George Sand - Courbevoie, France 

I booked this hotel through late rooms- and paid a third to half of the price. I would have been very annoyed to have paid a euro more for this lack lustre establishment. Firstly, it is too far away from Paris itself. Its a good 30-40 mins to walk to the metro and then catch the various trains to wherever. Its only a euro a ride ( buy a carnet of tickets- 11 euros for 10 tickets ) but its a drag. Also la Defense metro is confusing to get in/ out of and i found it a bit worrying late at night around there. The hotel-nice roms, clean linen, plenty of shampoos etc. Downside- I initially thought the staff were low key for the purpose of enhancing our stay. It transpired that they were actually disinterested, almost to the point of rudeness. I advise you avoid the harriden that haunts the foyer of a morning- cleaning. A very highly strung and aggressive individual- one has to avoid being knee capped by this woman with whatever cleaning implement she has to hand as one attempts to leave. We worsened the situation, failing to hand our credit card style key over on morning 2. As a result we were chased down the road by her - shouted at and physically frog marched back to the hotel....It really felt that guests were an inconvenience. The rest of the staff were as miserable as sin, spoke little English and were on some sort of mission to be as unhelpful as possible. Other negatives- no chest of drawers, TV fixed on a volume level that only with your ear affixed to the screen would you hear, very tight with the towels- ask for more. Very dodgy and pokey lift. No assistance with baggage. No information in the room re the running of the hotel, breakfast,taxis, metro etc. Mini bar did not stock any alcohol bizarrely.. As for local ammenities- there is a good range of shops on the doorstep. The Chinese restaurant a few door up is excellent all round and affordable. A word to the wise...Paris is extremely expensive, especially eating out. On occasions its a good idea to get a picnic together and a bottle of wine- our best day was lunching in the park on the grass below the Eiffel Tower- with all the Parisian!!!

An easy train journey from St Lazare Station and the hotel location is pleasant. Everything seemed fine until we entered the 'no smoking' bedroom. It was saturated with stale smoke, and it must be assumed that the 'no smoking' injunction was wholly ignored. There was no problem in switching to another (smoke-free) bedroom, but that night a serious problem was soon felt - it was the second most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept in. I could not count the springs in the mattress, but I certainly could feel every one of them. It was four nights of little sleep and of annoying aches and pains.++ The staff were pleasant, but only one was bilingual. Attempts to get a second bath towel fell on uncomprehending ears for two days. Not very satisfactory. The breakfasts were basic, but perfectly adequate. Unfortunately, the George Sand is not a showcase for Best Western. I would not return.