Locappart Linné

The room was tiny, though I was initially happy with it. I left my bag there for the day so I wouldn’t have to carry it around while visiting Paris. When I came back, the man at the desk said he didn’t know where it was and denied that we’d left a bag there. He couldn’t find our reservation either. After five minutes of arguing, he opened the door to the room where our bag was. He didn’t even apologize. I wouldn’t recommend this place unless you want to be ripped off and stolen from.

The rooftop terrace was a highlight, with chairs and lovely views of the botanical garden. I also liked the breakfast area downstairs, though I didn’t get to try the food. The location was fantastic: within a five minute walk were a laundromat, pharmacy, metro station, and good patisserie, plus a restaurant right across the street. Notre Dame was about a 15 minute walk, and it was easy to get to Sorbonne University. The nearby Grand Mosque has a fairly cheap ladies only sauna. The neighborhood is great, and the staff were friendly and helpful, especially the woman who rearranged things so I could stay one extra night after I realized I’d booked one night too few. I don’t speak even passable French, but that wasn’t a problem. I’d definitely recommend the hotel. My first impression was strange. The man at the desk was distracted by a video call while checking me in, got my name wrong even though he had my ID, and put me in the wrong room. There were someone else’s neatly arranged clothes on the shelves. Nobody was in the room, thankfully, but he didn’t believe me at first and argued that it was definitely mine, maybe just uncleaned. He checked my name against the list again, and then we sorted it out. My actual room was still available and clean. For a week long stay, my room stayed clean throughout. The bed was comfortable, the shower had good pressure, WiFi worked well for streaming shows on my laptop, and the AC was amazing. I could really cool down during the Paris heat, something other travelers said they couldn’t do in some modern hotels with AC. The blackout curtains were excellent too. The rooms are small, more like a cruise ship than a hotel, but I don’t count that as a negative since most hotels in the area have tiny rooms. The hotel was a great place to cool off and sleep well. The stairs are spiral, and the lift is so tight that it was a squeeze for me and two rolling suitcases. It could be difficult for guests managing small children or dealing with mobility issues.

We had a great location for getting around, with Jussieu metro nearby for the main sights and some less touristy places too. Notre Dame was about a 15 minute walk, lovely at sunset. There are plenty of cafés, bakeries, shops and restaurants close by, so we didn’t mind skipping the paid breakfast. I’d strongly recommend this for a budget friendly stay where you can come back and relax. I’d been wary of booking because of the mixed reviews, but my friend and I were pleasantly surprised by our stay of just under a week. The room and bathroom were clean and had everything we needed. We had twin beds that were really comfortable, though they were placed right next to each other in the space a double bed usually takes. That suited us, but might not work if you’re sharing with someone you don’t want to be so close to. The AC was great and stayed on all day, so the room was cool when we came back from being out in the Paris summer heat.

The owner could have paid closer attention to these problems and invested in improving the whole place, not just the rooms. The hotel smelled bad, and the walls were covered with plastic material that looked ugly and seemed to hold dust and waste behind it. The rooms were tiny, with barely enough space to lay out suitcases, and nothing like the pictures. They were dirty and dusty, and the bathroom had urine in the toilet and stains on nearly all the towels, which was disgusting. The bathroom design also meant water ended up all over the floor, making for a very unpleasant experience.