The location and staff at the Normandie were excellent but I'm afraid I couldn't really say that my experience lived up to the four stars on the wall by the entrance.
My room was not a four-star room. We all know that hotels only display the best aspects of the property, but on this occasion the difference between what was offered in the pictures when booking, to the reality, was rather misleading. It was cramped; the wardrobe was a kind of battleship grey, the door was a bluer shade of grey and the door to the bathroom (which itself was modern and stylish) was a sort of sickly cream that nevertheless went well with the tired wallpaper (the colour of which was a sort of off-nicotine). The floor sloped. I wouldn't put the breakfast as much more than adequate and I've certainly had better at lower-rated hotels.
One of the reasons I chose this place was because of its high rating. I caught a glimpse of the room next door and it was indeed light, modern and airy as promised. So maybe I had bad luck. But the hotel didn't appear to be full so I'm disappointed they ended up giving me such a poor room.
If I stayed again (and I wouldn't rule it out), I'd certainly enter into some kind of negotiation to make sure I wasn't allocated room 309 and wasn't going to end up feeling, frankly, a bit ripped off.