Grand Hotel du Havre - Paris, France 

"Good value, not quite as touted"
Posted: Mon, Nov 23 2009
Recommended. Our family w/ 2 teenagers stayed 4 nights at this 3-star hotel (well deserved) across from the St. Lazare train station, and the room was big enough if you like each other a lot. Despite the view from the street, the hotel is spotless and refined. It has very helpful staff, great breakfast staffed by a fine gent in a white suit serving continental breakfast plus cheese, yogurt and boil-your-own-eggs in a cool machine. In summer, there were mainly other families - European - though it's a businessman's hotel. The hotel seems to like this - a good combo. The catch concerns noise and temperature. If you book because you want AC, beware that the hotel's AC does NOT run through the night - it stops at midnight. Plus, you pay 10 euros extra for it. Since it was cool enough in August, we tried to keep the window open instead. Enter problem two: VERY NOISY STREET if your room looks out on the street. Cars/trucks/curbsiders all night long. We got staff to give us a fan, which meant we could sleep through the night... If you're looking just to crash late at night in a clean, well located/well run hotel, this is an excellent value and an enjoyable place. The 8th may be mainly commercial, but it's very central to all sorts of Parisian spots and the hotel is quite near a metro ponit where several lines converge - very important/easy with kids. The neighborhood's not bad, just loud. I couldn't find other such good value despite many hours of net searching.

Disappointed
Posted: Sun, Jul 06 2008
My husband and I spent one night in the Grand Hotel du Havre. There was a lot of black mold growing on the wall paper and there was no air conditioning in the room so it was hot and moist. Apparently only some of the rooms have A/C and it's not turned on until a certain date in summer. The noise from the street was too loud to be able to open the window to air out the place. (We didn't have pillowcases either). I didn't see a check-out time posted anywhere, yet we were called before noon (as we were packing to go) and told that the room was not available for another night. The price was good and the location was good but I would not choose to stay there again.