ibis budget Strasbourg Centre Gare — Hotel in Strasbourg

BED BUGS WARNING !!! BEDBUGS The Hotel Ibis Hotel Budget Strasbourg Centre is conveniently located a short walk from the impressive Strasbourg train station. We arrived in the evening, and booked an affordable room from the street in front of the hotel (I think we might have even used their wi-fi). It seemed like a clean and affordable hotel with convenient nearby parking for our short road trip through the beautiful German and French countryside.

When we got into the room, we quickly noticed a small bed bug trapped in a water glass of all places. While I am fine with budget hotels and basic amenities, I don’t have patience for bedbugs. IFKYK, these pesky insects can take weeks to get rid of, and one small egg or bug can cause a whole house infestation. Since we were only in the hotel room for less than 3 minutes and only booked the room a few moments before, we thought we could easily get a refund and just part ways. The hotel wouldn’t be out any money as they didn’t hold a reservation until we arrived, and the room was literally empty just before we arrived. WRONG.

When we discreetly told the friendly receptionist about the bedbug, he wasn’t shocked or surprised at all, which was the first red flag. He let us know that he wasn’t authorized to refund the charge, and would need approval from his Manager who would be at the desk in the morning and could email us with an update. PERFECT, except that never happened. We didn’t receive an email, and after emailing the hotel numerous times, we were ignored, brushed off, discredited, and ultimately denied a refund based on a variety of irrelevant excuses. After many back and forth emails, we didn’t get anywhere or resolve anything, which we thought was a shame for such a reasonable concern and simple solution.

SUMMARY: Great location and cheap price but be warned if you want to spend the whole night itching and scratching thinking about bedbugs, or deal with treating all your clothes on high heat and spraying your home with nasty chemicals when you return home, you get what you pay for here. A very disappointing end to an overall fabulous trip....

The hotel is located in the center of the city, kitty corner from the train station. From there, you can walk to all major attractions of this wonderful city, or take a tram that's not very expensive [10,40 EU for 3 days or the same price for the 24 h trio (for 3 adults)].

It was one one the best staff we've had in a hotel, from front desk to cafeteria and room cleaning. First, we were greeted by two very nice and welcoming young men, one of whom, if my memory is correct, was named Theo. I really enjoyed the big jug of water with lime or lemon in the lobby; that was really welcome after a long day of travelling or walking. The lady in charge of the breakfast definitely cares about the clients, she is constantly replenishing the buffet and always has a smile. I wish we had asked for her name, because she deserves high praise. This hotel was the first on our European escapade and she and her colleagues set high standards for the rest of our trip; we kept saying afterwards: they're not like the staff at Ibis Centre gare, the breakfast staff are not like the lady at Ibis! Speaking of breakfast, there was so much choice and variety! A good breakfast is really important when you travel and Ibis never disappointed us in that respect.

We would go back to this...

The hotel is at a great location near the train station. We were even able to get by just on foot for our entire stay. We had a triple room as three adults and it worked well enough for a short stay. Though the bunk bed is a little hard to climb up on as the ladder is very close to the window. The breakfast was a little disorganized but good. We did think it was weird that we only got breakfast vouchers for one morning, when we were staying for two nights. Nobody explained to us if and how we could get new vouchers for the second morning. There was also no toilet brush in our bathroom which we thought was gross. We only had two big and one small towel and no bathmat for three people until we asked a housekeeper for more. There is a 3 for 1 soap provided in the shower. The shower was very small. The beds were comfy enough though they only had one small pillow each. Overall, it was adequate for our short stay. But unfortunately, we definitely overpayed with over 200€/night, just because Strasbourg is in high demand in December and we booked a little too late with only a month...