St Christopher's Inn Paris - Canal — Hotel in Paris

Edited response:

After I had finish my trip in Paris I understood that franch people are very different from other countries and you will mabe get a culture shock if this is your first time.

This hostel is probably the best cheap option u got in Paris, compared to hostels that I have been in, this one is bad, but compared to other hostels around Paris this one would be the best.

The security in the hostel is necessary because the area is not safe

The beds are stinky and they throw the pillows on the ground when they change them, bathroom was very annoying to shower cause you have to pres a button every 3 seconds for the water to keep going, and the bar downstairs is mostly full of french people and not people from the hostel so it might be hard to mingle and know who's from the hostel.

The location is near the train station but to get to the most famous places you have to take the train 30 minutes

Near the hostel there is cheap food much less expensive than in the bar.

And breakfast is 5 euro only if u pay when checking in, if not it's 8 euro so look at the breakfast photos and decide for yourself before arriving.

In the end I managed to find other backpacker and we had so much great experiences together, honestly it was very hard in the beginning and I almost gave up.

My First response:

Dear Backpackers Don't come here I had a Terrible experience in this hostel

At first you come there they try to make you pay for breakfast and if you say no thank you, you are basically excluded from meeting people in the hostel in the morning Wich makes it Impossible to go travel with new people and the reception made me a weird face when I said no.

Then you have the security guy who was harassing me the whole time he wanted to fight me everytime I would try to ignore him but he keeps annoying and harassing, he would ask for the room card each time I go in, if don't answer to his good morning he gets pissed and start speaking french and if I go close to the bar he would call me out I talked to the stuff and asked them to tell that guy to not talk to me but they didn't care.

Set aside, no kitchen, no fridge, if you want plate and fork u have to ask the bar everytime, towels are expensive for no reason 3€, and there is a list of fines that they don't show you when you come in but will try to charge you when you go out.

Just terrible experience, I came for traveling but honestly I feel so bad staying here that I want to stop travel and go home.

I should have listen to the bad reviews and booked another hostel, now Im stuck here for another 5 days in this...

I stayed in the female dorm. They do not care as much as to place even a simple fan in the room, considering that the room ventilation is totally poor because though the window is large, it is however restricted to open only a tiny insufficient bit - the apartment always felt very hot, sweaty and this made sleep hard. Moreso, it made the room stuffy with different kind of smell since there are no fan at least to regulate air in the room. ||SOME of the reception girls were very dismissive. For example the very first day I came and was waiting at the reception to check in my reservation, I asked one of them a question, she did not let me finish before she looked me in a funny distasteful way and responded “what? As you can see I’m busy with something else”. She was turning water into a jug did not mean she could not be a bit welcoming or friendly. I just knew not to expect too much here. So I did not feel free to ask any more questions about some things I may need such as where to iron, or what fun place to tour, etc, but one girl was particularly nice I wish I had encountered her early enough or had asked her name.||About 10 apartments in my floor (floor 1) all share the convenience which has 3 toilets and 3 bathrooms. My room alone has 8 bed for 8 girls, now multiply that number for just one room to the about 10 rooms in floor 1 alone that share this toilet. For this huge number of users, the toilet should be maintained regularly and not just cleaned once a day. Many times when the water seems finished in the flush, hostellers are unable to quickly flush, so they abandon poop, pee and tissue in the toilet. More likelihood you will meet an unflushed toilet 4 out of 5 times. While it is not directly the business’s fault, they could do more to ensure water is constant in toilet, and maintain it at some point during the day. Also, They fill the bathroom with foam soaps rather than proper liquid wash. I have mine, but it’s just funny to find foam in a bathroom soap dispenser rather than actual liquid. Foam is for toilet, not for wash in bathroom.||Good Part Here||Good location, good security, safe environment, safe hostel, beautiful, clean rooms and hallways but the toilet is left at the mercy of hostellers. Superb buffet breakfast with lots of varieties to choose from which was yummy and affordable. Kitchen meals had discounted price for guests. Reliable WiFi network. ||Thank you, but your guests deserve at least, a fan to regulate the air in this hot...

Kind of a mixed bag. In summary I'd say this Hostel has great overall concepts, but falls apart when it comes to details and execution.

Rooms:

Decent and large rooms with power plugs and curtains at every bed. Unfortunately the Lockers (basically oversized cages) are clumsy to use and create a lot of noise. Beds are okay, but quite squeaky. My biggest issue is with the doors to the dorms. They are half broken and difficult to close, so most of the time all dorm rooms are just open all day and night (this was the case for our entire floor).

This should definitely be fixed. The beds are also missing little cupboards to put the phone / wallet during the night.

Bathrooms:

Overall seem a bit run down and in need of renovation. On the plus side they are cleaned often, but due to high amounts of guests dirty quickly again. Some of the showers are in need of repair (e.g. inability to change temperature etc.)

Bar:

The hostel has a massive sports bar downstairs with decent quality and priced food and drinks. Important to note though, it's a public bar. So it's impossible / hard to figure out who is a hostel guest. This makes socializing pretty hard in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of this concept.

Maybe just reserve a corner of the pub for hostel guests. Then it would get way more straight forward.

On another note, breakfast is a good value for money as well, I'd definitely consider booking it.

Common Area:

Besides the bar there is a pretty basic common area with some chairs and desks. It's okay, but pretty plain and not very inviting to hang out. It would definitely benefit from some design improvements.

Hostel Events:

Every day at 8 there is a little hostel event. Great idea and highly appreciated especially since the pub is public and therefore quite anonymous.

Unfortunately some of the events felt like ticking a box and doing the bare minimum. It would be great if the staff could take a little longer to initiate ice breakers, get conversations going etc. In the current setup the events seem a bit underwhelming.

Staff:

Exceptionally friendly and supportive staff. Nothing to add, great job!

Summary:

Overall it's an okay hostel, but I wouldn't fully recommend it especially not for solo travelers.

Focusing more on the little details would go a long way of improving things and making it an...