I stayed there with friends in August - we had no issues with the check in, our rooms were small but clean, the bathroom was big, as it was summer it was a bit humid, and the noise outside was loud, but I sleep with ear plugs so it didn't worry me. Yes we were in the middle of Paris's red light district so that made things a little different, we were not put off by the sex workers or the strip bars, we just took it in as an experience. We had rooms on the second floor. TV was in French, but that was ok, I also saw an Australian crime show dubbed in French - was very amusing.

Overall I was very impressed.

We stayed in Victor Masse hotel for four nights in October 2011. Our room was on the second floor, and it was reasonable size, with twin beds. We didn’t complain on that, since we saw on the evacuation plan hanging on the door that our room was among bigger ones on our floor. The bathroom was really big. We had no complaint on cleanliness of room and bathroom, although investing in new towels would be great. Every staff member was very polite and spoke English, which was great, since we don’t speak French.

The breakfast was OK, although I’m not sure if it’s worth 9€, which is the price stated on the reception. We had it included in the room price. But for the Paris prices, I’m not sure if you could eat breakfast and have a coffee for less.

The worst thing in this hotel was very bad sound isolation. You can hear voices from next room and the hallway, so it took some time for us to get use to it. You can also hear noise from the street, but that didn’t surprise us, considering hotel’s location.

We did not have any problems, or negative experiences with hotel surroundings. Metro station is really close, and one afternoon we walked from the hotel to Opera and from there to Louvre and Seine River. On the other day, we walked to Moulin Rouge and from there to Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur. So, for us the hotel’s location was excellent.

To summarize: nothing spectacular but also nothing horrible. Considering Paris hotel prices, and location of this hotel, we were satisfied.

My husband and I are in our late 20's and recently stayed one night at Hotel Victor Masse during our trip to France. I had heard that Pigalle was an interesting experience, and never one to shy away from "interesting experiences", and appreciating the decent price, I went ahead and booked. If I had it to do over, I probably would not have, but it wasn't because of the hotel itself.

While walking with our luggage to the hotel from the metro (only a block or so away), I personally felt really uncomfortable. We passed several prostitutes haggling loudly and angrily with customers or yelling offers, as well as seedy customers and dancers alike staring at us from the front of strip clubs and hookah bars. The area is absolutely packed at nightfall, as it's full of bars, strip clubs and sex shops. From what I saw, this hotel is right in the heart of everything. I never felt unsafe in any of the other parts of Paris, but I definitely couldn't wait to get to the hotel this time. The ground is covered in trash and it's not unusual to see someone peeing in a corner.

Our room (two twin beds) was extremely small, as I'd expected, but it was clean and the beds were surprisingly comfortable. You will get one pillow per bed, and because I always sleep with two, that was a little disappointing, but it wasn't the end of the world. There are only French channels on the TV, but if you're touring Paris right, you'll pass out without watching it anyway.

The room was pretty stuffy (even mid-October), so we opened the windows (one in bathroom, one by the beds) and were immediately assaulted with a deafening barrage of noise -- yelling and hooting from the nearby bars, catcalls from the prostitutes roaming the streets, and honking and revving from the scooters and cars roaring down the narrow Rue Victor Masse every 10 seconds. There are folding metal gates that latch over the open windows if you want privacy, but they're so rusted and rickety that I didn't really feel they offered much protection. I was so paranoid by the yelling and stomping outside (we were on the second floor) that I woke up every half hour or so all night. The noise was bad enough, but the quality of the people and the noises they were making freaked me out so much that I was sure someone was going to try and come in at some point. It seems laughable now, but at the time it seemed like a real possibility. At one point a drunk man jumped onto and swung from the balcony-style metal gate below ours, causing the wall to shake and waking me up in a terror. The noise didn't let up until about 4am, at which point I finally got some sleep.

I can't comment on the breakfast, as we didn't eat there.

I tried to communicate in French for most of our trip, but I did speak English when checking into our hotels to make sure I had the details correct, and have had mixed responses from this. At another hotel, when I asked "parlez-vous anglais?" the man at the desk immediately changed from pleasant to sullen and gave me an irritable "Yes".

However, at Hotel Victor Masse I found that everyone was very polite and didn't give me any kind of attitude. I think tourists should try to master a few key phrases when visiting a country, and it's probably irritating to talk to people who don't even try, but it's their job to deal with foreigners and I think they should expect to get people with little to no knowledge of the French language. It's difficult for me to recommend Paris to my non-French-speaking relatives and friends, as the language barrier can be pretty difficult at times and you will probably get attitude if you communicate in English. Many people (especially outside of the city, in Normandy) were very friendly and had no trouble converting to English when I or my husband needed it. But there are definitely some with chips on their shoulder, which I suppose you will find anywhere.

We stayed in Victor Masse from 10-15 October 2011, and after originally feeling apprehensive this hotel was fine and didn’t really have any major problems.

The hotel is located about 10minutes walk from Gare du Nord train station and a couple of minutes from Pigalle Metro stop, making it convenient and easy to find. It’s close to the Moulin Rouge and just on the very edge of the red light district. This probably explains why hotels in this area are of a more reasonable price and we decided on Victor Masse as other areas were out of our price range. As a traveler in my 20’s the area didn’t bother me, you could avoid it if you wished but perhaps not the best if staying with a young family.

The pictures of the foyer must be old as it now looks more modern than the floral décor shown. The rest of the hotel isn’t so sleekly decorated. Like buildings in Paris, the hotel has relatively small rooms modestly decorated. However, the room was adequate for our needs and we also had a balcony for a view of the street. The bathroom was large and clean.

If you’re a light sleeper, I’d recommend earplugs as staying anywhere in central Paris can be noisy but from our room I could also hear the lift at night. However, none of this bothered my partner.

The breakfast is an extra $4.50 and after seeing it on the first day I did feel it wasn’t worth it. There was a small selection of pastries/rolls, two choices of cereal, natural yoghurt or white toast with orange juice, tea or coffee. No choice of fruit, meat or cheese which I would have expected as part of a continental breakfast. However, after paying $5.60 for hot drinks in cafes, this was fairly reasonable.
The breakfast room itself is small and if you time it wrongly I can imagine you’ll have to wait for a seat.

Overall, Victor Masse was an adequate, 2 star hotel for a reasonable price in an accessible location.