B&B HOTEL Lille Centre Grand Palais

We'd be happy to come back. The room was good value, and the staff were so welcoming and gave great service. They arranged extra pillows and luggage storage for our departure day without any fuss.

We knew before booking that getting to the old town would mean a lot of walking, and that was fine for a sightseeing trip. The route through the nearby areas, mostly residential with some business areas, was pleasant enough. The stay was acceptable, but there were a lot of little annoyances. I've stayed at two other hotels from this chain in Germany, and both were a higher standard. For £300 for 3 nights, the room felt worn and dated. The bathroom was very small, with hardly anywhere to store things or hang towels. There was good shower pressure, but the shower door left a gap of around 10cm or more. It wasn't too bad if I aimed the shower head away from it, but the head leaked afterward and made a dripping noise. The sink tap was awkwardly placed, and one toilet roll had been soaked in water. The light switches were baffling. The room slept four, with a double bed and two singles, but the switches by the double bed overrode the ones beside the single beds. If someone in the double bed turned the lights off, anyone heading to a single bed had to do it in the dark, by torch, or using the bathroom light. Maybe the setup was meant for a family of four, but it was annoying in other situations. We were both badly bitten by mosquitoes on the last two nights, which seemed odd in November. It may not have been the hotel's fault, but bug nets or zappers in the room would've helped. Maybe all the plants and creepers covering the hotel attract insects. Also, the two email confirmations from when we booked two months earlier didn't say we'd paid for breakfast. After reception confirmed it was included, we had to log in and search our booking to check. Breakfast had a toaster but no sliced bread. I cut up baguette slices, but they were too small for it and got stuck, so retrieving them meant risking fingers or using metal tongs.

The staff were the best part of the stay. They were friendly and apologetic, offered help quickly, and seemed to really care about making guests feel welcome despite the place being below average. Breakfast was okay, though frying an egg on the electric Tefal stove took ages. I wouldn't return, but I wish hotel staff elsewhere were as attentive. The nearby highway made a terrible noise, and the rooms were so tiny that you had to sit on the bed to do anything. There was no kettle or mini-fridge, just two flimsy paper cups, one in the room and one in the bathroom. A toothbrush made the bathroom cup tip into the sink. The linoleum floor mats gave the place a hospital feel. On my final day, the shower had no hot water, so I was moved to another room to finish showering. We paid €200 a night. At €70, I might not mind the quality, but at that price I'd expect more.

The room was dusty, we found bed bug bites, and there weren't enough towels. At first we thought the bites were from mosquitoes, so we didn't tell reception. I only realized on the last night that they were bed bug bites. I also thought the dust might be normal, since the BnB near Mont Michel where we stayed before was dusty too. This time I brought floor wipes and wiped every surface, though I had hoped the Lille hotel would be cleaner. I won't book with BnB hotels again.