"AVOID AT ALL COSTS as this hotel is not worth the money or trust from its guests.
I stayed at Le Grand Hôtel Strasbourg from October 5–6, 2025 (Room 317). What happened that night was unacceptable for any hotel, let alone a three-star one.
At around 2:00 a.m., I was abruptly awakened by loud knocking. The man outside refused to identify himself, only saying, “You called for something; I’m bringing it to you”. I hadn’t requested anything. He refused to give his name, and I couldn’t confirm who he was with no peephole. He then asked, “Are you a Chinese man in Room 317?” I am a Chinese woman travelling alone. When I said no, he replied, “Oh, maybe you exchanged rooms, or maybe someone made a joke” and left.
I tried to call reception using the bedside phone, but it was broken. I then used my mobile to call the number on Google Maps; the same man answered, confirming only then that he was a hotel employee. He said a “Chinese man” had called asking for help, said he was in 317, and asked the receptionist to come because he had disabilities. Instead of verifying this request (which in the end turned to be from a guest in ibis hotel), receptionist simply checked the hotel system, read my full name aloud, assumed it was correct because it “looked Chinese”, and came knocking at 2 am.
When I asked whether he confirmed the caller’s name, he said, “We don’t usually ask the names of our guests”. He also refused to tell me his own name. Only the next morning did the manager say his name was “Francis”. When I asked for his surname, she replied, “That’s the name he goes by here".
This entire event shows serious failures in safety, professionalism, and privacy:
-No night security protocol; staff knock on guests’ doors at 2 a.m. without verification.
-Broken in-room phone and no peephole reflect clear safety risks.
-The employee failed to confirm the caller’s identity.
-He accessed and disclosed my full name aloud, a privacy violation.
-His assumption that a Chinese name equals a Chinese man reveals racial and gender discrimination.
-He tried to distribute the responsibility to me, someone woken up BY him, instead of apologizing.
GOOD NEWS: The manager’s vague answer about his identity shows the hotel's good protection of personal privacy. It's just the privacy had nothing to do with its guests.
Because of this, I spent the night feeling unsafe and could not sleep until 4 a.m. I have neurasthenia, and being awakened like this caused serious distress. The next morning, the reception manager admitted that proper protocol requires checking a guest’s name before approaching their room — meaning this employee ignored standard procedure entirely. She kept repeating, “this is the first time this has ever happened to us". This statement once again showed the amazing corporate culture of this hotel: distributing their responsibility onto innocent guest. She tried to make the incident seem as an isolated case rather than a systemic issue. But if their training were truly professionally standardised, such a mistake could never have happened.
The whole thing WAS a systemic problem: poor staff training, lack of supervision, and disregard for privacy and guest safety. The hotel was unable to distinguish between internal and external calls, meaning they can’t verify where a call comes from. If the man at my door had not been an employee, I would have had no way to protect myself.
Guests deserve safety, transparency, and respect — not fear, negligence, and discrimination. Until this hotel takes responsibility and implements real safety measures, there will still be danger of another guest being disturbed at 2 am, there will still be invasion of privacy by its staff, and there will still be chances of wasting your money only to get no rest over night and mental distress."
