The Hotel L'Odéon is located just up the road from St Sulpice, and we loved it from the moment the taxi dropped us off outside. The minute you walk in through the glass door, you get a feeling for the place. It's small, quaint, and full of character - hardly surprising when you consider that it's a 16th Century building.
The entrance foyer is all mirrors, medieval wood, beams, and stained glass...and the weirdest phone box!....leading you through to the reception desk. There are four floors - our room was on the fourth. You go up a few stairs, past the tiny plant-filled courtyard, up a little more, and then reach what may well be the smallest lift on the planet. 2 of us and one case squeezed in there...just!
Our room was small, cute, individual, with a modern well equipped bathroom. The room had a TV and air-conditioning, which was as well since the room did tend to get a bit warm. Storage space - both shelves and hanging - was ingeniously created in two floor-to-ceiling cupboards by the very comfortable bed, with a cubby hole in one to form a bedside table. On the wall opposite the end of the bed was a table and chair. The window opened to a flower and plant filled window box, with a view down and across a covered courtyard. Although not a large space, with rooms opposite, we weren't directly overlooked at all. As all we planned to do was sleep here, the lack of space wasn't an issue - in fact it was all just adorable - again, full of character - it felt very French somehow. I'm sure it would have been less lovely if the bathroom hadn't been so modern and functional - but that wasn't so - we had a large sink and counter space, toilet and shower cubicle - spick, span, plenty of towels, and cleaned daily, all we needed really.
Breakfast was served downstairs in the lounge and foyer area. Once seated, a tray arrived for you - a plentiful spread with the hot drink of your choice (large jugs of black coffee for us), croissants, pain au chocolat, bread, butter, jam/honey/soft cheese, fruit juice, and a yogurt. Plenty!
In the lounge there is also a PC with 'net access - you can buy a 45 minute card for 5 euros - which is handy for checking email, weather, or flight information.
The staff are friendly and helpful enough, without being overly chatty or intrusive. They do their job and leave you to get on with having a good weekend. They also ordered us a taxi back to the airport - but you might want to get the price verified first - we got over-charged "because it was Sunday".
Location-wise it was perfect, being right by St Germain and all its bars, restaurants, shops and nightlife, handy for many of the main sights, and also easily accessible by metro.
We would certainly stay here again.