Hôtel Toujours & Spa (Paris, France)

The hotel is close to the start and the finishing points of the annual Paris Marathon. Rooms here are clean and well decorated.

You can walk to the centre of Paris in half an hour. Plus; it's only a few yards to the metro station and a little bit further to the Air France station.

Staff; for the main part, are very helpful and friendly. It's easy to get into the centre of Paris … and surprisingly easy to enjoy a wonderful day out at Euro Disney.

There is a long-held feeling that the charisma of Paris makes it exceptional … set apart from the rest. Consequently, rather than seizing this advantage and ‘running with it', the city's hotels have chosen to rest on their laurels. Now, many are dated and unattractive. Here, for instance, bathrooms are sub-standard. Elsewhere they would come in for extreme criticism. Duvets and pillows have seen better 'nights' and en-suite tiles are cracked and could do with a good, thorough clean.

Rooms are very small. Even in winter, they are too hot. They aren't hot on food, though. Catering, here, is very limited. This being Paris though, there are plenty of restaurants and bars. Plus; as a stop-gap, there's a Carrefour, just across the road!

The shower thermostat is useless. Showers go from scalding hot to freezing cold on a regular basis. There are some very good points to this hotel ... as well as some real scorchers! You'll probably go ‘hot + cold' too.