Hotel Augustin Astotel Paris

Paris boutique hotels are truly a class of their own. You'd immediately recognize the artistic design / decoration and the comfort it offers to its guests but don't expect to enjoy the flat screen since all TV channels are in French while English movies are dubbed in French as well.

Surprisingly, they gave us corner "attic" room thus we had 2 balconies overlooking the streets below. It was terrific on our first couple of days but after noticing that nearby buildings' upper floors were unoccupied we never opened our windows during night time anymore.

lovely interior

restaurant

stairs

Due to its minuscule size, our room doesn't have any walk in closet; they just install a metal frame with hangers. We couldn't even open our mid size luggage comfortably. We even took our room service dinner on bed.

As expected, bedding and towels are in good condition while basic toiletries are provided except toothbrush and slippers.

The thickly carpeted room has a small electronic vault, electric kettle, hair dryer, cooler and flat screen. All beverages (non-alcoholic) inside the cooler are free and refilled daily. Wifi connection is also stable and fast.

Though the complimentary buffet breakfast is just a basic meal such as breads, fruits, flavored yogurt, sausages, eggs and fruit juices we enjoyed authentic croissant and French bread. Brewed coffee and milk would be brought to your table upon request.

typical breakfast

room service - great food except the rock solid bread

Just a reminder, if you're a couple then don't occupy the table for four otherwise you'd be asked to transfer to a table for two; we learned this on our second day.

Our hotel is a member of Astotel chain of hotels thus during our check-in they provided us list of their member hotels where we can have free snacks from 2 pm to 1 am. You read it right, our hotel offers free snack.

The nearest metro station is Saint Augustin; locate the hotel from Google map before traveling. Being confident in our previous travels in Asia, we never bothered to locate its exact location thus we ended up paying 7 Euro for a kilometer ride from Saint Lazare metro station. Anyway, taxicab in Paris is quite an experience, they use limousine type vehicles while the drivers are well dressed and groomed.

Be aware though that during summer they leave the windows open to enjoy the warm air breeze. On our last day, we asked the reception to book us a taxi, a few minutes later a coat and tie guy arrived and drove us all the way to Gare de Lyon.

Though the hotel offers room service, the food is arranged and delivered by an outside company or restaurant. The hefty serving is quite tasty but pricey compared when you dine outside.

Reception is 24/7 hence on our last day, we checked out, paid our bills using my credit card and arranged a taxi at 5 am without any ado.