ReddVelvet

Hotel du Champ de Mars, heavily promoted by Rick Steves. I'd think twice about staying here. We just got back from spending 2 weeks in Paris. My second trip in 2 years. I never before experienced french rudeness nor arrogance but boy did we get a blast full of both this trip and on our first day in Paris. My friend's first trip and boy what an eye opener it was for her.

Upon our arrival in the evening of Sept. /04 we checked in and lugged our luggage up to our room. AWe opened the door to find one double bed and a cot. I booked this hotel 6 mos. prior to arrival and booked & received a confirmation from the hotel for a roon with twin beds. I went down to the night clerk to advise him of the mistake. He asked me if I had a copy of my e-mails. I said no then asked if they had it and then looked down on the desk in front of him an dnoticed that he had my e-mails right in fron of him. I then proceede to ask him if I could see them and then pointed out to him their last correspondence to me confirming twin beds. He said he couldn't do anything and we would have to speak with the manager in the morning.I then asked him for a copy of my e-mails.

In the morning we went downstairs and said Bonjour to the man sitting behind the desk and before we could say another word this guy asked if we were from room 35? We said yes and then he started yelling at us. Yes I mean yelling at us. Denying my reservation for twin beds. I proceeded to show him his confirmation to me which clearly stated room with twin beds but he wouldn't look at it. In fact by this time he was a raging bull and at one point we thought he would lep over the counter and attack us. My girlfriend was visibly shaking. He was scraming at us to get out of the hotel right now , today. My girlfriend calmly trid to talk to him but to no avail. We turned around and went up to our room. We just wanted to leave but I was there for the Pret a Porter show and didn't have time to run around looking for another hotel at that time. So we decided to stay for now until we came across something else. The real kicker was that her turned out to be the owner as well. So we had no recourse and since neither of us speak very good french we were toast.; Can you imagine what coming and going in this hotel was like. Miserable. We tried to be pleasant to him but to no avail.. Not the experience I would have wished for my girfriend's first trip to Paris. So what if it's a cute charming 2* hotel for a good price. That shouldn't give him the right to treat his guests that way.

I loved the Rue Cler district very much but it is very noisy at night and very early in the morning when they set up. I'm a night owl and partier myself but I still had to sleep with earplugs. We eventually moved to the Grand Balcons which was like night and day with the service and attitude. We then travelled to Provence and when we came back we spent our last night in Paris at the Hotel de Londres Eiffel tower. Nice hotel, quiet, free internet for guests, friendly helpful staff. I have done alot of travelling and have stayed in all kinds of places from 2* to 4* and have never been treated so badly before. Even the night attendent appologized for his boss cause "I know what he can be like" he said. I am writing this to hopefully prevent anyone else from experiencing what we did. I also wrote Rick Steves to make him aware as well. On a side note My sister was unhappy with her room and sent the hotel an e-mail when she returned home. The hotel was very apologetic and offered her 3 free nights in a large room on her next trip. Now that's a hotel you want to stay in.

ira

Hi RV,

Too bad about the Champ du Mars.

>My sister was unhappy with her room and sent the hotel an e-mail when she returned home. The hotel was very apologetic and offered her 3 free nights in a large room on her next trip. Now that's a hotel you want to stay in. <

What's the name of that one?

ilovetulips

Thanks for the info. It is a shame, because I see this hotel recommended all over the place, not just in Rick Steves' books. I will not stay there based on your experience.

Robespierre

I won't stay there either. Spread the word.

(ReddVelvet: be sure to copy Mme. Defarge on everything posted here.)

degas

The nerve of that rude, arrogant clerk!
I wonder how much he's paying the old Rickester to recommend this bait and switch hotel?

When calm, logical talk doesn't work, then you just got to get down and dirty with fools. I hope you left a few small dead fish under the mattress when you left.

Ann1

This is not the first complaint I've heard about this hotel. I've heard also that people have had confirmed reservations with a credit card and telling them they will be arriving late but when they arrived they had no room and it was too late to get one somewhere else. On the other hand, the
Hotel de Londres Eiffel Tower isn't perfect either. I e-mailed them for a reservation. The price was good. I faxed them my confirmation and credit card number. They returned with the correct amount on the final confirmation. A few days before I left, I e-mailed to re-confirm and they returned with a much higher price.....I cancelled and booked somewhere else.

Christina

wow -- this sounds awful, I've never been treated that way, even though I've had a couple cases where they were a bit rude or unhelpful about some minor thing. It sounds like the really rude guy was the owner. I wonder what his problem is, confirming twin beds and then refusing to even acknowledge it. It would have been one thing to say they made a mistake and didn't have one available, so sorry, but this is all we can do, rather than this tirade.

