Bought out by Best Western, this hotel pushes the boundaries of how disappointing your actual rooms can be while still enjoying your stay.
The lobby is amazing! The front desk is great! Our agent didn't come through on booking, but they still hustled to find us five rooms last minute. They are super nice and made us feel welcome in Paris. The dining room was so elegant, we could feel important just for eating toast.
The rooms were not so enjoyable. Tiny...like, prison cell tiny. I can deal with that. But what I *can't* deal with is the choice between gusts of frigid air and having no ventilation. The small unit for what I assume to be heating and cooling was unresponsive, and the digital panel on the wall would not turn on. Other rooms had varying degrees of disrepair, like leaks in showers and windows that could not properly close. At night, the creaky wooden floors would announce your arrival to the entire hall.
Also, have fun waking up to a breakfast that is quite stale. Even just an hour after opening, I had to question if these were leftovers from the previous morning. It's better if I don't know.
The broken elevator was particularly inconvenient. As we were leaving, it was only partially responsive and moving back and forth between floors as I tried to summon it several times. When I gave up, it eventually went down to ground level, where my unfortunate colleague had to use some force to get the doors properly open. They should really fix that.
I know, I know, I'm a college kid in Paris living far beyond my means, and you'd think I'd shut up and appreciate that. "But there's so much stuff to do!" you say. Enjoy your McDonald's, Chipotle, and Starbucks along Grand Boulevards...anything noteworthy was a moderate walk or a metro away. No distance was too large to get away from this hotel. Perhaps in a roundabout way, Ronceray got me to enjoy more of Paris by making it unbearable to stay in. Between that and style, I'll give it two stars and call it a day. read more