More about Pullman Rive Gauche Paris
I loved this hotel
by TripAdvisor Member Traveling_Travel
I got the hotel through priceline and had no other choice than to stay there. And I was horrified when I read the review on this website. But when I arrived, the hotel Sofitel Paris Porte De Sevres far exceeded our expectation.
First of all, I requested for a good floor (i.e. 16th floor, instead of the horrible 11th floor) due to the review I saw here. I was in the end assigned to a room on the 20th floor. And it was excellent!
The furniture is not new but the rest of the room might have been recently renovated. The bed and the room were extremely comfortable and clean. The bathroom (along with the hotel lobby) were elegant. The blinds can close completely tight, making sleeping in the morning very easy.
I have nothing bad to say about the location either. The Metro Station is literally 5 min walk or less away. There is a small shopping mall right beside it and that was convenient.
A grocery story is also a 3-min walk away.
Riding the Metro into the center of Paris only takes about 15 min. Obviously, if you want to stay in central Paris (like Latin Quarter) this is not the hotel for you. But for anyone who does not mind riding Metro for even only 15 min, this is an excellent location. In addition, anywhere you stay in central Paris, once you get sick of the attractions in your "walkable" area, you would have to take 15-min metro anywhere anyway. I like the location of Sofitel.
Staff were pretty helpful. Obviously, I did not encounter any hydrolic problem but staff in the morning were very friendly. Maybe the day-time staff speak more English??
The only down side is that they were renovating the 18th floor so we were woken up a couple times in the mornings. We did not care because we should not have slept in (but the bed was sooo comfortable with its "pillow-like mattress padding") but instead go out and explore. And the renovation means that the hotel is probably doing something to renovate the older parts of it so it will be better even for future travelers. The older parts of the hotel were perhaps the reasons that other reviewers here complained?
I would definitely recommend that hotel (try get a room on the 20th floor!).
Not the 4 star it wants to be.
by TripAdvisor Member spacechimp
Pros:
- Nice lobby
- Capable Concierge services
- Large in-room safe (free)
Cons: (many)
- Old/dingy room
- Lock on refrigerator!
- Bad location
Have used this site faithfully before many times. Read many reviews of this hotel before arriving. Found that most of the details (especially the negative ones) to be true. This hotel is not "truely" a 4-star. It's a 2.5 or 3-star at best. Would not stay here again. Want more info, read on.
Booked this hotel on Priceline [""]. Paid around US$134 per night for the 2 of us. After checking in, found an extra cot in room (mistakenly thought the room was for 3). To get to the room via the elevator, you have to first swipe your card key to press your floor - very annoying (but secure I guess)
The room (1418) was average in size. Can't comment on typical "French" room size, but personally thought the room a tad tight for a '4-star,' even for the economy room. The room did seem older. There were MANY stains on the carpet. The bed was firm, but not awful. The AC/heater thermostat didn't seem to work properly. Didn't bother to figure out the 'lock' on the fridge (but what kind of 4-star puts locks on their fridges!). The shower seemed to only have 2 temperatures: cold and hot magma! The view in this room is high enough to see miles away, but not of any signifcant structures. The only pluses were a large safe (we fit our 15" laptop in it) and, despite its dingy appearance, found it clean and fairly comforable.
As for the rest of the hotel, the lobby is very nice. We found the concierge helpful (they booked dinner reservations for us) and most spoke english well. The landscaping was nice but found the giagantic bulletin board on the front of the hotel itself very tacky. (I mean what kind of semi-luxury hotel advertises itself on it's own wall?) Though the concierge were helpful, thought the doorman and bellhop unfriendly. A simple "Bonjour" would have been nice.
Finally, the location did become somewhat of a hassel. The Balard metro station was a good 200 yards away. (It's roughly a block away, but a very long block!) After a long day of shopping/site seeing, we did not look forward to catching that metro then walking a couple a football fields to recharge. There are however great restaurants, stores and bars a few blocks to the north, north-east and south-east from the hotel.
