Citizen M Paris

My first experience with CitizenM last year was fantastic, so I was eagerly awaiting returning this year. Alas, my return was not so triumphant.

Many of you are probably unfamiliar with CitizenM hotels, as there are only a handful of them around the world. They are tech driven, room functions are controlled by an ipad. As you can see from the photos there is even colorful mood lighting if you want that kind of thing. The rooms are tiny, but each has a comfy king sized bed and a flat screen TV. Great for overnight layovers at an airport.

We arrived and had minor glitches checking in with their automated system which is an unstaffed bank of computers near the front door.

When I got to my room I noticed that it was like a furnace, no AC. So I grabbed the ipad and adjusted the temperature settings.  Fifteen minutes later there was no change in room temperature, so I called the front desk. They advised me that I probably did not know how to use an ipad and that they would set the temp remotely for me. Fine.  However, after another ten minute wait, no change in room temp.  I called two more times, no answer.  So, I marched downstairs to see if I could get some help.

I arrived at the bank of computers, aka front desk, and was met with a chaotic mob of travelers that were unable to check in to the hotel due to some catastrophic computer failure.  I waited for almost half an hour chatting with folks before the lone employee assigned me another room.

I returned upstairs to the first room to gather my things, hoping that my new room would be cool.  As I was gathering all of my luggage in the old room, the power suddenly cut out, they had effectively checked me out.  I was in total darkness, not even an emergency light. I fumbled to the door and propped it open with one of my bags. Now I had minimal light to unplug and pack all of my devices.

I made my way to the new room, but my automated key would not open the door.  Now I couldn't enter the old room or the new room, I was stuck in the corridor with all of my bags in tow.  I went back down to the lobby.  The harried employee told me that he'd fixed the error and to go back up and try again. I went back up. Alas, the key still did not work, so I went back down.

 I noticed that no lights were illuminated on the keypad and reported this to the staff, but he shrugged it off. He believed it was operator error and decided to accompany me back upstairs to show me how to use the keypad, mind you I entered the first room without incident, so I knew how to use the keypad. So we both went up again, me still lugging my bags, and he verified that indeed the keypad was not working!  We went back downstairs again.

I was assigned a third room, and I insisted that the employee accompany me back upstairs to make sure all was well. He complied, and viola the door opened and I had AC!  Will miracles never cease?

By now it is very late, and I was quite aggravated, so I spent very little time sleeping in my comfy king sized bed.

By the way, I could use the computer well enough to write CitizenM a scathing review on TripAdvisor.