The hotel is conveniently located and reasonably priced but the rooms are very small and overdue for updating. A parking spot can be difficult to find if you are checking in late. If all you need is an place to shower and crash for a night and you aren't picky about it not being super clean, it's okay. Breakfast was simple but fine. My biggest complaint is that they billed my credit card twice for our one night stay and the hotel refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem. It is definitely not worth double the price. Beware!

This is not the hotel to use if you value a good nights sleep. The walls are paper thin and the noise of other guests talking, moving and opening / closing doors can be heard very clearly. The rooms are clean but in need of improvement, peeling wallpaper, unfinished edging on the laminate floors, window frames were marked, no toiletries in the bathroom apart from mini-bars of soap and a dripping tap were some of the issues. None individually are a big problem but taken together it gives a feeling of a lack of care and attention.

Initially we were given room 38 - absolutely tiny and not welcoming at all. The bathroom wallpaper was peeling and the carpet was disgusting. We requested a change of room because it was clear that someone had been smoking in there which is against the law in France.

They moved us across the hall to room 36 which was a big improvement but still with the problems listed above

The biggest negative though is the noise. I cannot stress how thin the walls must be because even the slightest noise above a discreet conversation could be heard from the neighbouring rooms. We were there in the winter so did not need to open the windows but had it been a summers day, the open windows would have meant hearing the traffic from the crossroads directly outside.

On the plus side, the staff were very friendly and helpful and the hotel is just a few tram stops from the centre of strasbourg so very convenient. Use line C not A as this will not require a change. Wi-fi and parking was free

Overall, I would not recommend this hotel as it was not particularly cheap (51 euro / night) and whilst the trams are fairly cheap, if you add the costs to the room rate you could probably get a better quality hotel in the heart of the city for the same price

Arriving in the hotel, late afternoon, under 34o C, the receptionist told us that we have to climb up to the 4th floor with all our suitcases. He did not even ask if we need some help concerning that i had to carry my 3yrs old child on my arms. Finally, when we entered in to the room we faced the total disappointment. I don't want to say more about the room, you should be able to imagine what i mean. Closing the issue i just want to say that we left from the hotel at once and after all we find a nice family room to stay, in Appart' hôtel Victoria Garden.

Hotel Esplanade is a two star hotel situated near the zoological museum and the university, and is about an half hour walk from the Cathedral (most of us tourists use this as a reference point for moving around the city centre). There is a tram stop just across the road from the hotel which cuts the journey time to about 10 minutes. So Hotel Esplanade is quite handy in terms of location.

Unfortunately this proximity to the tram and university meant that it could be quite noisy at night but, to be honest, anyone staying in a hotel near any city centre can probably expect noise. One issue I had was with the windows of my room: it was stiflingly warm inside during a summer night but very noisy outside, so you have the choice of either baking in the heat or listening to trams and drunk students trundling by. The area around the hotel was slightly intimidating at first - it sits on a junction with trams going by, a petrol station on the opposite side of the road and a large block of flats across the junction itself. Not exactly picturesque. But I had no problems walking around the area at night.

The hotel, in general, has that slightly 'run down' feel to it ... it looked like the place could do with some new carpets and a lick of paint. The front of my hotel room door was slightly cracked and appeared as though someone had attempted to kick it in at one point. This was not particularly reassuring. It is possible to walk into the hotel, up the stairs and get to the rooms without necessarily having to pass the reception desk, which I found slightly worrying and hence I carried my laptop with me when I left. Whether this was just me being overtly cautious, I don't know, but you have to go with your gut feeling. There are large metal shutters over the windows that you can raise or lower - in the case of the bathroom, lowering the shutter is essential as the windows aren't fogged over and it looked directly onto the street! Although these are clearly to help cool the rooms, you can't shake that feeling that they're also for security reasons.

The rooms, however, are large and clean and the beds comfortable. Unusually for this level of hotel, there is a free wifi connection (although it can be a litte slow), and the rooms have TVs and mine had a phone (which I didn't use, although it did occasionally ring with noone on the other end when trams went by)! The bathrooms are quite big but quite basic. One thing to note is that the bath tub in my room looked filthy but when I investigated further I realised the ceramic had been discoloured from the high mineral content of the water and was otherwise clean. This suggested to me not to drink the tap water (not that it'll be unsafe in France, but that since we might not be used to it, it could cause an upset stomach!)

However, if there's something I would really complain about it's the shower. For the price of 10 euro, Hotel Esplanade could buy a shower curtain and a rail and stick it next to the tub. This would, unremarkably enough, prevent water being sprayed around the bathrooms when people use the showers. And that really sums up the place ... with a tiny investment of cash and a lick of paint it could be actually quite nice.

So is it worth it? The answer is probably no. Collegues of mine were able to rent a studio apartment (self catering, in other words) for slightly less cash, closer to the city centre, and much more modern and luxurious. Other hotels in the region are about the same price but are definately better. I'd say shop around ... hotel Esplanade will do you for a few days and you'd be happy enough with it, but why pay this money if they can't be bothered to buy something as cheap as a shower curtain and you can find other, better, places for about the same cash.