Hotels Paris Reservations

Nice hotel in fairly central locaiton. Chosen for overnight stay in Paris with kids (6/9) on way back from holiday. 5mins walk from metro. Eiffel Tower & Notre Dame within 20 mins metro ride. Hotel updated and clean. Room spacious (2 dble beds). Unlike its budget sister hotel (HolidayInn Express) you dont get tea/coffee facilities - these were available via a chargeable room service. There was however an expensive minibar!
Staff claimed not to know that you can park on streets of Paris for free in August, but were happy to guide us to the hotel car park. Having parked and unloaded, they then told us of the €15 per night fee that they were now going to charge us - how convenient. That said, having walked the streets and asked locals (who confirmed the parking fee suspension), they advised this not a safe neighborhood to park a foreign-plated car. Begrudgingly we accepted better safe than sorry.
As for the breakfast deal, beware of the charges. Their website splashes €7pp everywhere & kids free. When we got the bill we were surprised to be charged €14/adult. Staff then pointed out a small card on a counter by the bar which showed the different tiers of breakfast charging - the €7 deal is basically a coffee & a pastry - it is not breakfast. Maybe that was why they were keen to greet and usher us towards the breakfast buffet.
In all this hotel did the job and we had a deal that was cheaper than rivals for what we wanted. That said, it was clear that the hotel staff were focused on extracting as much additional spend out of us as possible and were conveniently unhelpful when they felt a money making opportunity passing them by. Holiday Inn is not worth the extra over HI Express. Reviewed by alex b, who stayed in August 2010