Ace Hôtel Le Mans

Avoid if you can. The worst part was the smell and mold throughout the place, which made the hygiene feel terrible. The walls are thin enough that you hear everything from nearby rooms. On top of that, the rooms are cramped, there's just one towel for everything, and no outlet by the bed.

There are plenty of places to eat within a kilometre, though if you're driving from the motorway, check for the major roadworks on the approach. When I visited, they were expected to last until around mid-November 2021, so delays were possible. The hotel is good value. Parking is right outside, and the small room was very clean. It had a radiator for cold weather and air conditioning for hot days. The bathroom and toilet were in one of those plastic cubicles. The shower was small, but the pressure was excellent and the water lovely and hot. Two average-sized towels were supplied, which aren't as big as I prefer, but that's just me. There was a small desk, bedside lights, a TV, mirror, two hangers, two coat hooks, and sockets by both the bed and mirror.

Getting there took some care with the sat nav, or you could end up going in circles, though parking itself was easy. The room was warm when we arrived, but it was so small that a large suitcase was hard to manage. We were glad we'd kept our essentials in a small carry-on. It's a basic stopover with a small bedroom and shower, fine if you mainly need somewhere to sleep. Unlike some other Ibis budget hotels, there was no microwave. The breakfast area smelled strongly of curry, so we went to the nearby 24-hour McDonalds instead.

The room was okay, but those pillows were so hard and firm that I couldn't sleep properly.