We have just returned from our trip to Paris, out of which we stayed one night at "2-star" Hotel Familia next door and two nights at its sister hotel, the "3-star" Hotel Minerve.
The good parts: the staff is wonderfully friendly, quite helpful, and fluent in English. The location is central, and there is a wonderful bakery across the street. The murals in the rooms and around the hotel are indeed nice. The flower boxes on street-side are full of red geraniums, and the hotel exterior is pleasantly lit at night.
On stars and sisters: the rooms at Familia and Minerve are pretty much identical, ironically there were more amenities in the Familia room we stayed in. The prices, luckily, are pretty much the same in either hotel. The lobby in Minerve is very nice and seems newly renovated.
Warnings:
1.I don't understand why so many travelers rave about the cleanliness of either hotel. Both were rather grimy: the carpets in the rooms sorely need replacing.
2. At Hotel Minerve, my toddler got so ravaged by bedbugs, she insisted on spending the rest of the night in her stroller.
3. The rooms are teeny, shoe-box sized, although that might be normal for that part of town and price-range.
4. Lastly, don't believe the hotel staff when they say the street-side rooms are quiet: Rue de Ecole is a busy, noisy street, and the double-paned windows don't do enough to mask this. I won't stay at these hotels again, but if I had to, I would ask for a 6th floor room facing the courtyard.








