Ibis Budget Marseille Vieux Port

The view over Marseille and the sunset from our room was lovely, and the location was central, with restaurants, cafés, shops, and most attractions only a short walk away. The shower worked well, and the staff were nice and helpful. The hotel is a bit old but okay, and the room was fine for a day or two. The mattress and bedding were very poor quality, with no spare pillow or duvet. The air conditioning was noisy and strange. There was a horrible smell in the room, unlike anything I’d experienced, so I had to open the window often. There’s room for two, though it could be a squeeze with a large suitcase.

I spotted a cockroach in the bathroom on the day I left, which knocked this down from four stars. Apart from that, it was fine. The rooms are tiny, dark, and have no view; even the toilet paper isn’t proper. The elevator badly needs a tune-up.

I spent at least ten minutes cleaning the second room myself, wiping dust from places like the door handles. For the price, that really isn’t worth it. There’s clearly a cleaning problem. At check-in I was given a room on level -2 that felt like a “service room.” The bed had hairs on it and the bathroom was damp, with some mould. I asked the front desk woman to move me, and she agreed to let me look at rooms on the 7th floor. Those seemed okay because there was no hair in the beds. I feel the rooms on the lower level are all bad, while the other part of the hotel is okay.

We ended up here in an emergency after our Airbnb hosts let us down. The room was basic, but had all the necessities. The night-shift receptionist wasn’t very helpful. She didn’t speak even basic English, although she kept telling us, “I understand.” For some reason she tried to resolve our Airbnb problem instead of just giving us a room. She also made mean comments about us in French to her colleague. I understand French, though I can’t express myself in it. It took a while for her to understand what we needed.