Novotel Le Havre Centre Gare

The room had a horrible odour and smell. Stale tobacco. Previous guests had been smoking in the room heavily and possibly the room had not been cleaned properly. The staff on reception were very unhelpful and lacked professional customer service skills. Their solution to the problem was to spray the room which would not have worked as the room needed full defumigation and deep clean and would take days/ long time to solve the terrible tobacco smells. We were left waiting for a long time and were advised that the hotel was fully booked, therefore no other options. We asked if we could be moved to another Novotel hotel within an hours drive which apparently was not possible. We asked for a refund under reasonable circumstance but were advised that was not possible too. At one point after one member of staff confirmed on inspection that the room had a terrible odour (the same lady who said the room could be sprayed with chemicals which would have created an awful smell) another staff member appeared and lied to say the room was ok. We eventually left Le Havre and on a busy Saturday night were able to book hotel rooms in Rouen an hours drive away at €270 expense. We will be making a formal complaint to the senior management of Novotel for full compensation and damages. We are a family of 4 (2 young children) it was a very distressing experience and the staff highly unprofessional. We have stayed in many hotels in France but never this before. Disgraceful behaviour.

We stayed here with our 3 young children. Upon check-in, the lady was helpful and polite. The hotel looks nice and is clean, rooms are also clean and basic. Good enough for a short stop. We were there for one night, in 2 rooms due to no family room options. The location is fine but my wife preferred to use the tram, which is very close, instead of walking into town as it felt a little edgy.Turned out fine though. It is a big hotel and sadly there was a lot of noise in the hallways at night and a fire alarm went off at about 8:40 in the morning. The real shortfall was at breakfast, which was more like a free-for-all. Lots of people piling plates high, bumping into each other. They kept running out of food, waited nearly 20 minutes for them to replenish the hot food, which when arrived was uncooked. The scrambled eggs were sloppy and the sausages were pink in the middle. Not worth the wait and with 3 small children in a somewhat chaotic environment, it was not an enjoyable time. Not sure how they maintain a 4 Star rating with food and service like that. At check-out we mentioned the noise and poor food. After negotiating they removed the breakfast and parking costs from our bill. However when challenged on the state of the food, which she agreed was under cooked when she saw the photo's, there wasn't even an apology. Not impressed, as our children had eaten the food. Overall, this place is basic and fine for a night, but stick to the croissant and don't expect too much!