Review of Libertel Gare Du Nord Suede 3*

Awful customer service and shady business practices. Let me start by mentioning that we are very frequent travelers and my wife has worked in hotels. The poor service, rudeness, discrimination and dishonesty we experienced in this hotel made us speechless and are absolutely unacceptable. We booked a double room for just one night through an online hotel booking portal for our little family (we have a baby). We arrived in the evening around 8pm and were refused the room. The receptionist argued that a law in France does not allow for a baby to sleep in a double bed and wanted to force us to upgrade to a more expensive room – which was slightly bigger, but also just had a double bed. We naturally objected, wanting to keep the room we’d already booked (and paid for), but he continued to refuse to give it to us, eventually making vague threats and racist comments based on the language we were speaking. After a very distressing hour of arguing, we called the booking platform, who, after another half hour of discussion with the receptionist, managed to arrange a reimbursement and cancellation. To refuse a customer a room he’s already paid for is arguably illegal. To turn a family with a small child out onto the street with nowhere to go late in the evening is plain heartless. The hotel has an artificial construct of room categories that has no logical basis. They make up laws to price discriminate, as customers would be reluctant to question legalities in a foreign country. Therefore, big caution to families, but due to the unethical practice also to all other travelers! Thankfully we found another hotel not too far away whose staff were so sincere in their welcome (including of our baby). It had a double bed.