Normotel - la Marine

We booked this delightful looking hotel after viewing the pictures online...they might have been pictures from another hotel to be fair. We booked a room with a view of the river...see said view in attached pictures. This hotel would be great if campanology is your hobby as from 7 am the bells ring every 15 minutes, which although not unpleasant is rather loud. Mould...let's talk mould...black mould to be exact. Black mould in the corner of the room...UNACCEPTABLE. however, while looking at the mould it was acknowledged that the bed was comfortable and the abundance of spiderwebs helped with the mosquitos (bring repellent if you want the windows open because there is no air con and you'll get a better rendition of the bells with it open) Having the window open will also help to dissipate the strong smell of urine from the bathroom...if you can get into the bathroom by battling the concertina door. The room we stayed in was themed on a Nautical style with a lovely picture of marine objects that matched the wallpaper design. There was a spacious wardrobe adorned with a curtain that matched the window curtains as both were hanging off in places where there were no curtain rings. The TV worked well and we were happy to watch a ridiculous movie in French that made us laugh..because otherwise we would have cried The location is great and free parking in the street very handy and it looks like some updating has been completed however there seems to be much more to be done. The staff we encountered were polite, helpful and efficient but I suspect Basil might have been on his day off! The bed was comfy, the sheets were clean and the towels were plentiful, there was no in room drink making facilities which is fairly standard these days. we wouldnt choose to stay again while it was still presented in this way however if the renovations are completed and the quality brought up to a standard that reflects the prices then we might if we found ourselves in the area in the future.

We booked his hotel in a very busy period so we were happy to find accomodation. Fortunately we have read all the reviews so we came prepared. Even so the experience was disappointing. Very small room and it was outdated. Normally no problem at all but in our case the eternal struggle with the harmonica door to the bathcell, the same struggle with the window and absence of electricity near the beds and of a fixation for the shower head (a typical french problem but in the new millenium almost extinct) to name a few seemed unnecessarily 20th century to us. We have had better and even larger rooms in Paris for half the rate; we suggest to lower the room price to ca 45-60 euro a night.