Hôtel Carré Vieux Port in Marseille

I had two very different experiences in this hotel. The first night, when I demanded to move rooms at 2am because the wires were rattling so much, I thought a fire would start, was a 0. The second night, in my perfectly nice room, with a delicious breakfast, was a 4.

I booked a “superior” room and felt like I was being pranked. It came with a “shower” that was just an open drain in the corner of the bathroom. Its toilet seat looked like it had been installed by a drunk monkey. It had one tiny window. When I asked the hotel about moving rooms, I was told they were completely booked, that all their rooms had these “Italian showers” and that the window in my room was a regular sized window.

In the middle of the night, at 2 am, I woke up to the loud rattle of the electrical wires connecting to the AC. They were violently vibrating even though the AC was turned off. I’m no electrician, but I didn’t think it was safe.

I told the reception I couldn’t stay in that room and they let me move into the next door room. I’m still confused about why they didn’t just let me move from the start. The room had a real shower, a toilet that didn’t come from a gas station, a normal-sized window, and didn’t seem to pose a fire hazard.

The hotel’s refusal to let me move rooms before the electricity issue, insistence that they were fully booked when they weren’t, lie that all rooms came with “Italian showers”, and refusal to offer a partial refund for the first night’s debacle is disappointing.

The hotel does a delicious breakfast and is in a perfect location. If you don’t get assigned room 514, I’m sure you’ll have a very pleasant stay. I did once I was out of it.