Les Jardins du Marais

"This hotel is anything but four-star. Easily the worst hotel on our 30-day trip through Europe. Not Sure where are they really getting those five star reviews.? The courtyard photos sell an experience the rest of the hotel simply doesn’t deliver. Our room was terrible, the corridors were filthy, and an unpleasant smell lingered throughout the property. In my opinion, it was closer to a budget two-star hotel, at a much higher price. The photos I took inside our room speak for themselves. Someone entered our room despite the Do Not Disturb sign, and €500 subsequently went missing. Management acknowledged the entry in writing and apologised for the room being cleaned despite the sign. When we followed up about the missing cash, reception repeatedly told us, “At this stage, we do not have an answer for you.” Management offered us a taxi and dinner, which we felt was an attempt to get us to drop the matter. We wanted our money back and an explanation. The final email said nothing had been found. The broken lift became a two-hour battle at reception. Staff repeatedly pushed us to accept a sixth-floor room in the building with the broken lift, despite us explaining that we could not manage those stairs for medical reasons. They insisted these were the best rooms and that the other building was fully booked. After two hours of waiting and arguing, rooms suddenly became available in another building with working lifts. It was hard to understand why we had been put through all of that. Watching an elderly couple accept the same situation was upsetting. A couple who appeared to be in their seventies gave up and accepted a sixth-floor room just before us. Guests should not have to exhaust themselves at reception to get a room they can reasonably access. Even basic service was painfully slow. Requests for water or room essentials could take four to five hours, or be forgotten altogether."

"I stayed at Les Jardins du Marais during a recent package tour of Paris. The location is technically in the 11th arrondisement, not in the Marais, but it's only about 200 meters from the 3rd arrondishment, or the Marais proper. The front desk was staffed with friendly folks who spoke both French and English. The hotel is composed of many different buildings that are united by a central courtyard. Since it was cold, the courtyard amenities (a little cafe) were closed. Please note that there are two steps up from the street with no handrail to enter the hotel, and not all areas are accessible to wheelchairs. I stayed in a room in the building that faced the street, Rue Amelot, but noise was not an issue. The windows opened. You could hear the front doors of the hotel open and close, but it was not loud or disruptive. In general, the room was quiet. There were two single beds, a desk, desk chair, arm chair, and small table. Each bed had a nightstand. The beds were comfortable, and there were two feather pillows per bed. It was not possible to plug in any electronics to charge on the nightstands; you need to plug in on the desk or in the kitchenette. The kitchenette contained an induction cooktop, a microwave, a sink, a coffee maker, and a mini-fridge. There was a kettle to boil water on the desk. There were two wine glasses and a corkscrew, but no other kitchen equipment was included. There was no chest for clothes but rather a set of five deep shelves. In the bathroom there were two very large bath towels, what we would call "bath sheets" in the U.S., and two hand towels. Although one of the pictures on the website shows facecloths, there were none, which is common in France. The shower had instant and lots of hot water. The tub was very deep, so the hotel supplied a stepstool to climb in. Supplied amenities included a shampoo/shower gel dispenser in the shower, a soap dispenser by the sink, a hairdryer, a sewing kit, and a shoe shine kit. I can't speak to the value, because I was booked into the hotel by a package tour. There were at least four different tour companies in the hotel while I was there, so it must have been dependable. There is a breakfast room at the far end of the courtyard and down some steep spiral stone steps, and the breakfast buffet was excellent. Every day included fresh croissants, other pastries, jams, yogurt, baked beans, scrambled eggs (they might have been powdered eggs), bacon, sausage, brie, swiss cheese, salami, ham, figs, prunes, cucumbers, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, butter, peanut butter, and fruit. There were two coffee machines, hot milk, cold milk, hot chocolate, teas, sparkling water, orange juice, grapefruit juice, and still water. On the days that an Asian tour group was in the hotel, there was miso soup. I'm sure I'm missing some selections from the breakfast buffet, but it was very complete. Our room and the lobby were very clean, and there was very little evidence of delayed maintenance. On the Rue Amelot, which is a very small street, there were three cafes less than 50 feet from the hotel front door. A full-service supermarket was about a block away. There was also a Korean restaurant directly across from the hotel. The nearest Metro station, which is about two and a half blocks away, is Saint-Sebastien-Froissart M8. I very much enjoyed my stay and would choose the location again."

"We booked this hotel for our honeymoon, expecting a relaxing stay, but the experience fell well below expectations. The Superior Double Room we paid for appeared significantly smaller than advertised and was poorly maintained, with damaged tiling, an inadequately cleaned bathroom and other signs of neglect. On two nights courtyard event noise continued until approximately 3:30am due to events hosted at the hotel, disrupting our sleep. We raised our concerns with reception twice but were passed between staff and asked to submit a complaint by email. Our retrospective attempts to resolve the matter and obtain a reasonable resolution have been unsuccessful despite whatever response this review might get. The combination of a misleading superior room, poor cleanliness, maintenance issues, a serious privacy incident and excessive noise made this a very disappointing honeymoon experience. We would not consider it value for money and would urge prospective guests to manage their expectations."