Hôtel Habituel

The rooms were fine, but traffic noise came through the windows very loudly and made sleeping difficult if you aren’t used to it. The hotel is in a busy area and can be hard to spot from the street. I didn’t feel very safe around there, especially compared with other parts of the city where we stayed. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone new to Paris, particularly young people traveling alone.

I wasn’t sure about staying here when my company booked it, but check-in was quick and friendly, and the room was comfortable and quiet. I was in 405 at the back, so I imagine the front-facing rooms could be a little noisier. A small, comfortable hotel in a good location, and a reasonable place to stay.

I needed somewhere to stay after my flight was cancelled. The hotel is right across from Gare du Nord, with train access to Charles DeGaulle Airport. The room was nice, the wifi worked well, and the bed was comfortable. It was pretty quiet too. I could easily reach the plug for my phone. The shower has no door, so water might splash onto the floor. The elevator stopped short of my floor, so I had to climb one more level of stairs. I think the curry smell came from a restaurant downstairs, but it wasn’t too strong and didn’t get into my room. I’d stay here again.

On July 16, we got an unwanted 7 AM wake-up call from reception. We hadn't requested one, and the employee realized the mistake, but it spoiled our plan to sleep until 10 AM before returning to Canada on July 17. The elevator was still out when we left. A repairman was there, and we had to carry all seven of our suitcases down ourselves. While we waited for transport, I told reception we were unhappy and would file a complaint. We overheard the repairman say the elevator had reached the end of its useful life and needed replacing. The third-floor door was bent and couldn't be opened. The trouble had started the day before, on July 15. The elevator wasn't working when we arrived, and our young son was stuck inside for a few minutes. He managed to send it back to the ground floor and get out. Then we had to haul four large and three smaller bags up to the third floor after more than a week on the road. One member of our group was a 73-year-old woman with hip problems, so we asked to leave and get a refund. The receptionist refused because we'd already entered the rooms, although we'd only been there a few minutes. He said a repairman was on the way, but we later learned that wasn't quite true. We went out for the evening and came back late, thinking the elevator would be fixed. There was no warning sign, so two people, including my 73-year-old mother-in-law, got in and were trapped again. We felt it was grossly negligent to leave it open after we'd been told repairs were coming. The second incident caused the oldest person in our group a lot of anxiety. For a 4-star hotel, the service was nowhere near the standard. Avoid this hotel.