Le Marceau Bastille - Paris, France     

This trip was unusual for me since it was planned by someone else as a surprise trip to Paris. I therefore basically didn't plan the journey or have any say in the choice of hotel, room etc. The Hotel is very poorly located to the main tourist attractions in central Paris, lying about 750 metres South of the Bastille Square. This does mean it is in fairly quiet location but our trip also coincided with one of the very regular transport strikes in Paris so we had to wait nearly 90 minutes at Gare du Nord railway station for a taxi to the hotel which at about 4km is too far to walk. The buses were also impossible with baggage and completely collapsed, probably also due to the transport strike. Despite all these obstacles, I had a great time in Paris and I arrived at the hotel Marceaux de Bastille looking forward to a weekend break. The hotel is extremely new. I would guess no more than 12 months old. The reception area, which also doubles as a breakfast room is lined with modern art which is changed every 4 to 6 months and appears bright and attractive. The only seating in this area are low "bedroom" type chairs around small low circular tables. This area is also part of the breakfast room seating so if you coincide with a lot of guests on the same schedule, for example on a weekend you will amost inevitably be sat very low with your knees in front of you trying to eat breakfast. For young fit types this may be very cool but for your average chubby American tourist to Paris, this will be impossible to perform. To be fair, there are some "normal" height tables and also a large "stool height" table for 6 persons. The overall choice at breakfast is excellent (the croissants are to die for) and there is also a cheese trolley which is of a very high standard. The breakfast room opens onto a small glazed courtyard so it is a very pleasant room. I imagine that in good weather this becomes an open area which must be very nice indeed. However this area is the only PUBLIC area in the hotel. So no sofas, no lounge, no bar to sit in for a drink with friends. All this despite the very extensive ground floor floor space. It seems a bit nuts that you can only walk into reception and go to your room. The white minimalistic lobby is not softened at night with ambient lighting so although I guess you could order a drink you would not want to sit around in reception with friends. Onto the rooms, alas all is not well. Beautifully decorated, slim plasma tvs, safe, these rooms "tick all the boxes" except one SPACE. Our room was 107 however there was a fire exit plan to scale on the back of the door so on paper at least none of them are very big on the first floor at least. Putting it bluntly when in your room and not in bed, on the toilet or in the bath there is no space to do anything except stand. A space of around 40cm separates the bed from all the walls and furniture so, despite the pale and trendy decor there is NO ROOM to do anything except sleep. The hotel management were also very "french" when we raised these issues, NON I could not change room to a double bedroom, all were taken (this despite a 3 night stay), NON it was impossible to get the room tv to recieve the channels that were not in French (all non French channels were blacked out), they could of course leave a message for Mr Technician but this was not their fault etc etc. On our last day we ordered a taxi for 10am and this waited for ages in reception (which we assumed was normal given the strikes) only for one of us to walk outside to find that the taxi had arrived 10 minutes ago and was sat outside with the meter running (to the tune of 15 euros) which OUI I had to pay for. They did send two glasses of champagne up to the room on arrival which was a very nice touch. My partner used the fitness room which was also very limited in size and facilities consisting of one bike, one step machine and one bench. Period. Overall impressions STAY AWAY this hotel has nothing (except the croissants) to recommend it or make it unique or woth the visit. It's poorly located, not particularly well run and unfortunately the space and layout of the rooms make it a very bad value for money hotel. Our stay with breakfast was 600 euros for 3 nights so hardly a bargain either. If you a travelling to Paris and hear about a strike my recommendation would simply be to cancel and travel some other time. The city has far too few taxis and is too extensive to make walking a serious option over several days. From my trip, I would recommend chosing a hotel on the Rive Gauche, in the St Germain area where we eat, shopped and played for nearly the entire time. Given its distance from everything and the lack of restaurants in the same street (the nearest one is about 200 m away), its surprising that the management have not tried to increase food and beverage sales inside the hotel. Final vedict STAY AWAY unless you are on business in the Bastille or Gare de Lyon area, a dwarf on a diet and staying one night!

Hi, I have recently returned from a three night stay in Le Marceau Bastille and was more than happy with the quality and service we received from the hotel. My Fiance and I are a young couple, (32/24) being quite well travelled we have experianced many city breaks which gives us others to compare the quality against. I would say that this hotel is definitely a four star, the staff were always helpfull. The hotel is only small and is very modern with a botique feel around the place - the hotel photos on the official website describe the hotel perfectly, the only downside is that the rooms are slightly small, although they are very clean and well equiped. The location is fantastic, it is slighty off the main road around 7mins walk from the bastille metro or the gare de lyon so getting around is no problem and the road is very quite of an evening. The breakfast was good quality and a lovely environment to be in although the choice was not vast - this is a small hotel so this is what you would expect. I would not hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone and would happily answer any questions from other travellers looking to go to paris.