My husband and 15 month old son had reservations to stay at the Hotel de la Fontaine in early June of this year. (I booked the reservations through venere.com). When we arrived (after carrying one piece of luggage, a stroller, and a pac-n-play on my back up several flights of stairs) we were greeted by a cold stare from the gentleman proprietor. He went into the back to talk to the lady proprietor, and then they both came out, very agitated. Apparently, the reason for their angst was that we had not told them we had a toddler (I later checked on Venere.com and there actually is no place to let them know this from what I can see). The issue was not so much the price, but the fact that a child makes noise - apparently they have a special room that they put young children (the walls must be thin), and that room was already occupied. I apologized for the confusion (not remembering where I had made the reservations), and the lady then proceeded to accuse me of being deceitful and trying to trick them by not telling them we had a young child. Apparently, her confirmation email saying the room was for two persons max applied to a young child whose bed we had with us (standard convention in my mind for a 2 person room means two adults, and this was the case everywhere else we went on our trip. It is worth noting that we were in Germany and France for two weeks and nowhere else was this a problem). I think she raved on for about 5 minutes and became very rude and agitated. The bottom line--they refused us a room. They did help us find another room in Caen (only after we asked them to), and while I was in the back working with them my son laughed at one of their decorations. Immediately, both the man and the woman said 'See, see - he cries, he makes noise (I had told them that he slept well, which is true)'. I couldn't get him away from these people fast enough after that (the woman was still yelling at us as we left). If you have young children, I would steer clear of these rude people and their establishment.

We stayed at La Fontaine on our last night of our two week trip to Europe. The staff was very helpful, knowledge able and did speak some English. The Rooms themselves are very well done. Things such as the warm paint scheme, decorations and mints on the bed were an added surprise. There is a continental breakfast served in the mornings including bagels, cruissants, ceral and juice. In the dining room there are some neat WWII models/diaromas.

The hotel itself is a little tricky to find. It is located in downtown Caen, but is on a street only a block long and has little streetside parking. There is a parking garage a couple blocks away. The hotel is well situated within walking distance of great resturants, shopping and the Caen Castle.

All Around a great hotel.

We stayed at the De La Fontaine for one night after our adventures on the D-Day sites. It was a somewhat difficult to locate since it is tucked away in a little sidestreet. It is certainly tacky and needs some TLC, but it was good for a one night stay. The bed was surprisingly comfortable (firm).

Reception was handled by a young man and a woman. She was very friendly and inviting. The man seemed more timid and seemed to have limited English...although his English was fine when he reminded us at 9AM that check out was at 11AM ( we were just stepping out to buy hair conditioner, which is not provided at the hotel). Trust me, we were not trying to move in!

Breakfast was 5.50 Euros, which seemed to be a great deal especially in France (usual hotel breakfasts are around 9 Euros)However, breakfast here was "you get what you pay for". The coffee was old and microwaved (tasted stale and turned that murky brownish-grey hue when milk was added). A disappointment since 99% of the coffee we've had in France was amazing. You also get a small portion of orange juice, croussants, baguettes and plain yogurt (which is not appealing to everyone).

But for one decent sleep, it was a moderately good stay.

Centrally located, though I needed my Satnav to guide me through Caen's streets to find it. Parking a little limited outside hotel, but huge underground car park close by (I was lucky and only had to use this once!)
We stayed 4 nights... 3 of us in single rooms. Rooms were spotless and bed very comfy. Sheets changed every morning and everywhere vacuumed and polished.(One of my colleagues even found his laptop screen had been cleaned in his absence!)
Facilities good... ensuite bathroom with small but adequate shower area. I'm a big 6'4" chap and I coped ok in there!
Breakfast was sufficient for our needs and to be fair they honoured my for some "Pain au Chocolat" instead of the usual "Croissant". Very impressed.
Staff were cheerful and knowledgeable, and even understood my attempts at the French language.
The hotel was lovely and quiet at night, though I was woken early one morning by the charming call of a lark ( I think) singing.
Great for touring the WWII sights as we did. Caen at night is a lively and interesting place... plenty of restaurants for all budgets and bars for all styles (though drinking is not cheap these days as we found out!!!)
All in all a fantastic little hotel in a wonderful and interesting town.