You will either love or hate the Alma Mésnil. The hotel is in a great location (half way between the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe). The triple room I stayed in was very spacious and clean with a street view and large full length opening windows. However, I did feel that the place could be doing with an update. The staff are very pleasant and willing to help. I think I would stay again because of its location, and because there are only a small number of rooms it had quite a nice atmosphere. I would recommend going to the Alma Mésnil with an open mind, knowing that you won't be staying in the Ritz, however it is somewhere to sleep that is clean and that's all you really need on a budget in Paris.

A poorly maintained hotel in a good location. The beds are hard and cheap. Our double bed was two singles pushed together. the second bed was a 4" thick mat on a poorly contructed pedestal. The other furniture in the room was old and shabby. The carpet was worn and dirty. It was almost like camping. The breakfast was overpriced and just plain bad.

A good point is that all but one of hte staff spoke fluent english. The one that didn't spoke english with a heave accent making it almost impossible to understand her. She did, however, speak fluent Italian with a barely detectable accent.

Overall it was adequate for the price and the location was outstanding. The cheap rate and the location didn't make up for the shabbiness of the hotel.

OK, as others have said it is a little old and dated but in some ways that's a part of its charm. There is no lift, so if your luggage is heavy it can be a problem, and most of the staff are quite helpful, although we did have one lady give us the completely wrong directions to the nearest metro station.
If you go in summer you might want to take some bug spray for the mosquitoes, but other than that it was good value for the money and in a good location in terms of the metro and sights. (We walked to the Arc de Triomphe every morning with our children in tow.)

Had the feeling of the place been very old out of date. Hotel had no lift and dimly lit, in ok location though, we had a large room at top of building stairs very difficult. Didnt have breakfast.