Update on the LM Etoile
Spent 3 nights at the LM Etoile. Everyone's post above were right. No better than a Holiday Inn. AAMOF, I've stayed in nicer Holiday Inn's. From the start the staff was friendly. We had several reservations because of different rates. The first night we were using points, the second night night it was a weekend rate, and the third night was a regular rate. Because the rates were different we had three different reservation numbers. Normally this wouldn't throw an SPG property, they would put everything together and give us one bill. Not here. They couldn't get it together. They gave us one bill for each night and we had to recheck in again. In addition, I made a reservation for my DH's business associate for nights two and three (in the associates name mind you), which the hotel promptly cancelled because we already had one room.
The first night for my points we were supposed to get a club room. They gave us this hole on the 4th floor and told me it was better, it was an executive room. I refused the room.
Then they moved me up to the 7th floor (Club is on 8). By then we were too tired, just wanted to have dinner, walk around and sleep, so I didn't make a big deal. The hotel has one central heating/AC system and they haven't converted from heat to AC yet. The room on the 7th floor was pumping out heat, even though we had the thermostat set to 15C. The windows were sealed. When I tried to shut the fan off, there felt like there was no air in the room. It was like a sauna all night. The plan to sleep, didn't really work.
The next day a wonderful Rep. Marabella in the Club Lounge Reception was very helpful and got us into a room on the Club floor. When we walked into the room and I saw the window opened I said, "We'll take it."
It was after they cancelled our associates room that I demanded to see the manager on duty, by this time it was 6PM in the evening. I explained that they cancelled a credit card confirmed reservation (we had several sets of confirmations papers,) and that I was supposed to get a Club room and I didn't, not to mention any upgrade for being PLT. He apologized. I told him that wasn't good enough. That I spent the night in a hot box, was up most of the night and I wanted to be compensated for my inconvenience. He said he would get back to me after he spoke to his supervisor the next day. I said fine, we went out for the evening.
That night we left a wake up call for 7AM as my DH had an 8am meeting. At 8:10 the TV in the room comes on automatically. We jump up look at the time, DH quickly throws on clothes and runs out to the BKFST meeting in the lobby. I call the reception and asked what happened to my wake up call. The manager on duty basically said OOPs, we made a mistake. I asked if there was a record of my request. She said yes, but that someone didn't put it in the system. The next night we didn't even try for a wakeup call we set our cell phone.
I did speak with the Manager on duty from the night before and he was truly embarrassed by the new developments. He did say his supervisor agreed to compensate me for the first night, when I should've been on the club floor and I wasn't, and the room was sub-standard. I have not seen the compensation yet. He also removed the charge for one day's internet for the foul-up of the wake up call. Whooppee. The fact my DH was late for his meeting, when he's never late for anything, did not make for a happy man.
The stay and the points have posted, but the 500PLT amenity did not. I will wait until the end of the week to see if my compensation comes through. If not I will email the manager.
The property is tired, very tired. Which is a shame as it's in a good location, on a good Metro Line (10) and on an RER. There are tons of good inexpensive (for Paris) restaurants all within walking distance. It's only 1 mile walk from the Arch.
The fact that the rooms are small, it's Paris, what do you expect, but the beds could be better, there could be outlets on the desks, the rugs need replacing, and the lounge needs to be a full lounge. Just water, coffee and nuts are not enough.