The Loft Hostel Paris — Hotel in Paris

Great hostel. Stayed in 3 different rooms during my stay here as I kept extending my stay. 4 nights in a 4 bed ensuite and the final 3 in two different 5 bed ensuite' s Pros: Clean (rooms cleaned everyday), showers are nice, felt secure, good courtyard area where I was allowed to store my bike, staff were very helpful and spoke more than one language and all I met spoke very good English, luggage area where you can store your things for free when you arrive if your room isn't ready and after you check out. Seen complaints about noise from the courtyard and this can be the case sometimes however it's nothing too extreme in my opinion and it's going to very much depend on who's at the hostel at the time. Very good value for money. Cons: Not a very large indoor social space despite there being a bar. However it's quite easy to meet other travellers in your room or if you make a little effort to speak to people in the courtyard. Quite far away from the centre of the city and a lot of the attractions. You can walk it if you enjoy walking and want to explore the city but it probably wouldn't be something you'd want to do everyday and it's a fine distance by bike. On the other hand there is a metro station nearby if you prefer. Other things worth noting. Breakfast is €3.50 and finishes at 9:30am, the kitchen also closes after this point for a while for cleaning so bear this in mind if you are a bit of a late riser and want to prepare your own breakfast. Breakfast consists of a croissant, some bread, a bowl of cereal, a pot of jam and some butter and a cup of coffee. It isn't terrible value but you might be better off spending that €3 50 in the supermarket and buying an entire baguette, a whole jar of jam and probably a couple of croissants to go with it. The lockers were also a little on the small side so only really for valuables. No outside alcohol is allowed to be consumed on the prememsis, make of this what you will. There is a laundry room available however I did not use it so can't comment on the price. Overall a good experience and one of the better hostels...

Upon arrival I questioned kindly about 2 charges on my card: one from hostel world (clearly stated on the website) and another charge by The Loft. The woman at the reception told me it's normal, that Hostel World charges a commission and that the hostel charges for the first night as a pre authorisation which to me doesn't make any sense at the time. So at this stage I speak to hostel world who tells me I should not have two charges and told me to email customer service. Since I have all my details in hand I go to the reception again to try to clarify what is going on as at this stage I have overpaid 35€ and the receptionist keeps saying the same thing like a broken record, without being clear or answering my question, until I ask if this "pre-authorisation" (as if I work in banks and should know the terminology and how pre-authorisation works) is actually going to be bounced back to my account. The receptionist confirms that yes, tonight her colleague will do this to all the bookings and the money of the "pre-authorisation" will show up on my account. When I questioned why she didn't explained this to me in the first place she replied very aggressively "because you didn't ask me". And this encounter with this lady is what mainly makes me give this hostel one star.

Furthermore:

my bed has no light or power socket (all others do), something that is basic in any hostel. I have to use the socket that belongs to the person in the bunk bellow.

The wifi is painfully slow.

Tiny seems to be the theme: common area, locks, rooms, kitchen.

I was charged a "city tax" on top of the remaining value. Stayed in many hostels in Paris before and never had that, most likely because they include in the booking already so there are no surprises...

Hostel is clean, bright color, and has a funky design, but has MANY issues. The girl at reception was helpful but very cold towards our group. We paid for a 6 beds, but only had 5 people. We were strictly told not to touch the unused bed even though we had paid for it. There was no wireless in our room at all, which was unacceptable for the price we had paid. The en-suite shower only lasted 20secs at a time. This was very annoying while showering. Your not aloud to have food or drink in your room, which made me feel uncomfortable. The breakfast which is included only has two choices bread or cereal. I am gluten free and having no options like fruit-meat-veggies-cheese was unacceptable. The rules state 18+ only, but two children had checked into the hostel with their parents. I am comfortable with this concept, but my friends were disturbed by children staying at the Hostel. Especially since they were unattended watching tv common area.

Pros- *You can keep your luggage in the luggage room for free after you have checked out The male at reception was sincere friendly and helpful, he cared about what we thought and felt. He told us the plans to change things in the future ( willingness to change and improve ) A book with suggestions for...