to be refunded. I was advised the manager from the second day would get in touch which they never did. This is why I've ranked them a 3. They were all accommodating but there was never any follow up. We were there for a very short stay and I wasn't wasting more time discussing this with them at the hotel after already having done one move and one in person discussion with the morning manager.

At this point, I decided it would be easier to deal with them through my CC company and dispute the stay. When I reached out to Novotel corporate they simply forwarded the dispute to the hotel.

For info, the staff at the hotel was always trying to be accommodating and I appreciate that, but what we got was not what was advertised and that is what I am upset with.

While a relatively good location near transport, there were lots of vagrants in the general vicinity of the hotel that left us feeling unsafe walking in the...

The booking I made for this hotel was for a total of 16 nights split across 4 rooms. Compared to previous stays at this hotel I did not consider my stay as value for money. The hotel is being refurbished so the ambiance in the bar/restaurant is not the normal standard. The room I was given was small by comparison with previous stays. There was no coffee machine or iron and ironing board so on the first morning of my stay I asked for thse to be supplied to the room. I was told I was not in a superior room which was why there was no coffee machine. I went to the front desk to check my booking, which was made more than 6 months ago and was for a superior room. The front desk said I was in a superior room. In my long experience of staying in hotels this was certainly not a superior room. I asked to see a manager, no one was avaialble. Later that day a coffee machine was deleivered, but no coffee capsules. The next day coffee capsules were delivered but some of the pillows were taken from the room. On the thrid day all coffee cups and glasses were taken from the room during cleaning. On day 2 one of my guests, who I had pre-checked in was asked for a deposit on his personal bank card, his check in took over 40 mintues. I asked to see a manager, no one was available. On day 4 it was one of the hottest days so far, when I returned to the room the card had been taken from the power slot and the wondows left wide open, the room was stifling. No further coffee capsules were delivered. Odd things were happening in the room, it was cleaned but the floor not vacuumed. Some times cups and glasses were left but old ones not cleaned. and still left in the room. Three days before I left I went to the front desk to see a manager but was told no one was available, but the person I talked with would file a report of the problems. The day before I left I tried again to see a manager ans was told no one was available, the person I dealt with looked at me with such contempt it was apparent she was not interested in my issues. Finally as I left very early on the morning of departure a man stepped forward from the front desk and declared he was the manager. I told him I was going to the airport and had a taxi waiting. We had a brief discussion and he advised that next time he would do everything to correct the issues I raised. I spent the equivalent of $10,000 at this hotel, it was not...