UTA_flyinghigh

Easiest way is to grab the RER "A" towards Paris at the station right at the foot of the Hilton and stop at, obviously, Le Bourget where shuttles will be available to take you to the hair show. Just don't get it wrong and stop at Sevran-Beaudottes or something or you may be in for a surprise.

UTA

cph_flyer

Take bus 350 from the bus terminal at Roissy Pole.Stops right in front of the museum.

http://www.museeairespace.fr/infos-p...es/en-bus.html

UTA_flyinghigh

Bad choice IMHO for Airshow WE as the roads will either be swamped or have traffic restrictions.

UTA

JDiver

Thanks, fellow FTers! We'll be there at non-airshow times, and now we have two ways to get there. We'll shoot for the correct stop - no airport at Sevran-Beaudottes.

Mountain Trader

Wow-300E for a night at the CDG Hilton? Are the Diamonds benefits really that good, even when an upgrade looks iffy?

To each their own, but I'd hit Hotelscombined.com and see what the other top-end hotels out there are charging for that night. Of course, I wouldn't pay that much for an airport hotel in any case.

Firewind

Perhaps still the Paris Air Show? I don't know when it and accompanying activity end.

GUWonder

The hotel comes up on Priceline for less than a third of that 300EUR price. The lounge at the hotel is ok and the upgraded rooms are a decent size but there's no way I'd pay a $200-$280+ premium just to get more points.

Firewind

Prompting some thoughts: The lounge food and beverages are nice. They can substitute for dinner and definitely breakfast. The lounge is small, and you can end up standing with your Hors d'œuvre or breakfast. And don't arrive near to closing time at night as - in my experience - they seem to begin picking up early so that the staff can be out of there at closing time. Can be very hypoglycemically frustrating after a late evening flight or return from town. Except for the adult beverages, which are the last to be taken away. Which helps...

Not least, in my experience, the Hiltons I've gotten on Priceline have always Hhonored my Diamond status with lounge privileges and room level (YMMV overseas?) if not elite qualifying stay credit etc.

wendySFO

The room I stayed was very nice, full wall of window over look the Roissy Pole station and had no noise at all.

Had to leave the hotel around 4:30AMish so never seen what's for breakfast. Checkout were really slow at the time, only one person there and few airline crews were ahead of me so hold up the line. I rarely stay at airport hotels but thought they should have better services for early risers and late comers as these are probably the main crowd who chose to stay at the airport hotels.

JDiver

Indeed, Roissypole is the place, near the hotel, and the Roissybus goes to Opéra Garnier - also a Metro stop.

The Roissybus (also referred to in some places as the Opera Bus) has a couple of racks for baggage, no major areas or underbus storage like Air France Les Cars, and it is merely an articulated city bus. Schedule, airport stops and information link.

Roissybus (or Air France Les Cars CDG to Porte Maillot and Etoile / Arc de Triomphe, Gare de Lyon and Montparnasse or Orly Airport, taken from several terminals locations,) are subject to traffic issues (we have taken as long as 1.5 hrs from CDG to Etoile, and as little as 0.5 hours); RER is generally not, of course. This may influence one's choice of transport, as well as whether one is burdened with luggage or not.

JDiver

Yep, it has happened. Every ~20 minutes or so, and one must proceed to the SNCF / TGV terminal building (marked Gares / Railway Station on the map below) and go to the fifth level, north side (south side is for taxis). The hotel's website states:

Due to new restrictions imposed by "Aéroports de Paris", our shuttle service will only stop at the TGV station (Terminal 2F) as of July 12th 2010

The shuttle can only pick up and drop here - but... they sometimes can and will drop off at other locations on the route; we were dropped near gate 2C, where the Air France Les Cars depart from for 2A and 2C, making it a bit easier, on July 18th.

JDiver

Hilton Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport AKA Hilton Roissy CDG
Roissypôle, Rue de Rome, BP16461, Roissy, France 95708
Tel: 33-1-4919-7777 Fax: 33-1-4919-7778

Due to new restrictions imposed by "Aéroports de Paris", our shuttle service will only stop at the TGV station (Terminal 2F) as of July 12th 2010 and I can tell you this is current - they will sometimes drop you at a terminal en route to the SNCF station, but pickup is on the fifth level NORTH SIDE of the SNCF / RER station (South side is the taxi rank).


