Best Western Au Trocadero - Paris, France 

Shame about the staff
Posted: Sat, Sep 29 2007
My husband and I arrived with my sister and brother-in-law (their first vist to Paris) on a cold and windy afternoon at about 2.30pm. We went to check in and the man behind the desk was not very welcoming and just gave us both sets of fobs to our rooms. My sisters was fine, but when we checked ours out it had not been cleaned from the previous occupant. Bed unmade, bathroom had not been cleaned and the ashtray was full of cigarettes (even though it was almost 3pm by now). I went down to see the man who was on reception (he was middle aged and wearing thick glasses) I told him about the room and he did not seem really bothered and said here's another room see if that has been made up! He did comment if it was not ready I would just have to wait. I could understand if we had arrived at the hotel at 9am in the morning, but not 3pm in the afternoon. The other points I think need mentioning at breakfast the girl on duty each morning could not bring herself to smile and did her best to ignore you unless you stood in front of her for 5-10mins. We were not the only guests receiving this treatment. The breakfast took for ever as she said she did not have enough crockery and we would have to wait while she washed it up. You had to ask her for everything otherwise you would have sat at the breakfast table for ever!!!! God knows how she would have coped if the hotel had been full. We did not meet many other guest (what ever time we ate breakfast) The other hotel staff were also not particularly friendly or helpful. The young boy who worked nights never spoke and did not like it if we just wanted to sit in the lounge area before going out in the evening. He used to just glare at you and ask "What do you want?" even after we told him we were just meeting up in the lounge to sort out where we were going out to that night. I was really upset as we have been to Paris before and stayed in other hotels and have never come across such an unfriendly place to stay. I t was a real shame as my sister and brother-in-law as it has put them off ever going back to Paris, such a shame as it was a 3 Star hotel but felt more like you were staying at "Fawlty Towers". . The only good thing I can say that in the end both our rooms were very clean and fresh towels replaced every day.

Great Location and Value
Posted: Wed, Sep 26 2007
I stayed in this hotel last summer for 6 days, and we are returning to the hotel next week for 4 days, which is evidence to its draw. We mainly booked this hotel for its location, almost every night after a lovely evening we lay under the eiffel tower, or by the huge fountains next to the eiffel tower, listening to music, watching the eiffel tower flash, chatting and people watching. Often a little tipsy. Then wandering a 5-10 minute walk home to the hotel along the fountains, the river Seine, and across the trocadero. The Trocadero itself is really great, it is just a square but it is covered in street entertainment like human statues or crazy breakdancers. The street sellers get a little tiring but you get used to it. This hotel is loterally right next to a metro stop which is reallly handy for getting around, and dragging luggage. The breakfasts are average but sufficiant and there is a quaint square to eat it in, the rooms are fairly small but nice enough, and what you expect in Paris really unless you spend thousands. It was great to chill out in the room with a great veiw of the Eiffel tower. Highlights of the trip are On a particularly hot day we - and many others - went paddling in the fountains by the eiffel tower; driving around the grounds of Versaille in a golf buggy, veiwing the champs ellyse from the arc de triomphe, and eating a picnic under the eiffel tower. It is a lovely city and I can't wait to return next week. Tips:- - Do not to buy the champagne that the men sell you around the tower because it tastes disgusting. - The TV in the rooms has some sexy/rude french channels if that's your sort of thing. - Unless you're fluent, don't bother trying any tourist French at any of the tourist attractions because they will laugh or get aggitated. - Don't go on a bus tour, go on a boat tour. - A walk along the Mouln Rouge is really interesting even if you don't see a show.

Almost Perfect
Posted: Wed, Aug 29 2007
My sister and I stayed at the BW au Trocadero on July 7th and 8th. The hotel is in a wonderful location and the view from our room of the Eiffel Tower was beautiful. I also loved the room. It was very clean and the decor very nice. The bathroom was nice as well, modern and a pretty good size. We had two large windows that open completely and offer a great view of the Eiffel Tower. The Trocadero metro stop is really, really close. There are also several good restaurants close by. The hotel is in a perfect spot. The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées are a 10 minute walk. The Eiffel Tower and the Seine are just across the street. ( and down some major steps) I really loved the hotel and the location. I would stay there again even with the few problems we had. The only problem with this hotel is the staff. First of all, I e-mailed the hotel a few weeks before our trip to find out about the cost of internet access. I was told to visit the service provider (www.sfr.com) website to get the rates. I did this and the rates were reasonable (15 euro for 3 hrs over 48 hr period) so I brought my laptop. ( we wanted to call home via internet) Well, these are not actually the rates. SFR and BW blocked general access and you have to buy a card from the hotel to access the internet. The cards cost 3 euro for 20 minutes. I complained about this but was told that this is just how it works- no apology. ( I even sent the e-mail back that was sent to me with the bad info.) One evening, I wanted to buy another 3 euro card and was told right away, the clerk didn't even look, that they didn't have any more. I knew this wasn't true because I saw a huge stack of the cards the last time I bought one. I had to practically beg the guy to look for the cards, then had to actually show him where to find the cards!! I knew more about the front desk than he did!! Lastly, it took 30 minutes to check out because they couldn't get the credit card machine to work. Other than those things, which I guess are minor, the place was great. Oh, yea, the airconditioner is GREAT...nice and cool. ( If you are searching for hotels with Tower views, I recently stayed at the Hotel Splendid Tour Eiffel and the BW au Trocadero is much better.)