Apollo - Paris, France     

We arrived into Paris late and needed a place to sleep for the night. We found the hotel Apollo with a decent rate right next to the train station. It seemed like a decent at first. We went out for drinks to celebrate the start of our journey; on the way out we found that we had to leave the key. Later we returned to find that the key was no longer at the front desk, the person quickly ran “upstairs” to “find the key in the door”, he went up to the top floor and back in only a few minutes. We went to our room to find that someone had been in our room (a light that we left on was turned off), but that nothing was missing. Though we had noticed earlier, there was a very strong smell in the hotel, not like cigarette smoke, but a very awful smell. We decided to open the bathroom window for the night and went to sleep, we woke to found the smell even stronger and extremely nauseating. We showered quickly and barely made it out before we started to get very sick feeling. We went to the “breakfast” we had paid 9 euros each for and found that it was hardly work 2 euros. Pros: Very close to train station and cheap for the area. Cons: Bad service, very bad smell, rooms small and moderately cleaned.

Old French hotel. Hotel is directly across the street from the Gare du Nord. The neigborhood therefore is transient. Abundant cafes that catered to tourists. Little supermarkets and eareries in on Blvd de Magenta. The hotel is older, has a lift and ceramic statues on each floor. The beds were clean and comfortable. The bathroom was clean as well. Staff was friendly and helpful. There was some continuing water damage from the bath upstairs, and the carpet had stains, but overall it was a good experience and I would return.