Hotel Louvre Richelieu

The one-star Hôtel Louvre Richelieu offers a mix of comfortable, basic rooms and sleek, newly-renovated rooms near the Comédie-Française and the Palais Royal.

Quick read

Pros: Large, clean rooms. Free Wi-Fi. Bustling neighborhood.
Cons: Unrenovated rooms leave a lot to be desired. No elevator. Renovations have made it less cheapo. Food not permitted in rooms.

Rooms

The Hotel Louvre Richelieu isn’t quite the Cheapo pick it used to be, as it underwent renovations in 2012 that updated most of its 13 rooms with simple but polished decor and added modern amenities like flat-screen TVs and laptop safes.

The new bathrooms offer sleek facilities and complimentary luxury toiletries, quite an upgrade from the hotel’s previously dated toilets and showers. The renovations have unfortunately also brought higher room rates, making the Louvre Richelieu not the great deal it once was.

The hotel plans to renovate the remaining rooms in 2013. Until then, however, they remain unapologetically basic with not much in the way of amenities or décor except for wall-mounted reading lights and built-in closets. The unrenovated rooms don’t have a TV, but they’re all equipped with free Wi-Fi and a retro (and soon to be discarded) wall radio.

Hotel facilities

The Louvre Richelieu's management and staff are friendly and helpful, but do note that there are rules to follow. For instance, laptops are not allowed in the breakfast room. Also, if you’re into late-night or early-morning snacking, this isn’t for you: Food and drink are not permitted in the rooms, and the rule is strictly enforced. On the flip-side, this is one of the reasons the rooms are so darn tidy (just saying...).

Free Wi-Fi is available throughout and there is an Internet station in the lobby for an additionad fee. Note that the hotel does not have an elevator, and the stairwell is very narrow. Also, because of the age of the historic building, some of the rooms have uneven flooring.

Breakfast is available for an additional charge.

Location

Though a tourist hotspot, rue Richelieu has a real neighborhood vibe about it, bustling with coin shops, boutiques, wine caves, pâtisseries, boulangeries and a fromagerie (decked out in Swiss-cheese-shaped lighting fixtures!).