With this incompetence you are really spoiling us (Ibis Hotel Paris Berthier Porte de Clichy)

Member Name: ms_memory

Product:	Ibis Hotel Paris Berthier Porte de Clichy
Date:	03/03/09 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, good location, all the pain-au-chocolat you can eat!

Disadvantages: Staff seem to have been hired as some kind of joke

My friend and I decided on a weekend stay at the two-star Ibis Berthier Porte de Clichy in December, when we discovered that the cute little hotel we'd originally booked didn't have any heating! The Ibis looked reasonably priced, was near to a metro stop and most importantly still had vacancies at short notice (thanks to its 700 rooms), so we booked online a few days before our arrival, on a beggars-can't-be-choosers basis.


** Location **

Situated in what felt like the windiest place in Paris - perched atop a concrete slope in the 17th arrondissement in the north of the city - the hotel is indeed a straightforward 5-min walk from a metro station (Brochant, Line 13). The hotel's very well signposted from the metro; a boon for me was that it's just off the ring road so made my taxi ride from Orly Airport (30 mins; 30 euro on a Friday evening) a lot quicker and cheaper than it would have been if we'd had to drive through the centre of Paris.

The hotel is within walking distance of Montmartre (1.2 miles, took us about 20 mins) and while it's not as glamorous as staying in the centre or in Montmartre itself, it's a good value area and I like staying in 'authentic' parts of town when I'm abroad. The streets felt perfectly safe and had a good selection of everyday shops as well as cheap and mid-range eateries. In fact, the Brasserie 'Libre-échange', right next to the metro stop, was so good that we went there twice for dinner and so avoided paying the silly prices in the more touristy areas.


** Check-in **

I arrived around 9pm; my friend was already there, having taken a different flight. There were 4 members of staff on reception and they seemed slow and not particularly friendly, although they accepted my badly-accented French without laughing. On reaching my room, however, I discovered that my key card had not been activated and I had to schlep back down to reception. My friend said the same thing had happened to her. It would hapen to both of us again...


** The room **

Our room was smallish, decorated in the usual beige chain-hotel style, with two single beds, a kind of chaise longue under the large window, an awkwardly-designed corner wardrobe that was too dark to see into, and a desk with a small flat-screen TV. CNN and Sky News were available, plus a selection of European channels. From the window we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance for about the first hour, until it disappeared behind a layer of fog and never came back for the remainder of our stay!

The bathroom was also small, but had a full-sized bath with shower attachment (and plenty of hot water), a large mirror and a strange, wall-mounted hairdryer-cum-radio contraption that meant you could listen to the French football results while doing your hair! The toiletries were basic - small Ibis-brand soaps and shampoos. We had two decent-sized towels each. The only problem with the bathroom was that the extractor fan wasn't very strong and so the steam and noise emitted when the bathroom was in use came through the ventilation slots in the door and into the bedroom.

Everything was extremely clean and well looked after though. My friend was so impressed she wanted to fill in a survey, but the hotel didn't seem bothered about collecting customer feedback and didn't have any forms.

The room's temperature was easy to control (yes, there was air conditioning and even heating!), and the room was quiet and insulated enough from our neighbours that we could sleep well on both nights.


** Breakfast **

This was served from 4am to 12am and was lovely, apart the very officious i.e. bossy man in charge of checking us off the list. The meal was served in a large, bright, ground-floor restaurant which looked recently decorated and had nice large tables where we could spread out our complementary newspapers (the English one being The Guardian, which had a feature by its Paris correspondent that day about how Parisians were flocking to London to shop now that the pound was so weak - quel horreur!). There were several tea/coffee machines (offering cappuccino, lattes, americanos, espressos etc. plus a wide selection of black, green and fruit teas) and two substantial buffets so that nobody had to queue for very long.

The food was fantastic: a huge variety of cereals, muesli, yoghurt, pastries - including mountains of warm pain-au-chocolat and croissants! - various types of bread including baguettes and sliced bread for toast, fruit salad, cheese, Spanish omelettes, muffins, cakes.... This was probably the best thing about the hotel. We were allowed to linger over our meal as there were plenty of seats for everyone and the buffet was replenished and tables cleared regularly.


** Other hotel facilities **

There were two restaurants: La Table (open until 22.30) and Cafe Pasta (open till 23.00). We popped into Cafe Pasta one evening after dinner but the staff, after giving us a menu, decided they weren't serving us. Having smirked at us over the counter for a while, a waitress eventually deigned to come and take our order and said it wasn't possible for us to have any drinks, not even a cup of tea or a bottle of water, as it wasn't 'hotel policy' and we would have to go elsewhere. Other people in there had drinks so the staff were obviously taking la pisse, but we were too tired to argue so went to the bar instead, which did provide refreshments.

It was only when looking at the website again for this review that I noticed the hotel has a service guarantee, and I quote: "Quality commitment : 15 minutes contract : satisfied or your room's on us". I'm stumped by that, I have to admit!

Further facilities include:

Free high-speed Internet in the rooms
Self-service business centre
7 rooms with disabled access
Covered car park (for an extra fee)
Fitness centre with pool, sauna, jacuzzi (ditto)


** Check out **

We paid by credit card when we checked out - 2 nights for a twin room with breakfast came to 80 euro each - around 72 pounds (time of writing - 03/03/09).

Check out was before midday, but we weren't flying until the evening, so asked if we could leave our bags at the hotel during the day. We were sent down to a room full of lockers which cost 5 euro - and we didn't have any change. Back at reception, the woman on duty pointed wordlessly to a change machine, which bore a big Out of Order sign. She said she couldn't give us any change herself, so we had to walk down to the metro station (with our luggage), buy tickets to get change, then come back to the locker room, where a group of about 30 children had somehow materialised and settled on the floor in front of the lockers for an English lesson. We should have just left and found some luggage lockers at one of the main train stations, but we were flying home from separate airports, so we duly had the kids moved and stowed away our bags.

When we arrived back at the hotel after a day trip to La Défense (easy to reach on the metro from the hotel) I asked the two staff members at reception about how to get to Orly Airport. They told me the times of the 'OrlyBus' and where it left from, so I headed off across town. It turned out they had given me the wrong directions. When I finally found the station thanks to the kindness of (other) strangers, I'd missed the coach.


** Conclusion **

An average hotel at an acceptable price; clean rooms, good breakfast (for which I've awarded it 2 stars) and good for exploring northern Paris, but don't expect great service - if any.


** Hotel info **

Ibis Paris Berthier Porte de Clichy Hotel
163 avenue de Clichy - 75017 - PARIS - FRANCE
Tel : (+33)1/40252020 Fax : (+33)1/40252600

http://www.ibishotel.com

Summary: Talk to the hand