This is our second stay at this ** hotel. We booked directly with the hotel with absolutely no problems. Our stay over a weekend was a culmination of 2 weeks in central France with an early checkout to the airport. These rooms are simple, the bathroom - clean, modern and adequately stocked. Since we spend most of our time outside, the Vendome is an acceptable accomodation. The property is posted for no-smoking, however, our room was musty from a previous smoker. The supplied fan and a couple of shots of Ozium took care of the odor. (We don't fault the management for this because we believe it is a guest's responsibility and respect for the property). The hotel desk clerk was helpful when we told him of our early departure for CDG. He didn't recommend the Metro/RER at 0600 on a Sunday nor hiring a taxi, but suggested a shuttle service at e17.00/pp. Arrangements were made on the spot and the shuttle service picked us up at precisely the reserved time.

I was nervous about this hotel, having read some of the reviews here, but was pleasantly surprised by the reality.

It's very centrally located, within easy walking distance (even for people who don't usually walk much) of the Ile de la Cite, the Louvre, and the myriad other landmarks in that area. It's very close to Cardinal Lemoine, Maubert-Mutualite and Jussieu metro stations, which provide easy access to the rest of Paris, and it's only a short metro ride to Javel-Andre Citroen, where you can catch the RER C to Versailles.

The area around the hotel is great; there are a couple of nice cafes close by for a morning coffee and croissant (though the breakfast provided by the hotel is tasty, and very good value - coffee, tea or chocolate, juice, and piles of croissants, pains au chocolat, baguette, ham and boiled eggs for €7). There are plenty of bars and restaurants, loads of bookshops and computer game shops, and for some reason a huge number of florists. The Boulevard Saint-Germain - for shopaholics - is just down the road.

The hotel itself is situated in a quiet side street. Even though we had a room overlooking the road, it was quiet enough to sleep with the window open. The public areas of the hotel are neat and well kept, and the bedrooms were clean and functional; not huge, but comfortable. The bathrooms were modern and immaculately clean, and there was a plentiful supply of hot water whenever we needed it.

The staff were invariably friendly, and happy to help with everything, including booking us a shuttle service to Beauvais airport at very short notice. We never arrived home later than 11:30pm, so I can't comment on the locked door at night issue, but I sincerely doubt that any of the staff we met would have acted unprofessionally or unreasonably when letting guests in.

Overall, I was very pleased with the hotel, and am about to book us in for another stay in a couple of months.

Having read the conflicting reviews on the Vendome on this page, we were not sure what to expect. (2 middle-aged ladies travelling alone).
We were pleasantly surprised by the location - very near to metros and attractive places to visit, but not noisy, as on a side street.
Everything worked in our room apart from the fan in the bathroom, but that did not create a problem. The room was a reasonable size, bedlinen worn but clean, towels replaced daily, room cleaned daily. Yes, lift was slow arriving sometimes, but it was clean and we felt safe in it. Fire exits well marked. Breakfast in basement, as is often the case in city hotels, and although probably would be cheaper at neighbouring cafes, we ate in for the convenience. Cereal, fruit juice, ham, eggs, bread, croissants, jams, fresh fruit, and hot drinks, with no limits on amount eaten.
We did not feel at all intimidated by any of the staff - they waited while we attempted to make our requests in French, and usually answered in English, but were not rude or impatient with us. They were a useful source of local knowledge, and when we were going to be late back after an evening tour they said it was no problem. They efficiently took and conveyed to us a message from our airport transport the day before departure, and were available for us to check out early the next day.
Certainly this would not be classed as a luxury hotel, but we thought it to be perfectly adequate for a city break, when really all you are looking for is somewhere to sleep, prepare for the day, and come back to before going out again in the evening. I would certainly recommend it as a budget hotel.

We chose to stay in this hotel as it was very close to an apartment we had just spent a year living in and had come back for a weekend. From the outside the hotel looks very nice, and i couldnt complain too much about the cleanliness of the hotel, but I would never ever ever go near that hotel again as the staff were scary and very very rude. On our way out for the evening we were told to leave our room key on the desk, when we enquired (in french) whether that was very safe as there was no one on the reception desk and anyone could walk in and access our room, we were screamed at... where do you think you are, this isnt london, if anyone came in, its private property.. I would kill them!!
When returning from dinner and drinks at around 2am, (Which is very very early for parisien standards, (with clubs opening at midnight until 6am ish) the hotel was locked. We knocked on the door, and a furious man came running out of his room with his trousers down and told us to wait. He returned 5 mins later and proceeded to scream at us.. telling us he shouldnt let us in, it was against the rules but he'll let us off this time. We were told that they had a 24 hour reception desk!!
Being two females alone in the hotel, we couldn't sleep as we were scared about the staff on duty at night. The day staff were nicer, but still quite unpleasant.

I do not think that this hotel is value for money. Having stayed in many many hotels in Paris and having lived in the 5th Arrondissement I know there are other hotels in this price range that offer better service. In paris, you do not spend much time in the hotel room, but you do want to feel like you can enjoy your evenings and not be scared to come back to a hotel you are paying 90 euros plus a night for. If you dont mind paying a little extra, try the Villa Pantheon, a little further down the road. The hotel Palais Royal near the louvre is also excellent value for money!

The area surrounding the hotel Vendome St germain however is lovely. Its a very short walk to the luxembourg gardens and the pantheon, as well as rue mouffetard. Its very very close to metro line 10 and 7 but you can walk to the centre of st germain des pres in under ten minutes where there are some beautiful brasseries, bars shops etc. Notre dame is also a short 10 minute walk and so is the marais and place des vosges. I love this area and its very close to my heart... but i will forever be avoiding Rue d'arrass. I wouldnt recommend this hotel to anyone.