We just returned from a wonderful vacation in Paris and although I have never written a review before I just had to write about the Hotel Saint Paul. The hotel is exceptional and I would highly recommend it to anyone. What made the hotel so wonderful were the staff...very warm and welcoming from the time we booked the hotel via e-mail throughout our stay (Djamila inparticular was very sweet and friendly). This made a difference in our visit, especially since we were new with the language and it was our first time in France. The staff always provided us with great information, directions and even restaurant recommendations. It almost felt like we were staying at a friend's home rather than a hotel b/c the people were so warm and friendly. I can't tell you what a difference that makes when compared to some of the larger, impersonal chain hotels. The room and hotel itself were lovely. We had a deluxe room facing the street and it was beautiful. Quiet at night so we could rest well. It looked recently rennovated with nice linens and a pretty bathroom. The lobby area was so quaint and inviting. Best of all was Sputnik the cat, who belonged to the hotel owner and was always curled up on a chair near the reception desk. What a nice thing to come home to after a long day of sightseeing. The hotel is walking distance to great pastry shops, Notre Dame and the Luxembourg Gardens, which was also a plus. The hotel is in the 6th Arrondissment, which is a great area. Overall, a wonderful stay!

We booked this hotel for a long weekend in November of last year after reading dozens of reviews of hotels in the Latin Quarter (we normally stay on the Right Bank but all of our favourite restaurants/bars are here). We were looking for a romantic, charming, well located hotel on the Left Bank and so we opted for this. The location is absolutely fine and the reception area is well presented and inviting, whilst the seating area to the right of the entrance is very comfortable with a modern fire place. However, I am confused why there is so much hype about this place. We asked to move rooms after being put in one of the "renovated" rooms on the top floor. I know Paris hotel rooms are renowned for being on the small side, but at this price I do not accept such an excuse. The room was small and dingy (if you step on tip toes you can see out of the window), and the toilet (no bath so I cannot call it a bathroom) was miniscule although it was fitted out to a modern standard. The second room we were shown to (on a lower floor) was much bigger, with two large windows. Again the decor of the bathroom (this one was spacious with a large bath) was modern and fresh. However, that contrasted markedly with the grim carpet and haggard old furniture (not rustic antique - the miss matching tables and chairs had always been cheap). The lighting was harsh (two long fluorescent strip lights on the far side wall give a less than warm hue to the tired blue painted room), so at nighttime you do not waste anymore time than is necessary getting ready to go out. It seems like renovation work is ongoing but the piecemeal fashion in which it is done means that rooms such as ours - new bathroom, old bedroom - are on the whole still pretty mediocre. Why not just fully renovate the room? The refurbished space only emphasizes how old and tatty the rest of the room is. We have stayed in Paris many times before and love everything about what is arguably the most beautiful and charming city in the world. This hotel (specifically our room) did nothing to add to the experience this time round, and given the price we were particularly disappointed. The previous time we stayed in Paris, we took a room at the Westin on the Right Bank in a gorgeous international standard room with unrivalled views of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Amazingly the nightly rate worked out virtually the same as this hotel! We were huge fans of the local area around this hotel and can completely understand why you would want to book a hotel in the Latin Quarter for your stay in Paris. However, if you are looking through Trip Advisor and still trying to decide whether to book this hotel, I would suggest you keep on looking - we still are.

I booked early and got a good rate at this hotel. I love this area of Paris, so I knew I couldn't go too wrong, and the reviews were good. One question I have to people who manage hotels: if a hotel is not full, why not put your single guests in a good room instead of the lousy, small ones that single travelers are usually assigned? At the time I was there I never saw another soul go in or out, so unless they were full of ghosts there were rooms to spare. I was put in a second floor room, without charm, miniscule lavatory/shower and the worst view I have EVER had in Paris: a metal fence covered in green plastic, masking off what looked to be an industrial area next door ... I could see large pipes and metal shacks through the holes in the plastic. Yuck! I did not complain or ask for an upgrade because, well, I am simply defeated by fighting this battle over and over with hotel staff. The single traveler gets the crumby room, and especially a single woman. I don't really know why this is so as the cost of the room is the cost of room no matter if one person or a couple is staying and there is probably less work for the staff with only one guest, but it happens, nine out of ten. There are times when, desperate to avoid the single room syndrome, I book as "Mr. and Mrs." and then say my husband died on the plane! (Just kidding, but I have thought about it.) Otherwise, the experience was fine. The staff was friendly and the cat was cute, and I don't know about breakfast because I don't like eating in the cellars many Paris hotels use for this purpose. I asked for a late check out as I had an evening flight, but no go. (Obviously, they had more ghosts checking in.) I wouldn't stay here again because I wouldn't want to risk anymore flapping green plastic "views" ... but it was clean, and well located.

My husband, daugther and I stayed at the hotel for 3 nights over the Easter holiday weekend. We were very unhappy with our stay. The room was the size of a closet. They said the room was a triple but it really was for one person. The room was very sparse and not all of them are renovated. We were first put into a room that did not have any outlets and looked horrible, when we complained they moved us to a renovated room that still was the size of a closet. Upon our arrival to the hotel we were met with a most unpleasant women who told us our room was not yet ready. We understood that the room would not be ready and asked to have our bags stored. She instructed us to just put the bags by the stairs/elevator, when asked if we could have them put into a secure area we were told that everyone just leaves them by the stairs/elevator. Our room looked out onto the street and for two nights in a row we were awoken at 4 am by a group of drunk people that had just left the bar down the street. On the first evening we watched as one man was being beaten by a group of men and when my husband called the front desk and asked that they call the police we were told that they will eventually stop fighting. I would never go back and stay at this hotel. There are plenty of hotels in the left bank that are much nicer . We did return back to Paris the following weekend and stayed in a lovely hotel in the Le Maire district which is close to all of the sights.