Hotel le Havre Centre Gare

I payed twice for this booking online and at the reception was strange that the receptionist demande the payment to confirm the booking. Though I got refunded back after. The toilet was not cleaned properly the room had a bad smell.

Trying to save some money I decided to book this hotel. Big mistake. My train arrived at 11 am and I googled early check in at this hotel and several sites said it was possible and regular check in was shown as 1pm and another website showed 2pm. I had no where to go in Le Havre, was just there to pick up a cruise, so I walked in the hotel a little after 11. First problem, the two guys at the front desk spoke very little English. They looked at me like I was crazy when they figured out I was trying to check in early. They offered to keep my luggage but I told them I had no where to go. They then told me check in was 3p and that all the employees were leaving and the hotel was closing up until 3, and they would all return then. I travel extensively and have never heard of this, and this is not a small hotel. I asked if I could sit in the lobby for 4 hours awaiting their return and at least they agreed to that, but I was locked in and couldn’t get back in if I left. I know early check in is not guaranteed but they did not even attempt to get me checked in or see if maybe my room was clean. If I ever stay in Le Havre again, it will not be here and honestly, I am not hard to please.

Unfortunately this “hotel” is the worst we have stayed in during our trip to France. When we arrived, the receptionist did not speak any English, but was nice enough and was able to give us our room numbers and codes. This is probably the only thing I can even slightly compliment. The next morning, there was another staff member who did speak English though. From there, you have two options to get to your room: the stairs or the lift. The lift is fully carpeted (walls too!), and feels like a cardboard box. If you choose to take the stairs, I would suggest wearing a mask. In fact, you should probably wear one throughout the hotel. as the smell is horrible. On the second day of our stay, the smell got even worse as it began smelling like sewage throughout the lobby. Things unfortunately do not get better in the room. The rooms are small, which is ok, but the bed is made from some sort of MDF - cardboard hybrid with a mattress on top. At least the bedsheets were clean. The bathroom is definitely the piece-de-resistance. The WC was dirty and stained. Dust on every pipe. The sink takes its time draining, and the clicker waste is not functional, also full of limescale. The extractor is broken on the inside. There was also no soap in our bathroom - others in our group were, however, blessed with some soap. The hairdryer in one of the rooms was also broken. There is also no air conditioning or fan. As we visited in August we slept with the windows open, which honestly barely made a difference. The curtain does not fully cover the windows either. Additionally, there was some sort of unit outside our rooms which made a buzzing noise all night long. If you are nosey, you may get some good entertainment. The walls are incredibly thin and you will be able to hear the guests in surrounding rooms, including when they flush the toilet. We spent most of this first night, until about midnight, trying to find a different hotel so we could leave this place, but we were unsuccessful as it was a weekend in August. We were told by other hotels that we were not even the first ones that day to try to get a room somewhere else. At night, there is no reception staff. There is a call button, but we saw someone use it and wait a good while before anyone answered (if they did - we did not hang around). The whole area also feels unsafe - there are homeless people sleeping directly outside the hotel leaning against it, and drunk/dodgy people all around. Make of this what you will, as this is not strictly the hotel’s fault. Once we managed to get some sleep, it was time for breakfast. We arrived at breakfast between 8:30 and 8:45. The options were essentially: croissant, pain-au-chocolat or bread. There were some scrambled eggs and I think there was supposed to be bacon, but we must have just missed it (breakfast began at 7:30). The juice also soon ran out, as did cups and cutlery. The staff was only there occasionally, so there was no-one to even ask for these thi