This is a really lovely place to stay. Very newly redone. Upon arriving at 11am, the gentleman at the reception checked me into a very small single on the top floor. Being 6'3" and having reserved a double, I was given a double after only having to wait 20 minutes - I appreciated that the cleaning crew was willing to clean the room for me right away, despite the fact that I arrived 4 hours prior to the check-in time.
The rooms are very simple and modern. The beds are super comfy! Breakfast in the morning was wonderful: great coffees and freshly squeezed juices; granola and cereals; croissants and pains au chocolat; meats and cheeses; fresh eggs to boil. Really a great spread.
Kinks: the fire alarm went off sporadically each morning and, once, at 4am in the morning. Not cool, but really no one's fault; wireless internet worked very well, although twice it went down...receptionist each time was able to reset the router and get it up-and-running again, but still a bit of an annoyance.
A note to visitors not familiar with Paris: the hotel is located very close to the Strasbourg-St. Dénis metro, which is served by several metro lines that will deliver you to several touristy areas of Paris (particularly line 4), but also to some interesting neighborhoods outside the center of the city. The hotel is on a tiny side street (more like a wide alley) and is very centrally located on the Right Bank. However, the street noise is LOUD. There is no vehicle traffic, but there are 2-3 salons on the street that stay open quite late - patrons and employees of the salons tend to congregate outside on the street and speak loudly, while the width of the street helps their voices echo and amplify. As my room was on the street, 3rd floor, this got somewhat annoying at times. Windows provide good sound dampening, but they don't drown out the loud voices below. Also, this is a relatively working-class neighborhood. There is truly a lot of wonderful character in the area and just north of it: great boutiques and restaurants with products and food from around the world, particularly Africa. This area is truly modern Paris in that it's incredibly diverse. Sadly, it's "gentrifying" somewhat, which is a shame as the folks who live and work in the area are proud of who they are and where they are from, but will probably get pushed out to the 'burbs in 5 years. All this being said, if you don't speak French, you may feel uneasy around here. I personally love this neighborhood, but I did live in Paris for several years and speak French with a Francophone Europe accent (everyone in France thinks I'm Swiss hehe).
Room Tip: Ask for a room NOT on the top floor - ceilings are angled.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
6 February 2012
Dear Guest,
A very Big Thank You for this very complete & clear comment.
Many thanks for your kind comment about your check-in time and our staff. We'd like to help guests as much as we can if we have rooms available.
Many thanks for your comment regarding the Breakfast. We pay a really good attention to our Bio Breakfast Buffet and with some home-make cakes as well !
Many thanks for you kinest regarding the Fire Alarm !! As it's new, we had a "detector" in the airconditing machins rooms that wasn't be able to support the change of temperature of this room, that was the problem. It's been fixed two days after but it's true that you had this trouble really early in the morning ! Than it had given you time to discover the city !!
Thank you very much for your area description, it's really a miror of the reality !
And we'd like to thank you (for the last time, but not the least !) for you sens of humor regarding your accent ;-) !!
Hope we could welcome you once again for one of your next stay in Paris.
Many, Many thanks for this lovely comment !
Sandrine, Virginie, Sophia, Mourad, Ahmed, Samuel, Jalel, Françoise, Jeanne, Thérèse & Sladana (the whole team!) of the BEST WESTERN Hôtel Faubourg Saint-Martin.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC