Astra Opera

My girlfriend (though she was my fiancee by the time we came home!) and I stayed at the Astra for 3 nights and I have to say that it served its purpose perfectly. Yeah, the room was small, but in a placeRead more like Paris, how much time are you going to spend in your room? The TV reception and availability of channels was poor, but in a place like Paris, how much time are you gonna spend watching TV? The bathroom was quite small, but you don't stay in the bathroom do you? How big do you want it to be?

Overall, we had a gorgeous room at the front, complete with French windows that opened out onto a small balcony, with flowers in window boxes, which were delightful. The room temperature was delightfully fresh after a day in the sun. It was comfortable and perfectly adequate for the amount of time we spent in it.

My main gripe would have to be with the staff, and quite often the lack of them. On my arrival they seemed quite uninterested, and quite rude, thrusting a small "photocopied I don't know how many times" slip of paper in front of me to fill in. There never seemed to be anybody at the bar, nor anyone who seemed vaguely interested in it. After my arrival however, they did provide a good friendly service for requests for taxi's, etc. The staff in the breakfast room were just downright rude, miserable, and looked completely uninterested in wanting to serve anybody. To be honest, best to avoid breakfast completely, as 20 Euros each is a joke. Best go to the nearby pattiserie and save some money.

The location though was perfect, with 3 Metro stations very close by, and less than 10 Euros for a taxi to Gare du Nord. And right opposite Pizza Firenze too - perfect for really good and well priced food, and service with a smile!

Hide

+ It Is Quiet.
- Very Small Room for a mature Couple and for the Rate, and not a nice view at last floor overlooking congested buildings roofs.

The Best Western Astra Opera has one of the best locations in Paris, namely:
1. Pickup point for the "Roissybus" to Charles de Gaulle airport is on the Rue de Scribe, barely 5 mins walk away
2. The 2 largestRead more department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, as well as myriad boutiques, restaurants and the Opera House, are within 5 mins walk.
3. There are 3 metro stations within 100 metres of the hotel, the nearest being Caumartin.
4. The famous "Roi du Pot au Feu" restaurant is 1 block away
5. A bakery/patisserie is directly opposite the hotel
Rooms are small, typical for Parisian establishments. Recommend a room facing the inner courtyard, which is quieter than those facing Rue de Caumartin. Walls also appear to be a little on the thin side - one can hear loud conversations and showers/toilets, but not so badly that it disturbed my sleep. Overall, a very comfortable hotel. The hotel feels cosy, and rooms are done in cheerful cherry/buttercup-yellow tones. Staff could smile and be more friendly, though. Don't bother with the restaurant breakfast - there are plenty of cafes and the aforementioned bakery nearby. Would DEFINITELY stay here again, but would not pay more than 150-160 Euros per night. I checked the rates on [--] first, then rang the hotel and bargained a slightly better rate on account of my 2 night stay. Of the numerous Best Western hotels in Paris, the Astra Opera carries the highest rating, yet is excellent value relative to its brothers.

Hide

You will see by the other reviews that 'room size' comes up quire a bit......I wish we had taken notice. The standard rooms are a disgrace and the receptionist seemed almost embarrassed to give us our keys. If you get a room 700+ then be very concerned ! You will have to take a service lift to the top of the hotel and you get the very worst of rooms. My first room was 705 and is in the eves of the roof. The room was tiny with approrx 18" around the edge of the bed and that was all. The 'bathroom' consisted of what can only be decscribed as a cupboard and the bath was an unusable 4' long. The tiny TV had terrible reception and the mini bar had been cut into a hole in the wall as the wasn't enough space to put it on the floor ! I didn't stay in that room. Straight back to reception who to their credit must be used to the response and immediately gave me another room 110. Which whilst again tiny did have a more sensible bathroon - although tiny. The only plus side to the rooms were that they were clean although fantatstically drab and cleaned daily. In terms of location I wouldn't get too excited unless you like a lot of walking. Quite near Place de concorde but that's not a lot of use for sights like Arc de T and E tower etc.

Paris superb.....

Never ever again this hotel though....

Unfortunately my review is not glowing. Hotel Astra is definately not a 4 star - it's more like a 1.5 star. The rooms were tiny but as this is the norm for Paris I cannot complain about their size. I canRead more however complain about the cleanliness - the hotel foyer and communal areas were fine however the rooms were filthy. The carpet looked as if it had never been vacuumed, let alone steam cleaned. The bathroom was revolting - very old and dirty, and there was a hand held shower rose lying in the bath but without a wall hook/mount. The in-room safe did not work and the air conditioning was so faint that it hardly seermed to change the temperature of the room. The room furniture was cheap and the bed seemed even smaller than a double. There was only a wool blanket and a bedspread on the bed and there was no duvet or any alternative bedding available for those with wool allergies. I'd like to think that we just had a bad room however we also booked a second room for our son and this too was disappointing. On the plus side, the room was quiet, the hotel is in a good location and as the rooms were so bad, we were out most of the time and enjoyed all the day and night life Paris has to offer.

Hide