IC Paris Le Grand
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
On balance, yes. However, I had built this hotel up to mythic proportions in my head (I am going to sound silly here, but reading about the club lounge and free flowing champagne and etc. was one of the reasons I first became an RA -- I wanted to come to this hotel and have
that experience!) and so any little hiccup sort of spoiled my fantasy here. I didn't end up having the "le Grand" experience I hoped for; but still, the hotel was fantastic.
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
I booked first 2 nights on points, then 2 nights at the Virtuoso rate, over New Years. Initially, we were upgraded to Executive for both rooms, then a couple days before arrival, the Virtuoso res showed Junior Suite. On arrival, we were given a Junior Suite for the whole stay. Additionally, club access was granted for our entire stay. **
How are the rooms?
The Junior Suite was really spacious and lovely, with a large entry way with large closets for storing clothing, a large king sized bed, desk, couch and two comfy chairs, flat screen TV, floor to ceiling windows, and the bath area that was almost half as big again as the room -- hallway with a shower room off to the right, then a toilet room, and to the left, a huge room with another floor to ceiling window, with tub, sink, etc.
How is the exec. lounge?
I liked the lounge. However, this was one of the things I had built up in my head to be somewhat more than it ended up being. When I read about it being two stories, I pictured the upstairs overlooking the downstairs, a grand staircase, etc. It's not
quite that grand! We loved being able to hide away upstairs during cocktail hour, and keep the couch in the back corner to ourselves. I was a little disappointed that the food spread didn't vary much at all during our stay; same items were out for breakfast, lunch, tea, and cocktail hour each day pretty much throughout our stay. But, I was loving the Nicolas Feuillatte champagne on offer, and the fact that they had caviar out for both lunch and cocktail hour. The sweets on offer during tea time etc. were delicious. Staff in the lounge were very lovely. My husband found it irritating that the ice bucket they had held approximately 10 cubes and was constantly empty.
What was good and what was bad?
Good:
The upgrade to Junior Suite for the whole stay was really fantastic, and I was not expecting that -- I was going to be quite happy with the executive room for the duration. The minibar offerings (more little Nicolas Feuillatte bottles!) were great. Can't go wrong with L'occitane toiletries in my mind. Club lounge was really quite good.
Bad:
So, here's where the fantasy I was hoping for and the reality of being in the real world clash.
When we arrived to check in, their computer system was down (and apparently was down from 10PM the night before). Front desk couldn't check anyone in "or out" they said -- couldn't make keys for rooms, etc. They had print outs and handwritten notes strewn about with data about incoming guests. Indeed, they couldn't even find our reservation initially, and only did find it because I gave them my husband's passport by accident instead of my own -- they realized they had the reservation listed under his (different) name, not mine. They proceeded to basically just shoo us away, saying to come back later when "hopefully" they could check us in. The lobby was a bit of a chaotic mess. We went out for a bit wandering around the shops; back a couple hours later, still no computers, so still we could not be checked in. I asked for a waiting room in the interim, which, after some phone calls to others in French, we were granted, but had to be escorted there because a master key had to be used to let us in. And, now I see why people say the classic rooms here are so small -- good god, they really are!
We cleaned up, changed, and went out wandering again. At about 5PM we went back down to the desk and were told that their system was partially up -- they could make keys again -- and so, we were given our room. We were not told about any benefits or anything, and I just happened to ask whether we had club access -- she had to check her paperwork, but determined that yes, we did. I did not ask why, just thanked her and went to our room.
We did not get a welcome letter explaining benefits or our Ambassador amenity for 2 days. We did not get a newspaper for three days. We got bottled water on our first and third days only.
I contacted my Virtuoso agent on the second morning of our Virtuoso booking to ask him who to contact about getting our Virtuoso amenities, or letter explaining benefits, etc.; his contact was actually out at that time, so he had to get in touch with someone else. They delivered some more chocolates, some madeleines, and an "exclusive offer for personal shopping" at one of the shops attached to the hotel -- but I never got the 20% off voucher for the spa that I was really looking forward to using.
When I called Instant Service to ask about whether snacks in the minibar were free (as I had read they were here, but I really didn't want to be charged 8 euro for a half pack of Pringles if I was wrong!), I was passed over to room service (???), who said we could only have water out of the minibar (I knew that was wrong, just politely thanked them and hung up). It took an email to the Guest Relations Manager to get the question answered -- and of course, we didn't get that answer until our last day there.
Because of all the above, I found the experience that we had really uneven. No doubt it was all precipitated by their system being down; it was unfortunate timing for us, I guess. Still as I said, on the whole, we had a nice stay. I guess all the bumps just proves that this hotel is just a hotel, in the end and not the mythic place of RA dreams I had built it up to be.
Value for $/Priority Club Points?
The Virtuoso rate was excellent, most especially for the room we ended up getting.
Would you return?
Probably, if the rate was good enough.
** -- note on the club access: The Guest Relations Manager at one of the ICs I stay at very frequently was going to get in touch with her counterpart at the Le Grand to let them know we were coming, and to "treat us well" as she said. Getting club access even on our points nights, then, could very well have been due to that relationship; or, it could have been to the confusion over their computer system being down. I did not ask, I was just grateful for it