In summary, I would not recommend the Sofitel Paris Porte de Sevres to the typical tourist looking to spend a week or so in Paris. If/when I return to the City of Lights, I'll be more than happy to stay at a similar priced, smaller hotel in the city center, preferably one with more of a Parisian flavor. Even though the metro was very convienient (I'm a huge subway/light rail fan) the location of this hotel and distance from the station became an annoyance. To agree with a past review - it's perfect for the Business Traveler (just out of the way enough to avoid the congestion of the city).
There must be hundreds of other lodging choices in Paris. I recommend trying one of them.
Spacechimp
PS - Had a great vacation in Paris! (Bonus tip: Use the Carte Orange and not the Paris Visite! Way cheaper! ;))
Good deal, with a discount and foreknowledge
by TripAdvisor Member DC2florida
The room was a very good size for Paris, and the area was safe. The Metro was convenient, though the RER was a bit of a confusing hike to reach. I think the star rating that Priceline gives is appropriate due to the room size, and the room was in good condition as well (we were on the 16th floor). Unfortunately it is not right in the middle of the interesting tourist areas, and the pool is not available to children under 12 years old, but other than that it is a good deal if you get a discount. It is a clean, comfortable place to stay, and during the summer we would probably have visited the water park next door.
Surprisingly good - off the 11th floor
by TripAdvisor Member tvetan
We read the reviews and got lucky and got the 14th floor. Updated, nice room, good view. Beds were so so. Nice bathroom, a little mold but not bad. No extras like coffee or tea in room, crappy hairdryer. You will NOT get continental breakfast if you booked on a low cost site like priceline or last minute. Now for the horror of the 11th floor, no kidding we got off on the 11th floor so many of the remarks are about. Completely different from the other floors, what gives there. The pool is nice, a water machine where bottled water is 1 euro, a rare thing. The resterant we didn't eat in, menu too pricey, however, the bistro was wonderful had steak both nights we stayed there, delicious and we split as they were 10 oz so our dinner with wine was under $50. The conciegner, we called him Grumpy, but then we figured out he worked 14-16 hour days, guess I would be grumpy too. Not very helpful but all in all - a good place for the money, just pray you don't get the 11th floor.
Underwhelmed
by TripAdvisor Member BellaBull
My husband and I stayed here for our honeymoon and while it didn't ruin our trip or anything I was not thrilled. We too booked on Priceline (never again, there are much better deals and hotels found searching [-------], , tripadvisor, [------------]) and when I realized how far out it was I cried. My husband reassured me that it wasnt so bad so we checked in (late at night). Well the room was nothing like those pictured - it looked like a bad holiday inn reject. The bed was hard, the pillows were awful and lumpy and we had a terrific view of a construction crane outside the window.
We had no choice but to stay that night, and the next night the manager did move us to a much better room. I think we were paying 140 USD a night or so, I can't remember now. The bathroom must have been fine because I can't remember it specifically and I'm very picky there. Don't order their room service! I ordered tagliatini con pesto and it arrived cold and gummy, like it had been sitting out all day. No flavor. Disgusting really - and they wanted almots 20 bucks for it. I sent it back and we weren't charged.
The subway is fairly close, but when we were there there was a lot of construction going on and late at night it can feel a little sketchy, though we had no problems. Next time I would stay closer to the city center and probably pay the same or less with a little research. We had such a great time in Paris (and France) that it wasn't the end of the world and the bed in the 2nd room was very comfortable.
