Room type: Deluxe at advanced booking rate. We stayed for two nights in last week of September 2006.

Pros: The room had plentiful closet space, a comfortable bed, chic décor, and it was quiet.

Cons: The huge lobby area was beautiful to look at with interesting modern design seating, but not much fun to use. Apparently, others thought the same, as it was always empty. The reception desk staff seemed friendly enough during check-in, but proved to be quite different later. The front doors were locked after 11 pm and the door key did not work to let us in. We had to frantically wave to the reception desk, which was not in plain view to let us in. This should have been a hint as to what was to come.

The Bang and Olufsen stereo did not work. The TV did not have many channels or any pay-tv movies. There was a funky perfumy-cleaner mixed with cigarette smoke smell to the room. The non-operative windows looked into rooms across the courtyard, which in turn could look into ours. There was no clock anywhere in sight, not on the TV, not on the non-working stereo, or in-room fax machine. They had no concierge, no maps at the front desk or in the room. No local phone book or any sort of book or magazine offering nearby local attractions or guides. No instructions to use the phone, which made it very difficult for us as it was our first trip to France. We called the reception desk to assist us, but whoever answered seemed incapable of articulating instructions and ended up (with attitude) just dialing out for us. I was so put off, it seemed that asking to remedy any of the above would be just as daunting.

So we took a little nap in the late afternoon/early evening and was startled to wake up to a man (not in the obvious hotel uniform) standing over our bed. After a few seconds, he walked out without a word. We called the front desk, who shrugged it off blaming housekeeping and even insinuating some blame on us for not having our “Do not disturb” sign out. In all the hotels we’ve ever stayed at from all over the US as well as some in Europe, we’ve never had housekeeping coming in unannounced, let alone during dinnertime.

Before setting off to get a bite to eat, we stopped by the front desk again hoping to speak to someone in person, but were given indifferent apologies with no real sincere attempt to make us feel less anxious. Had we spoken the language well enough to attempt a phone call unassisted, we would of checked out of there immediately.

Considered using the in-room safe, but felt discouraged as it came with instructions (one of the few things that had instructions) that said that they could not guarantee the security against thieves and perhaps for a safer bet, a guest could use the front desk safe, which also stipulated no guarantees. So the next two days, we really had no choice but to carry all our valuables on our person and whenever we were in the room we had a chair propped up to the door with our “Do not disturb” sign, which apparently deflects errant housekeepers.

When we set out to sightsee the next day, we left the “Do not disturb” sign out as we value privacy over a made bed. Alas, the sign proved ineffective as housekeeping came in anyway. When checking out on our last morning, we brought up our incident to yet another new receptionist who although seemed apprised of our situation, wouldn’t suggest anything other than but at the same time would not determine that it was indeed a housekeeping issue.

Our first visit to France and although we’ve really tried to “Un-Americanize” ourselves by learning some French and not expecting everything as it is here in the US, it really put a damper on our first impression. Apart from the “housekeeping” incident, I couldn’t imagine why I’d ever visit Hotel Costes K again, let alone recommend this hotel to tourists. The hotel’s lack of supplying local information, non-working or non-existing basic amenities, and insensitive customer service of the staff was appalling. For the hefty price you’d think you’d get much more than fancy décor and a cool sounding CD track.