I had a small apartment in Paris in the 1990s and this room reminded me very much (in a good way) of that apartment. Top floor of the pension, lovely old wooden furniture, a view of the amazing cityscape, and a shower in the room. The toilet was directly across the hall (as it was at my old Paris apartment) but this was a minor inconvenience. There was a nice TV with full cable services. Watching French game shows with the captions at the bottom is a great way to brush up on your French. I kept water, beer, cheese, and mustard on the balcony (my fridge), and spent much relaxing time in the comfy, private room. Also, wi-fi internet worked flawlessly on my laptop.

The Residence is across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens and a short walk from metro/RER stations, a myriad of cafes, supermarkets, cinemas, restos, bars, etc. A great location. I spent 4 nights there and regretted leaving. Just remember to bring your own soap and keep your room tidy! It is a residence, a pension, not a hotel.

As Paris and travel veterans, both my partner and I have stayed in various levels of quality places. We try to out-do each other now, what is the cheapest hotel/etc that can be found, that gets the best experience.

We returned to Paris for our usual people watching, tourism, dinner and time alone to wander. We found residence du palais on paris35.com, or some website called budget places (it has a happy pillow!) where we look for very cheap places to stay - we have used it for Dublin and Rome as well.

We got le metro out to near Jardin du Luxembourg, and it is a bit of a walk if the parc is closed - it is on the other side from the latin quarter. As we were walking down, we kept thinking - is this a bit far? We got there and it is not massively signed, and in we went. It is fitted with the carpet lift found throughout Paris (which always scares me). There is a shower in the room but you have to share your toilet (which is fine for me but not for others). As it seems to be standard in europe, the double bed was two pushed together, but the sheets were clean, there was furniture in the room to store your worldly goods and a bureau. The best part of the room was the balcony. We could only both just fit on (I am a size 10 and my partner is taller but not much larger than me) but we sat with our bottle of wine from Monorix (3 euros!!) and looked at the eiffel tower sparkle. You could also see notre dame and on a sunny day sacre couer in the distance. Its right by the entrance to jardin du luxembourg which is great on a sunday or a sunny day, and there is an amazing ice cream shop on the street below. Walk away from the parc down that street takes you near st germain du pres and the corner cafes made famous.

This is an average place to stay for someone on a budget. It is located near the Luxembourg Gardens and is service by Metro lines 4, 12 and RER B. It was a little difficult to find especially very early in the morning. The dark passageway at the entrance of the building did not help either.
I was in a single room with a shower. The rooms was small, clean and functional for the limited amount of time I spent there. The bed was comfortable though the room could do with better lighting. The shower was small and clean. The hostel had decent internet connectivity.
I enjoyed the accessibility of the location. There were several cafes and boulangeries close by. Several cafe's were open late which helped as I was getting over my jet-lag.
The owner was reasonably hospitable and helpful. It helped that he spoke English and was ready with suggestions and tips.

Overall, as a solo, male traveler, I found the Residence du Palais to be value for money, providing basic amenities and a reasonably secure base to explore Paris.

I actually went in August of 09 with some friends, and there were rather a lot of cons to this hotel which has received so many good reviews. The first issue occurred before we even arrived. Our plans changed about two weeks before departure and we tried to get a hold of them to change our booking (staying one night instead of two) however after multiple attempts we never heard back and just had to deal with it. When we showed up they acted very 'not impressed' and told us there were going to charge us for both nights regardless. The whole thing was extremely awkward and made us feel quite unwelcome, they acted as though they were scolding children. Although.. they never actually charged us, even though we said it was alright. So there was a complete lapse in communication between us and the owners. Unfortunately we were so embarrassed by the treatment we received upon arrival that we avoided them for the rest of our stay, and missed out on the free breakfast and had no opportunity to ask any questions about the hotel or area.

Secondly it was hard to find. Perhaps this is just me being used to Canadian norms, but I'm so used to there being more obvious signs telling me where something is. We walked right past it two times before we noticed the tiny little plate on the wall, and even then we had to ask at the Cafe next door how to get in (though he seemed used to the question, so we knew we weren't the only ones)! Not a huge deal, but something that's very good to know when you're looking for the place!

The rooms as mentioned were tiny. We stayed in a triple and it was extremely cramped. Altogether the rooms were not bad, they seemed clean, and for the price it was rather what we expected.

The main con however was that the shower was just stuck in the middle of the room. Traveling with two friends, none of us being extremely close, this made for some interesting moments whereupon the male in the group was told to go sit in the corner for a few moments while the women bathed. Although it was ultimately not a huge deal, it would have been really nice to know in advance that there was little privacy to be had in the room. The toilet being all the way down the hall was inconvenient, but probably expected in such old buildings, so not a major problem, though again it would have been nice to know that you'd have to walk all the way back to your room to even wash your hands. So not so much an issue with the room in itself, but certainly a severe lack of information about the room, which lead to a number of inconveniences.

Also as mentioned earlier, coming back late to the hotel was quite hazardous, the lights would be turned off, and there was windy uneven stairs up to our room. The floors would squeal bloody murder the whole way back as well, probably waking up everyone on the floor (and god forbid if you have to wake up to use the restroom in the night)!

Overall, I would probably go again and would recommend for someone traveling on a very tight budget, if only because its the cheapest hotel out there, but on an even marginally higher budget I would find another place. It's main pro was the location (which was fantastic) and is not a terrible place to stay, so long as you intend to spend as little time as possible in your room.