Hotel De Paris - Paris, France     

I booked this as part of a budget Eurostar deal and only saw the reviews after booking so I was very apprehensive when I arrived in Paris with my girlfriend. First of all, getting there was so easy from Paris Nord sattion we did not even look at the map and the metro exit was literally 50 metres from the hotel doors, Great! Check-in was fast and the receptionist was very pleasant (yes, very colourful handwritten check in register but at least she found it in seconds!) Now the lift, we laughed all the way to the top, it just about takes 2 people, if you have a large suitcase, forget it but it was fast and saved us climbing 6 flights of stairs. We grew to love it though! The room was small with a good sized bed but really clean with very clean bathroom and towels and we had a little balcony looking out to Gare de l'Est station. Why I would definitely stay here again is the proximity to the Metro and excellent night Bus service to Gare de l'Est from anywhere in Paris. We did not find the area dodgy at night at all, theres traffic noise in the morning but closing the window blocks out all noise. We woke the poor night receptionist at 2 am two nights in a row but he only responded with a cheerful Bonsoir each time! I have read some other bad reviews regarding cleanliness and the breakfast maybe it has been refurbished because I was surprised by how clean the bathroom was and the range of food available at breakfast (Bread, rolls, Omellette, boiled eggs, cereals, juices, yoghurt, cake) and pleasant staff. There was WiFi available so I was able to check my emails. Maybe we loved it because we arrived with very low expectations. Probably 2.5 stars not 3 but still great value. Highly recommended if on a budget. We enjoyed our stay here and we will definitely be going back soon.

The Grand Hotel is fantastically positioned if you are prepared to navigate the city on the m?tro. We were a large group and were there for four nights. We were not complained about once, a first in France (due to our group size). We found the rooms on the small side, with antiquated decor and furnishings. We also found the beds decidedly uncomfortable to be honest. The adults would have really appreciated tea/coffee making facilities in the bedroom too. There was adequate closet space, but we were largely unconcerned about this as we were quite content to live out of our suitcases. The tvs were working too, and all the remote controls were supplied, so that was good. We had one or two missing pillows and broken shower heads, but these things were sorted out once we had informed management. We found the staff very accommodating given the inconvenience of a group of our size. They did not, as has been our experience before in Paris, make us feel as if we were merely tolerable because of the revenue we brought. Whilst the 'lobby' was tiny at the bottom of the stairs, the vending machines kept our party happy and we as adults were relieved the youngsters hadn't a place to congregate downstairs, which may have kept them up longer, and prone to soliciting complaints because of the noise they made! The best thing about our stay was the convenience of the location. Grand Hotel is definitely well appointed. When you can exit the hotel and be in a m?tro station within two minutes, it's a must for touring. A particularly useful thing is that the kids were confident that if any of them were to become detached from the group they could find their way back to the accommodation once we had taught them to use the m?tro map. This provided tour leaders with a small degree of security. Nonethelesss, this never happened during out trip, but at least we knew it was easily found. We found the breakfast in Grand Hotel satisfactory, only. The croissants were nice, but the baguette bread was not at all fresh; we were very disappointed by this. The coffee was awful too; we would have been as well paying for vending machine produce. Again, well appointed budget accommodation.