Carole & Alex's loft apartment is a beautiful space in a perfect location, only 15 min walk from Gare du Nord (ideal if you arrive to Paris using the Eurostar). The area is very hip with lots of great bars and restaurants but also supermarkets and bakeries should you want a breakfast in the flat.
Alex was quick to respond to questions and provided useful information regarding the flat before our stay.
However, we have two issues with our stay (which I am hesitant to write given the sometimes aggressive responses I have seen by Carole and Alex to less favourable reviews).
1. Late check-in - We were fully aware before our stay that arrival after 8.00 pm would be considered as a late check-in and we were not surprised when Alex raised this with us. As we arrived later than 8.00 pm (although only 30 min) Alex booked us a taxi from Gare du Nord to the apartment arranging for the taxi driver to have the key and show us the apartment. This was a great solution and put my mother at ease (who was maybe a bit too old for the hip area at night), so we are in no way complaining about this, however, we would have appreciated more information upfront before booking about potential cost. We had to pay 40 euros in cash to the driver which to some people might be a bit of a large expense so just knowing that when booking would have been appreciated this is considering the taxi ride was less than 5 minutes.
2. Water supply - Alex had informed us before our arrival that the hot water supply was limited by an electrical water heater so we were expecting this and that was not a problem. However, on our first day in the flat we woke up to no water at all! I messaged Alex about this who responded very quickly (so no issue with that) to say it was due to building works but did not provide more information. However, it should be noted that I mentioned in my message to Alex about the water that we could hear building works and thought it might be due to that so I am unsure if Alex was fully aware of this as he omitted to mention that the water supply would be turned off every weekday between 9 am to 4 pm so would continue to affect us, something we only found out from asking somebody in the stairwell who brought a french note on the door to our attention. Once we had found out we could adjust our schedule to ensure we all got up early enough to have showers and use the toilet before the water was turned off as well as ensure we had bottled water should we need a drink , which was not a problem but did make the stay slightly less comfortable. Also I was surprised that in Alex's response to my message, although apologetic, he did not consider the situation and that we might not have been able to shower as he did not provide a single solution to the situation and just asked us to wait until the evening to see if the water was turned on again.
But overall I will stress that the apartment is absolutely beautiful and very comfortable in a great area to explore Paris.