The hotel has 8 floors, and the Executive Lounge is on the 8th floor with great tarmac views (the left side of the lounge provides views of the static display Concorde).


The hotel's first impressions is this is a clean, modern hotel with some Art Deco highlights, and the front desk staff works quickly to try processing everyone speedily. (You can not check in at the lounge here - the lounge is essentially not hosted, you let yourself in with your coded key and there is only personnel to put out items and clear tables, which they do very slowly.)


We were graciously welcomed and given keys for an upgraded room to the (8th) Executive Floor and informed about the lounge. We had added another day with another booking, and stated so - no problem, all will be combined in one folio!

Problem, it wasn't and we were checked out and keyless whilst we were at the Musée Air + Espace, though the room was cleaned and not packed up, our keys no longer worked. Back at the front desk we were gently scolded and told if we had only disclosed this upon check-in, everything would have been fine. Ahem! We had... New keys, new promises about one folio (and it did happen, but being patronized was a bit, er, Gaulling).

ReWhoops, we were assigned room 802, and we soon found our to avoid rooms 801 - 812, as everyone using the lounge will go by your not very well insulated door, many chatting (and more) throughout the lounge times (6:00 AM to 11:00 PM except weekends and holidays, when it closes noon - 3:00 PM). Even rooms have views of - the next wing; only odd-numbered rooms have tarmac / Concorde views in this wing. The other half-wing contains Nos. 815 (near elevator) through 830, 815 - 829 seem to be those with tarmac / Concorde static display; this is the quietest wing and farthest away from the Lounge. I believe these are correct, and will hope something definitive can be posted.


The room itself seemed clean and well kept, but the mattress was quite firm and the pillows resembled clean cement sacks (this said by a guy who prefers firm pillows). The bureau sported a flatscreen television, a desk sported phone, HSIA, a chair that no longer lifts into a higher position and a lamp with no working bulb - which matched the non-working bulb in the bathroom ceiling, leaving an already not so well illuminated room and bathroom with even less light.

HSIA is complimentary for HH Golds and Diamonds, and television Internet connection costs €7.oo for thirty minutes. Reception will issue chits good for 24 hours for those eligible for free Internet.

The closet has a spacious safe and a few hangers, ironing set and bathrobes - and a closet door with a missing guide, so it would go off-track, not to mention the interlock did not work and the light could not be turned off. There is a side chair with its ottoman.

The minibar is of the "touch it it's yours" variety, and there are an ice bucket and coffee / tea set. The ice machine and a shoeshine machine were near room 801, and the ice machine was inoperative.

Bathroom amenities were Crabtree & Evelyn "La Source" in small sizes - in fact, one small facial bar and no bath bars are provided here, though the toweling is decent in size and quality.

The lounge is attractive and has two Internet-connected computers for free use (but they reset after 15 minutes and force you off), but not large - it gets very crowded here, as previously mentioned, and a few families with kids descent like hungry hordes at times. Because there are no hosts, nobody is around to maintain a semblance of order (and we saw people walk by the "dress code" sign and enter in bathrobes and slippers, and worse).

Lounge hours: 0600 - 2300, closed 1200 - 1500 weekends and holidays. Breakfast 0600 - 1100, no host open bar 1800 - 2030, some hot and cold hors d'eouvres (nothing abd and nothing spectacular either) and a cremant (sparkling wine) and undistinguished wines and drinks (think "Gustave le Ploncke 2010"...)


Breakfast is Continental plus (runny scrambles, bacon, tomato halves, sausage in addition to cold cuts, etc.); we were also able to take breakfast (buffet) in the Les Aviateurs restaurant, served from 6:00 AM to 10 or 1030 AM iirc, otherwise breakfast costs are €23 Conti and €28 American. The restaurant serves a decent, if not spectacular, breakfast buffet. For some reason, fruits here other than whole apples, bananas and oranges, are chopped and served in light syrup.

Les Aviateurs restaurant states it is open 0600 - 2300, but in fact it is closed except for breakfast as above, lunch 1200 - 1430 (2:30 PM) and dinner 1900 - 2245 (7 - 1045 PM). Service can be relaxed to v-e-r-y slow and uncoordinated. Any other time you wish to eat, room service (€6.00 for the privilege, 0700 - 2300) or Le Caravelle bar.

