AVOID Odeon Hotel (and France Hotel Reservations network)
 

My wife, currently in Paris, is having an unpleasant stay at the Odeon Hotel (on St. Sulpice -- not to be confused with Hotel de l'Odeon, on Rue de Odeon).<BR><BR>She needed a triple room. We were promised, by both the hotel and France Hotel Reservations (FHR, the reservation network that handled the transaction) that the reserved room was a true triple in size. We realize that Parisian hotel rooms typically are small -- but, at least, we wanted assurance that it was not a double room with a "rollaway" bed wedged in the aisle space. We were assurred that it was a spacious room -- one of the biggest and best rooms at the hotel. Given the nightly rate of 250 euros (highest rate at the hotel), we accepted their assurances. When my wife arrived two days ago, she discovered that the Odeon Hotel did not deliver on its promises. The room was very small. And, while the additional bed was not a "rollaway" (the mattress was firm), it sat atop a bare metal frame and was wedged in the narrow aisle -- thus permitting virtually no walking space for my wife and her two guests (her mother and sister) for their 10-day stay. This "triple" room has a tiny (a square meter) closet with nine hangers. This for 250 Euros. Moreover, the people behind the reception desk were very rude when my wife politely expressed her disappointment that the earlier representations were not accurate. (I should add that my wife and her family are EXTREMELY polite people; they are not the stereotype of pushy and demanding American tourists.) She eventually learned that the largest room at the hotel had been given to someone else.<BR><BR>My wife and her family are rather stoic about their misfortune, but I would like to warn other visitors to avoid this hotel, especially in light of the high recommendation that Fodors gives it in its published guide. The hotel simply does not match the high promise of the guide.<BR><BR>In addition, I would recommend that travelers NOT use the France Hotel Reservation network, because I blame them, ultimately, for this disappointment. When we first made the on-line reservation for a triple, they sent us a confirmation for a double room. I then left a phone message and told France Hotel Reservation we wanted a TRIPLE room; they slowly responded with another confirmation for a double room. At this point, exasperated, I no longer wanted to deal with FHR, since they couldn't get my request straight. In a phone call, I asked to cancel the reservation, since I never asked for a double room. The FHR representative refused to cancel the reservation, put me on hold, and then came back on the line to tell me I had a NEW reservation for a triple (with a new reservation number!). I reiterated that I wanted no such reservation; she told me that if I cancelled this new reservation, I would be charged a 10 percent penalty on my credit card for the cancellation. After haggling with these unreasonable people, I finally relented and agreed to take the new triple reservation -- but only after they "guaranteeed" (their word) that the room was definitely a triple and not a glorified double room with a bed wedged in the aisle. The hotel made the same promise to us. FHR's guarantee, of course, was not kept.<BR><BR>My next visit to Paris will be at the hotels I trust, where I've been treated wonderfully (the Buci Latin or the Prince de Conde, for example).

Steven, ten days is a long time for three people to be unhappy in a hotel room on their vacation. Would it have been possible for your wife and her family to locate a different hotel with more suitable accommodations and then check out of the unsatisfactory hotel? I can understand putting up with a little inconvenience or disappointment for just a night or two, but ten days? I guess I would have exited that hotel ASAP and spent my hard earned money somewhere else.

I´ll second the firs xxx´s suggestion. The change of hotels in annoying and takes time (I have done that twice), but after that they will feel happy they did it.

Yes, my wife would have liked to have checked out of the hotel. However, France Hotel Reservations required pre-payment of the hotel room -- one half at the reservation time, and the other half upon check in (they paid the balance BEFORE they went up their room). Although my wife hasn't asked the hotel to refund her money yet, she does not expect they would cooperate. Plus, finding a decent hotel room in Paris at the last minute, in the neighborhood you prefer, is next to impossible. (We called around.) Maybe you could for a few days, but not for 10 whole days.