Stay in Paris
by TripAdvisor Member Cali2Traveler
Decent hotel which we pricelined. I would agree with the four star rating. However, we were disappointed in the location. There is not much around the hotel and it's definetly not near the tourist areas. Fortunately, the Metro is close by and we found fairly easy to use. The Ballard station is close by. Getting to the Eiffel tower will require one trasfer (to another metro train). The trains run much more frequently than in most US cities I've been too (SF, DC) and the hotel staff were knowledgable about routes. We ended up taking the metro everywhere. Buy an unlimited rider pass, available to tourist for 1-3 days. The room was adequate sized for Paris. We ate the first day out of convenience at the "Bar" which was subpar. Eat somewhere else if you can. There is a water park next door with some fast food (McDonalds) if all else fails. We ate in the heart of Paris mostly, there isn't much around the hotel. Coming back on the Metro at 10pm wasn't much of an issue as there were plenty of persons leaving the water park. And in the summer there is still sunlight out.
Nightmare at Sofitel
by TripAdvisor Member Eduardocm
I arrived 6th late, and was informed my room was not available due to hydraulic problems. They informed I would stay the first night at another hotel.
Here start the problems.
I understand that things like this happen, and at these moments we can really evaluate the quality of the services.
Taxi took a little long to arrive. Took me to a 3 star Novotel ( sofitel was 4 star). There, nobody to pay the taxi driver.
There, hotel condition was poor. Bad aspect of the room, A/C not working very old bathroom. ( I would suggest some one to check the hotels you send your guests)
The day after I went down and asked for my taxi back to Sofitel. No information about taxi and the lady was not interested in helping me. After some discussion I tried unsuccessfully to take a taxi by myself. Back to Novotel desk called Sofitel and no solution.
Finally I took the subway at rush time, with my two weeks big baggage.
I have been to Paris many times, always at some accor hotel. To be honest never had a good experience.
But as this time I would have a important meeting with my company’s VP, I choose a sofitel hoping to have a good night of sleep and to be completely fresh at the other day.
But finally, I was more than 1 hour late, stressed, bad sleep. Things that will cost something on my career.
As I told before, I understand this can happen. But in the other hand I ve been traveling around the world by 10 years, and always got situation like these smoothly solved.
I used to believe was a standard at traveling industry to get better class service, once the one you booked was not available. (Rental car, airplane class, hotels).
This was not the case with Sofitel. Really bad experience
Clean hotel but bad services
by TripAdvisor Member iscream
We stayed in Sofitel Hotel Porte de Sevres hotel in Paris (the one near Balard subway station) for 4 days in an air france travel package. The hotel was clean in general, traffic is OK convinient but the service is just horrible. The hot water in our room was not functioning, and we called 3 times in a day (morning before we left for sight seeing, afternoon when we came back from sightseeing to take a break and in the evening when we came back to rest) and nobody just pay any attention and nobody came to fix it. Finally as I was raising my voice on the phone, they finally sent a security guy to check who didn't speak anything except French. Well, not his fault but he didn't check thoroughly and said it's ok but we wait for a minute and he found what the problem is. The guy went away and nobody came ever since. I called the reception and the guy, instead of appologizing, said 'don't yell, it doesn't help' and did nothing. So finally i called again and they finally changed a room for us. The whole thing took like 1.5hr and we slept really late because of all these trouble. It seems to me that this hotel is built for mostly package travellers so they don't give a sh*t about the service.... I once thought sofitel is a nice hotel group but not any more...
Fantastico Hotel
by TripAdvisor Member mandrade
The first thing I want to say is that I am completely against most of the comments about this hotel. It was really good. The people at the reception were very kind, the room was simply perfect (king size bed), all the furniture was completely new, the bathrooms perfectly clean, the breakfast was very good: we had anything you could think of having, smoked salmon, cheese assortments, eggs...etc. and in a very nice place, very cosy and lovely views. The only annnoying thing was that it was a little far form the Concorde Square (15 min. in the tube). I want to thank all the staff from here!
Forum Posts
thrift stores in paris??
by shannonparis
i will be staying at the sofitel porte de sevres. i was wondering if there are any thrift stores nearby that i can go to. any advice would be greatly appreciated:)
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