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Hotel Bastille Speria Paris review

Like everything, good and bad are subjective so I’ll try to provide facts and my experience so you can evaluate whether this hotel is good for you.
This review is for room 402 a deluxe room in a 3 star hotel.

The hotel is on a side street but it is a very noisy, busy corner. There is a bar across the street and several others in the neighborhood. However the double glazed windows do a pretty good job of keeping the noise muffled. You will hear police sirens each night since you’re near 2 main roads. I could hear the guest in the next room coughing at night so the walls are a bit thin. All in all the noise level is close to zero by midnight.

As for the location there are many cafes to choose from - you should have no problem finding what you want, including eggs for breakfast.

The front desk is very polite but they don’t go far to be helpful. When we checked in they did not offer the WiFi password or tell us that we needed to insert the room key in a slot on the wall to activate the lights. Since it was dark in the room that took a few minutes to figure out. We thought the AC was controlled by the buttons on the unit, and didn’t notice the thermostat for 2 days - blame jet lag brain. But when I called and asked if someone could come up and help us figure it out they said no.

A few things new to us as travelers and an FYI perhaps for other newbies:
Since you leave the key at the front desk when you go out, you cannot leave items charging in your room when you’re gone.

Even if you put the do not disturb sign up the cleaning staff will come in once you go out. They do not actually give clean sheets each day they just make the bed, unfortunately they don’t do a very good job. We had to remake the bed several times since the sheets were all bunched up.

The room is not large but it is typical of the area. The bathroom is very large with a separate toilet area. However there is no shower curtain so you get chilly while showering and get water on the floor. This is also fairly common.

A hairdryer is attached to the wall. It’s strong enough but you need to hold the button in the entire time you dry your hair. There are no outlets in the bathroom so even if you bring your own dryer you will need to use it without a mirror in the bedroom, unless you bring a freestanding mirror of your own. I put my husbands shaving mirror that has a suction cup on the glass door of the closet and used that to flat iron my hair. My husband rigged up a Velcro strap to hold in the dryer button for me since I have a bit of arthritis in my hand.

There is a magnifying mirror - about 5x - in the bathroom. However I found the direct overhead led lights to be very harsh and put on my makeup near a window.

There is a clothesline in the bathroom that’s handy for washing out a few things. And a large wall mounted radiator where you can dry things pretty quick, even jeans.

The bed is quite firm but the mattress is good, not sagging, so we adapted after a few nights. The bed linens are nice and soft.

There are only 2 outlets in the room, both over the small table so bring a multi plug converter to charge your devices.

There is a mini fridge stocked with waters and sodas but the water is $4 euros - they also do not mention that. The website says they offer “A service of tea, coffee and goodies is available from 15:00 to 19:00” we never saw any items offered in the 6 days we were there.

The site also mentions “A CONCIERGE SERVICE WITH MANY RESOURCES” but they struggled to give restaurant recommendations and looked surprised when I asked them to call a local restaurant to make the reservation for me since my French leaves much to be desired. I even provided the phone number but they seemed put out.

All in all I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the hotel if it matched your needs but I would not select it again myself. There are many properties in this class at this price that may be a better fit for for me.

Posted by
14818 posts

Thanks for taking the time to write up your review!

A guide (don't remember if it was Rick's guides or Road Scholar) told me he keeps a keycard from a US hotel or an expired driver's license (Idaho collects the expired ones but perhaps other states allow you to keep them) and uses that in the holder to keep the electricity on and charge things when he is out of the room. It doesn't have to be a room key - just something to make contact or disrupt contact or however the darn things work.

Posted by
2092 posts

Pam, you come up the the greatest hints and tips. Love it! I'm putting my AARP card in my Appenzell bag this minute--Thanks!
I think though that I'll only try this after the hotel room has been cleaned so they don't remove it or scold me.

Posted by
6552 posts

We've been in places where we get only one key card, so if we split up for the day, or one of us wants to stay in the room while the other goes out, it can be hard to coordinate.

Seems like on one of our recent RS tours, a hotel only provided one key card for two single ladies sharing a room. Village Italy, I believe it was.

Posted by
14818 posts

Oh Darcy! The AARP Card will work great and it won't matter much if you forget it. Plus you could use one of the fake CCs some companies try to lure you in with.

Jane, I think I remember that happening either on a Rick tour or Road Scholar tour with 2 gals who had been matched as roommates so weren't hanging out together. It worked OK as long as they remembered to leave the key at the desk.

Now it's driving me nuts because I can't remember who told me. I think it was either Rick Steves' Tom or Road Scholar Thomas. I can see both of them grinning at me!

Posted by
1321 posts

I am currently at a hotel in Paris with one of those electronic room keys. I just leave the little note pad on the desk in the device for electricity to the room. That works too!
And I’ve been on RS tours where my assigned roomie and I just asked for a second key. It takes about 2 minutes and really simplifies the logistics of the day.

Posted by
341 posts

Thanks for the review, Peggy. I am very familiar with this hotel and have considered staying there since it is so close to the Bastille Metro. However, it is a bit more expensive than the IBIS that I've been staying in since 1997. So based on your review, I think I will stay with the IBIS chain. Their staff is fluent in English and they have a "15 minutes" policy to help out if something goes wrong like the toilet stops working, etc. I've had the same experience with the Do Not Disturb sign, but after speaking with a manager, it seemed to get worked out.

Posted by
58 posts

So glad my review helped Sandra. I got so much info reading these posts before my trip I wanted to try to give back.

Posted by
7877 posts

That’s a great tip, Pam! I usually have my old Delta medallion card in my suitcase, anyway, as a suitcase ID.

Posted by
14818 posts

SharYn, I did NOT know that would work either!

Jean - what a great idea as well to keep the Medallion card inside for an ID.