I am sorry Steven for your wife and family, ;-( I am pleased that you let everybody know of the way they do bussines in the Hotel Odeon, on our last stay at Hotel Le Clement , I noticed that they have a pleasant room for three, I am sorry to say for much less. Next time you know. Personally regarding small hotels I never pay in advance the whole stay even if it might mean less money because one room differs a lot from another in small hotels in Europe.<BR>Thank you for tellings us, I shall pass the word around.-

Well, we tried to get that triple at Le Clement, for $120 a night. Indeed, we had a reservation there through a travel reservation service. But the next day, we learned the room actually was no longer available. That was when we turned to Odeon Hotel. There aren't a lot of triples in Paris, particularly not in Saint Germain, our favorite area.

well, that doesn't sound like a great hotel, but I would never book a hotel and prepay up front, why did you even consider doing that? Also, I've read reviews of that hotel and know it isn't quite as nice as the Hotel de l'Odeon.<BR><BR>Really, to be fair, I think you should state explicity the URL of the service you are referring to because there are a couple sites with very similar names and once a poster slammed one of them when she meant the other one, I could tell from the details.<BR><BR>I know you are mad, but I think there are a couple lessons for others: don't prepay rooms; if size is crucial, ask for exact size (in m2)--I've done this for myself and hotels usu. respond with no problem. To play devil's advocate (aside from the initial mixup not sounding good)--hotels in that area are very expensive and a goodsize triple in a nice hotel likely would be more than that in that area. Also, what they said could well be true, that could be the biggest room in that hotel, as spacious is a subjective concept, so you should have asked of m2 given how much money was at stake.

Steven, that is terrible. Thanks for letting us know. We too are looking for a triple room in St. Germain.

The saddest part is that for 250 Euro they could have rented a lovely apartment in that area. Plenty of room for everyone, closet space and even a kitchen!

Christina,<BR><BR>I booked the hotel on line with a credit card--and did not read the fine print (you had to click onto it) which stated that we would pre-pay one-half of the rate. The only way to get out of the obligation was to pay a 10 percent penalty -- which, for a 10-day reservation, was $250!<BR><BR>No, you are right, though, to be careful about this sort of thing. I will say, though, that after being promised the "biggest" room, the biggest room was actually given to someone else. In the hotel's favor, they did offer to place them in the bigger room, but only half-way through their 10-day trip.<BR><BR>To make a happy ending to this story, my wife just reported that she, her sister, and her mother (a first timer to Paris) are having a splendid time (and they're managing well in the limited space they have.) As she excitedly spoke from her cell phone at a Parisian restaurant, I could hear the diners' talking and laughing and tinkling their wine glasses. It dawned on me that no matter how exasperating the French can be, the exquisite pleasures of the City of Lights can make you forget whatever little disappointments you encounter at your hotel.

By the way, I'll dig out the information about "France Hotel Reservations" and post the URL so that everyone can know which precise travel service I'm knocking here.

I am glad they are having a good time at the end it is all that counts, but I must agree with the former postings I never comit myself paying in advance in full. <BR>I might be all fashioned but regarding small hotels I deal directly on the phone with the hotel. This way I can ask all the questions I want, and once in the hotel if I do not like the place there is always the possibility of leaving.<BR>Paying in advance I think is only acceptable in big hotels, where all rooms are more or less the same. .....and may be not even then...

I read some pretty distressing remarks about French Reservation Center with postings since 2 years ago. It seems they are messing up people's reservations; when you check their site it says the hotels have rooms available but when you call directly to the hotel they say they do not have any rooms available.<BR><BR>It looks like it's still happening.

Is the French Reservation Center you are talking about www.digital.france.com? I have used their site to check out hotels and get the comments from people staying there, as they really give you a good idea of what kind of place it is - and they do have good hotels. However, I have never used the reservation center. Instead I called the hotels direct and made my own reservations, faxing. I like to talk to them personally about what kind of room I want, etc. I trust myself more than I do the reservation center!

Steve, so sorry for your misfortune but how nice of you to share the information with the rest of us.

Okay everybody, this is the crummy reservation network you want to avoid:<BR><BR>www.francehotelreservation.com.<BR>< BR>I believe it also goes by the name www.europehotelreservation.com, because that e-mail address was also listed on correspondence from the crummy network.<BR><BR>Hope this helps!

I know that this is an awful thing to happen, but I'm sure your wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law are spending very little time in the room other than to sleep and shower. But, might I suggest that should something like this happen again, that you immediately call your credit card company and contest the charges. Also, always ask to speak to the owner/manager, and do it calmly, as you will usually get better results.<BR><BR>The bright side of this is that everyone is having a good time, despite having such a small room.