Le Caravelle bar is comfortable enough and offers some pub food, open 0800 - 0100 weekdays, and Sa, Su,, Holidays 1100 - 0000 / midnight. The service is sometimes OK, sometimes beyond the pale - we were studiously ignored even as we attempted to get service for over 20 minutes, whilst the two barmaids chatted away with each other. (We repaired to the lounge and gave them none of our money.)

Synopsis: this is a busy airport hotel that does a land office business in groups (they have a large breakfast area that serves them exclusively), air crew (who often get preferential treatment, such as courtesy Executive rooms and lounge access), and of course, a high number of people in transit, including those with airline vouchers. The property can be reasonable or expensive, depending on - for example, the Paris Air Show. Rack rates are totally ludicrous - €745 for one or two standard, €845 one or two executive; we paid €133 nightly all in with breakfast (which we had anyway as Diamonds).

While the hotel will do for a night or possibly even two (but not if one is visiting Paris itself, for which we had a very pleasant stay at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe described in the appropriate thread), I feel the service aspects are pretty bad, and maintenance standards are low as well. (The closest hotel to the Terminal 2 complex is the Sheraton.)

Link to a super nice photo of Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde 101 reg. F-BVFF (c/n 215) serving its time as "gate guard" at CDG with the Hilton in the background. Ironically, "Foxtrot Foxtrot" the Concorde Lady JDiver and I flew on in 1987, so it was like visiting a reminiscent bit of our past - and we did hit the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace and visited (and spent some time in both of) the original test article Concorde 01 F-WTSS as well as AF Concorde F-BTSD "Sierra Delta". Further irony - FFF was cannibalized for parts to keep -SD in the air, sent to "D" check to be restored to service and was 60% through "D" check when AF announced the end in 2002.

(Photo links from various Internet sources, verified for accuracy.)

Mountain Trader

Our stay at the CDG Hilton Roissypole last December revealed much the same as JDiver found, including the non-working light bulbs.

A few additional points:

-The free to all guests spa, pool and workout areas are first class-modern, clean and well kept. We had a great aerobic workout, swim, sauna, hot tub, the works, in a first class setting.

-The restaurant had three buffets-starters, main courses and desserts. The offerings were very good for buffets, with items like smoked salmon and shrimp. I forget the prices but they were high-I think the starter buffet was around 23 euros and the main course one was 30+, though I may be wrong here. So a two course meal is going to run $80 or so plus drinks which are not cheap. My advice is to eat an early dinner in Paris, then come out to the airport to sleep.

Internet access was very high, and we were told that for my wife and I both use our IPads, we'd both have to pay the fee.

We used an award stay but otherwise, this is not a cheap stay. There's an Ibis hotel across the courtyard from the Hilton. Ibis is the no frills level facility of the Accor chain. You can get a room there for 100€ a night with free wifi. We're going to give them a spin next time we're staying at CDG.

occasionally flying professor

It was very convenient to walk from the CDG Hilton to Roissypolis (T3) station and take the CDGVAL to T1.......a 5 min walk and a 5 min travel time.

I must also say that staying here before a morning flight is sooooo much less stressful than battling one's way out of central Paris

Smaug

I'm currently at the Hilton CDG for the night, and to say I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

I'm paying for this night with points (30,000pts).

I'm gold and have my profile set to a room upgrade.

So I check in and was given a room 5xx level room (non-EL floor). I asked if I had lounge access. Was told no, my profile says I would receive points. Uh, no.

The lady at the front desk offers to call HHonors and let me talk to them directly. Yeah, since I really was hungry (didn't want to pay for a restaurant), I wanted lounge access. Front desk lady hands me the phone to talk to a HHonors rep, and she confirms my profile is set to room upgrade. The lady on the phone asks to talk to the front desk lady.

Then the fun begins. For the next two minutes, they argue whether I should be allowed lounge access. I could only hear the front desk lady saying "He paid with points - the particular rate is ineligible for upgrades." (news to me)

The front desk lady finally gives in but is not happy about it. I get a 8xx room with lounge access for the night. No apologies or anything.

Then the lounge - all I wanted was some hor d'oerves. Only thing to be found besides the various nuts & chips were onion rings and something else I didn't recognize. Any soft drinks available? No? You must be kidding? (If you wanted alcoholic drinks, you had your pick.) So I had a glass of water and a small plate of chips and whatevers for dinner. This was really not worth the fight at the front desk.

If I have time before check out in the morning, I'll see what breakfast is like in the lounge. But if I ever come back in the future, I'm taking the points for the benefit.