While we didn't stay at the hotel, we visited Hotel Costes for lunch. We left feeling disappointed and a little bemused by the experience.

Granted, the venue is very tastefully decorated - top marks there, but is let down by the pretentious, unwelcoming and superficial attitude of the place. A little warmth and a few smiles instead of pouting and 'assessing' would help engender a little respect and more favourable reviews.

The food was reasonable but amazingly the bread (a staple that Paris justifiably prides itself on) was cold and stale - not fresh by any sense of the word and worse than even the most casual cafes we visited in Paris - just inexcusable for a venue like this.

If you enjoy a truly superficial experience that involves overt looking and being looked at and does not hinge on good service or above average food, this is the place for you. Otherwise, don't believe the hype behind the name and use tripadvisor for what it is best at - finding somewhere else that you will actually enjoy.

The Costes is a great place. Rooms are nice (but small), location is good and hotel design is great.
The swimming pool is fantastic, I could spend hours there.
But I won't return to the Costes for 2 reasons:
-The service is very bad. When people from the hotel staff consider that they are more important than the guests, you don't get the experience you might expect. At 750€/night, you expect a little consideration.
-With a booking at the restaurant, we had to wait for 30 mn until the restaurant supervisor showed up and said: " We don't have any table available. You should find another place to eat." So we found another place to stay!
So if I really like the place, I hate the way it is managed and won't return.

The Costes is still the Queen of all design hotels. Anyone complaining about bad service and attitude must understand that this is only true if you don't fit in there (looks, dress code, habitus, attitude, celebrity status - the level is HIGH!). Otherwise you will have a fantastic time. The Costes' attitude is a necessary mechanism to keep the crowd that good. For more than a decade the Costes succeeds miraculously !!!

That's a difference to other "design hotels" where the staff are less trained and less knowledgeable and really tend to think they are cooler than all their guests. Then the good guests don't come back and the hotel needs to accept the rather mediocre crowd. Then the good times are over. But that will hopefully never be true for the Costes.

We have not stayed at the hotel YET......but visit the Cafe every time we go to Paris. One of my favorites for vibe, people watching and cocktail sipping. Yes its overpriced, snobby and pretentious........when in Paris.....