Dear Steve<BR>I'm comfused, so help me please! My family of 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) just returned from Paris where we spent 4 nights at Hotel de L'Odeon. This hotel is located at 13 Rue Saint Sulpice. We had a room for 252 Euros/night. It WAS small, but workable for us. We had a large double canopied bed, a smaller single bed and a cot-type of bed on a metal frame that was situated along what you could call a very small aisle. It was tight, but the place was charming. The bathroom was clean, decorations were tasty, we had a nice large window overlooking Saint Sulpice. I was afraid the room would be noisy, but it was not. The front desk employees were helpful & friendly - especially one named Christine. From your description, I'm not sure WHICH hotel your family is/was at - Hotel de L'Odeon is on Saint Sulpice while I believe the Odeon Hotel is on Rue de Odeon.<BR>Again - please clarify! Thanks!

Rita, the hotel that Steve mentions badly is the one located on St. Suplice. It says so in his opening paragraph.

xxx, he also says it's the Odeon on St. Sulpice and, as Rita, says, the Odeon is on Rue de Odeon, not St. Sulpice, so he still needs to clear up which hotel he was at because, according to Rita, he has the names and addressse switched.<BR><BR>

Sue, I have used digital.france.com many times with nary a problem. I think it is absolutely the clearest, easiest-to-use booking site (no pre-pay, no discount--the rates listed are the rates in the hotel brochures). I prefer booking there because I can specify the room I want, and know what room goes for what rate.

But how can one be certain that the room that you want to book does not really exist? What I mean is that the reservation center may show availability based on the information given to them by the hotel. If the hotel chooses to overbook their rooms, it won't inform the reservation center. And it looks as though there is availability when there really isn't.

I have used the internet to find out hotel rates from booking agencies in several European destinations. Whenever the "lowest available" internet price is mentioned, I have called or emailed the hotel directly and have asked them to honor that price.<BR>In each case so far the lowest rate has been honored by the hotel. I like this approach because I become from the start the direct customer of the hotel, and I feel this establishes our relationship for my prospective stay.

Steve<BR><BR>The same thing happened to me last year and through france hotel reservation system..The hotel room was very dirty and too small for three but I phoned them and they told me they can arrange another hotel but I have to pay for the first night of the first hotel...Then the arrange another room in Montparnasse and that was more expensive but very nice ...We arived Paris at late night and we could reach them still.By the way we didn't pay even for the first room beacuse another family booked for this room while we were waiting at the lobby after I told about it to Fran.Res. they didn't charge it from my credit card...<BR>May be your wife can try another hotel through them.<BR>Wish you good luck and hope your wife still enjoy her trip

Hello everyone. <BR>This comes to you from Steven's sister-in-law, whom he mentioned in his posting. I would like to clarify certain things that he said. <BR>First, the Hotel is indeed, the Odeon Hotel, but is on Rue de L'Odeon, not on St suplice.<BR>Secondly, though we were inititally shocked by the size of the room, it did grow on us. There was enough storage space for our luggage, and the room and Hotel were immaculate. Certain staff members were aloof, but were for the most part, polite. Guy,the night clerk, was most engaging, certainly the friendliest and most helpful of the group. The hotel had much charm and was in a fabulous location, just blocks away from both the Luxembourg Gardens and the Seine. We had a marvelous time. Steven is still in France with my sister, hence the lack of response from him.<BR>Thirdly, I agree with everyone's assessment about the prepaid system and France Hotel reservations. We couldn't reach them to discuss the situation, despite multiple attempts. We really felt trapped and didn't think we could manage a refund in the event that they couldn't relocate us.<BR>Overall, after checking other area hotels, I think we had a comparable room rate and size. As I mentioned, the hotel was clean and well-run. I would recommend it, but would book directly with them at: <BR>[email protected]<BR>Their phone is(from the US) 011 33 1 43 25 90 67.<BR>Odeon Hotel<BR>3 Rue de l'Odeon<BR>75006, Paris<BR>I hope this information helps. <BR>By the way, to Magurite: where would I find info about apartments in the area? We thought of it, but couldn't find anything less than $2,000.00 Thanks for your info.

you were paying $2,500 for the room, if the 10% penalty was $250. that said, $2,000 sounds good.

We had a very large true triple room this past March at the BW Hotel Left Bank. Loved the hotel and location too.