Villa Kleber

The beds were cozy, and the hotel is right by the metro and trams, but we had a few issues. Our pillows smelled like day old gym socks, though I sprayed them with Bounce and it wasn’t a huge deal. We came in late September and found it far too warm. The website advertised AC, but staff said it was switched off, so we roasted. Opening the window wasn’t an option because of the city noise. We were on the breakfast floor, which got very noisy in the morning, and the trams rattled the building and made a lot of noise. The windows had no shades, so the room got extra bright. I asked for another blanket and was told they had only a limited number. Staff were somewhere in the middle, not very kind but not rude either. It wasn’t a bad place to stay overall.

The central location came with a lot of noise: from outside, from trams shaking the building, and through the thin walls, where I could hear everything. I was also next to the breakfast room. If it hadn’t been Christmas markets, I would have stayed elsewhere. We paid £200 per night, which felt like robbery. Luckily, the earplugs from the Normal shop across the way were cheap and worked a treat.

The hotel felt incredibly cramped, and the elevator broke several times. We even got stuck in it for ten minutes. Our rooms weren’t properly cleaned, with stains left in the closet, and the online room photos didn’t match what we actually got. Breakfast was powdered eggs, and the hotel did nothing to resolve our complaints. On our last night, ratatouille showed up wishing us a merry Christmas. The front desk said they’d never known of mice in the hotel, but conveniently had mouse traps ready and expected us to set them out. We did. I’d give zero stars if I could.

The location is central, but do you really need to stay in the center? The city is small enough to walk from one side to the other in one to two hours. I had a clean, neat single room, but the price means I wouldn’t stay here again. Sound insulation was really poor: I could hear people walking upstairs and talking in the neighboring rooms, along with the constant tram and city noise.