9Hotel Bastille-Lyon

Everything is still relatively new so far as they had just refurbished the entire hotel earlier before we arrived. The hotel looked new and modern, going for a scandi-industrial theme. The location is hard to beat - Gare du Lyon is just a short 3-5 minute walk away and takes you everywhere you need to go. There is an airport bus stop at Gare du Lyon, so we managed to save on a taxi to the airport on our departure as the airport bus takes you directly to the various terminals at CDG. The room was overall comfortable - you have everything you need for a short stay and a restful sleep at night. Two pillows per person was a nice touch and the overhaul (comparing to its older photos) definitely paid off as the room looked more refreshed and appealing with white sheets contrasted against black bedside lamps. WiFi was also easy to connect and worked well during our stay. Toiletries were provided and replenished when finished, and the room came with a hairdryer. Staff was often friendly, greeting us whenever we returned to the hotel at night. The shower was great with hot and cold water options with decent water pressure. We definitely got a good night's sleep everyday after a long day sightseeing in Paris.

As a boutique chain, I thought the management would give more thought into the details but several small details were sorely lacking. Firstly, they had two tree stumps that served as bedside tables but had no power outlets next to it, so you can't charge your devices as you sleep (unless this was purposely avoided out of safety considerations). We ended up having to wait for our devices to charge and rotate them among the few power outlets that were available. A kettle was provided but there was no power outlet anywhere near the small cubby hole where it was initially placed. We eventually used the kettle in the toilet. We indicated that there were two of us at the time of booking, but only one set of towels were provided and continued to be the case for the rest of the stay. There is a lift in the hotel, but it is extremely small and could barely fit both our luggage and ourselves. The room is also generally very small, though I do not know how it fares against Paris standards. The shower cubicle was no more than 1 by 1 meter and I would think it will be very claustrophobic for anyone bigger-sized. Lastly, we had raised an issue with the air-conditioning/heater unit earlier on in the stay as we couldn't tell if it was working well - no air seemed to be circulating but that was never fixed and seen to, alongside the safe which could not seem to work. We were not informed of the reception's number at check-in, so we went down to the lobby ourselves to ask and a note was taken - but no follow-up afterwards. We didn't pursue as we were out most of the day. The room is great for a place to sleep at night but it is definitely not a place I want to lounge in. I think the hotel has the potential to do much better, given that the hardware has been more or less nailed down. It needs to set up a system to manage feedback, complains, requests and seeing to the small details that could really bring the guests' experience to a higher level.