Little Palace Hotel - Paris, France     

I booked this hotel on the basis of some of the better reviews, with the poor reviews all seeming to be based on booking confusion. I went through an agent and paid upfront as this is usually more of a guarantee and I had absolutely no problems checking-in. Some reviews have said it's not a great location but I disagree - Paris is so spread about that wherever you are you are going to have to travel to see some of the sights and The Metro/RER is fast, reliable and easy to understand for anyone willing to make a little effort. I was visiting the UNESCO offices right across Paris and got there in 20 minute in the morning rush hour. This hotel is just 2 stops from Gare Du Nord, which meant that I was in my hotel room 15 minutes from arriving on the Eurostar, which is great. The hotel is also near the Pompidou centre, Notre Dame, several musuems and the Louvre and a short stroll from the bawdy Rue St Denis for those looking for English or Irish pubs to catch an important game. My hotel room was on the top floor and it's worth requesting one up there despite the slow lift, because I had a wonderful clear view of the Eiffel Tower and a glimpse of Notre Dame and the Hotel de Ville. My room was reasonably sized with a comfortable bed, plasma TV and clean bathroom. It also has a reasonably priced mini bar with beers, orange juice, mineral water and wine. The garden plaza out the front I found quaint, watching people play boules during the afternoon and certainly not seeing it as threatening as some have mentioned in other reviews. The breakfast was acceptable and well-presented, though nothing special and I didn't try the restaurant with so many other options available in Paris. I found the hotel staff very pleasant and welcoming. Overall a very nice hotel, but lacks the 'wow' factor that people might be looking for if on a very special trip, but good value compared to a lot of other Paris hotels.

We booked a month ahead to stay 2 nights in this hotel, using the hotel website (Golden Tulip chain). I also telephoned to make very sure of our booking, and spoke to a gentleman whom I believe was the manager - he confirmed we had a superior room with balcony for the nights 9-11 February. When we arrived at about 3pm on Saturday 9 Feb, there were two young girls on reception. Just as we now see had occurred to two earlier reviewers, we were told our room was "unavailable" for that night, but would be ours for the Sunday night. No explanation was offered as to why our room had been given away, nor why we were not forewarned. We could even see at the desk the paper with our confirmed reservation on, taken out of the bookings register. Furthermore, when we asked to speak to the manager, the girls said we could not as "he is at home, he does not work weekends"! They then pointed out that they had no responsbility/accountability, as they were not the manager....Grudgingly, one girl 'phoned a "similar hotel, round the corner" which could take us for that night and we could return on Sunday to the Little Palace. Although inconvenient we tried to be reasonable, and walked to the other hotel. It was not near (1 km away). It was old-fashioned, not very clean, on a very noisy trunk road, and was - unsurprisingly - charged out at half the price. The room smelt of smoke too. We promptly used our mobile phone to book ourselves in for 2 nights at a good, if pricey, hotel in the area we had originally wanted. We returned, on foot with our cases, all the way back to the Little Palace to get in writing their acknowledgement that we were not staying with them and owed them no money, as they had our credit card details. This looks like a scam the manager is running. In 20 years I have never come across this problem before in Paris. I have informed the Golden Tulip, as their group reputation is being tarnished by this hotel's unacceptable behaviour.