What was the hotel that offered your sister a free stay because she complained about a room? Your post makes it sounds like the Champ de Mars, actually. YOu were lucky to have found some alternative hotels with vacancies (especially during this busy period)without too much trouble, it sounds like.

I know I've read some posts about folks who have liked the Champ de Mars, but they probably didn't have any problems with room-switching. I guess this is what happens when things don't go smoothly or there are problems, which I think is a good test.

crepes_a_go_go

I have a fear of something like this happening so I always print out all my hotel confirmation emails and keep it with me for checking in. I even do that here in the US as well as when travelling abroad. Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience.

Judyrem

Oh how awful for you ! I don't know what I would have done either! I would definitely post Rick Steves web site's "wall section". Maybe even to the French Tourist Board site..not sure if they have one though

wondering

Thanks you for this "heads up." There are too many other good choices in paris for fodorites to patronize this hotel. usually rick steves does warn if there is an attitude problem at any of his recommendations. guess he is slipping?

WillTravel

I think Degas was kidding about kickbacks. I thought Rick Steves does not take kickbacks for his hotel recommendations? Does anyone know? The hotels profit of course and often offer a discount to his guidebook users.

Here's the link to his Paris board:
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/graffiti54.html

Beatchick

ReddVelvet, what day was it that you said you checked in? Your message says "Sept. /04" and I am wondering if that was Sept 4th or Sept (blank date), 2004?

I also e-mailed the Gourdals at the Champ de Mars asking for a response and copied Rick Steves on the message as well.

ReddVelvet

Thanks guys for all your support and suggestions. I have already contacted Rick Steves and offered up a cc of my e-mail confirmation. I also agree with Robespierre"we should spread the word" and I will check into the French Tourist board, and other travel sites that reccomend this hotel.The hotel that offered my sister a free stay is Le Motte Piquette(i'm not sure of the spelling) Beatchick, I checked in Sept. 3/04

ReddVelvet

Robespierre, who is MMe. Defarge? and how do I copy this person?

isabel

Maybe their current popularity has made them so busy they are cranky. Obviously there is no excuse for being treated like that. But other than the night clerk, was the male owner the only one you had dealings with? The woman who is in Rick Steves Paris video, who I though was the owner, was also the woman who was always at the desk when I stayed there about four years ago. I had both good and bad experiences with her.

When we first got there it was my friend and I and my daughter, who was not going to be staying there. We checked in for the double room and when we started to go upstairs she started to rudely tell us it was a double, not a triple. She didn't yell, but she was not too pleasant. We explained my daughter was leaving in a few minutes and woulndn't be staying there. About an hour later we came down to the lobby to meet the French woman who was picking up my daughter (she was going to stay with this family). When the "owner/desk lady" saw the interchange between the French family and us (that we clearly knew her and our daughter was going to stay with them) her whole attitude changed. When she saw that I was a little emotional about saying good-by to my daughter (my friend and I were going to be traveling around France for a few weeks while my daughter stayed in Paris) she became my best friend, offering all kinds of advice and help with our other arrangements. Don't know what this story is worth, but I just had to say that even though my experience with the Champ de Mars wasn't 100% wonderful, my dealings with the staff/owner was mostly positive.

Beatchick

Isabel, that's good to know, thank you.

At the very least, they/she should be made aware of how their attitude/actions affect their clientele.

I am hoping to hear back from the Gourdals and Rick Steve soon.

elle

What a shame--we've stayed their and never had any problems, either with the staff or the owners.

I would have been rattled too if someone started screaming at me like that. I wonder what's going on there?

francophile03

This is a bit different. But I have to say that I tried many times to get a reservation at this the Champ de Mars. They responded to my emails only when they felt like it. When I did receive responses it was to say they're booked and to try later on. I did that, trying again to book around 6 mos. in advance. Then when they did feel like replying they said that the reservations were not open as it's too early. I am so glad I never did get a reservation here after what I read.

Beatchick

Francophile, I've had the same experiences, too, with trying to get a reservation there. I almost put that in my e-mail message but then thought it sounded too personal. I've felt like I was playing some sort of game with them. I wonder if they get flooded for requests for a room EXACTLY 6 months before it is required.

I initially wondered, too, if perhaps ReddVelvet and crew might've done something to provoke that reponse but realized that no matter WHAT said crew did it didn't require that unprofessional response. What an humiliating experience.

OReilly

What a terrible experience. They are obviously victims of their own success. There is NO excuse for treating guests in that manner.

ReddVelvet, you might want to add your comments to Tripadvisor.com:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

Ger