Since I was arriving rather late into Orly, I decided to just overnight close to the airport before moving down to the centre of Paris the next day.  Years ago, there was a proper Hilton property quite close to Orly, but that seems to be gone and the Hilton Garden Inn is the replacement. 

Location

The property is not located within walking distance of the airport, but is accessible via the hotel shuttle (which does also stop by different other airport hotels in the vicinity of Orly).  I am not sure if this is a paid or complimentary service.  It does run quite late into the evening, around 11pm and starts quite early around 4.30am from what I noticed.  For those preferring to not depend on the shuttle, the hotel can be reached by the Tram 9 – which runs from Orly Terminal 4 and takes about 10-15 mins.  The tram frequency seems good – every 10 mins with a single ticket costing €2.10.  To reach this terminal, it can be quite a distance if you’re not landing at the terminal itself.  Outside of that,  the only other way is by car or taxi. 

The property is located in an office area – mainly related to the airport operations.   From the tram stop, it is about a 5-10 mins walk – not too bad.  Around the tram stop, there are some restaurants, but outside of that really not much of anything else to do in the area of the property.   For those that plan to use this to get into the centre of Paris, this will take approximately 1 hour with a combined tram and metro. 

Check In

I arrived just after 10pm at the property and another guest who arrived just before me, was the only guest occupying the sole agent working at the front desk.  After a few mins, I was helped by the front desk agent.  Sadly, was not very impressed with the agent – in my opinion the agent was not really that interested in being there that evening, not very professionally dressed and basically not very interested with guests checking in.  When I informed that I had a reservation, there was no further reaction and the agent looked up the screen.  I was than suddenly given a key – without information about the room, etc.. I err’ed at him and asked which room, and only than it hit him that o.. what was I doing.  Anyway, the key was correctly coded and room number indicated I was off to my room.   The agent did when handling me my key, inform that I do have complimentary breakfast included.   From the app, I did not really notice any upgrade and based on the attitude of the agent, I did not bother to ask about any further on this point.

Room

The hotel does seem to be quite a new, with some nice interior decoration – especially for a HGI property.  (I noticed that more and more HGI in Europe having quite some good non cookiecutter like interior design).  The room was located on the 5th floor and a corner room but with a L shaped hallway towards the room.  This did help to give a sense of spaciousness to the room – although I think it just slightly larger than the entrance level room.  (For this property, it seems like the King room with Sofa bed is the highest category). 

The view of the room was towards other office buildings of the area – this in general would be the view from the different rooms as there is nothing really interesting for view for this property. 

The room was well provided for – with a working desk and a small sitting corner.  There was no full wardrobe, but a hybrid wardrobe.  Tea/coffee making amenities was provided.  There was also a small SMEG minibar/fridge.  Two bottles of wafer was provided by default in the room.

Internet speed was ok – this was quite simple, it was just accepting the T&C and you were connected – so no special high speed for elite members – which for normal browsing and usage was sufficient.  There was quite a large TV in the room, and this was as expected in line with today’s technology with device streaming to the TV.  The channel options were good – with a mix of local and international options. 

Sleep quality was good – although located close to the highway, there was no external noise disturbance.  Internal noise disturbance was minimal.  The bed was good – providing good support and comfortable.  Climate control was sufficient and did maintain a good temperature in the room and being on the quiet side.

The bathroom size was sufficient – with a walk in shower.   The shower pressure and temperature control was good – the only bad thing about the shower area was the short splash screen, leading to the area outside of the shower area getting wet.  I had expected the property to have the new wall mounted toiletries, but was surprised that they were still providing the individual bottles (guess they are using up the old inventory before moving to the wall mounted bottles).

Other than that, it was nice to see finally a property back to providing the usual set of towels. 

Bar service

I headed down to the bar for a night cap.  I was surprised that the in house restaurant was quite full when first arriving at the property, however after going down again, most of the guests were done and leaving back to their rooms.  I had to initially wait about 10 mins before there was an associate available to get my order for the drinks at the bar (there was only one working both restaurant and bar).  The prices were reasonable – especially comparing it later to prices in Paris itself. 

Breakfast

Breakfast was served at the main restaurant of the property.  The spread was ok – with 4-5 different hot dishes – quality was ok.  All in all, the breakfast spread was sufficient for a HGI property.  During the duration for breakfast, I noticed that it was not too crowded. 

Service

Staff in general not really the best – I found the breakfast staff to be again another set of staff that did not really feel like they wanted to be there.  Not really interested to be there and seem to have gotten out on the wrong side of bed.  The only staff that I found more professional and friendly were the staff in the morning shift at the front desk – friendly and with a smile serving guests. 

Overall

All in all – the property is good enough and ok value for money.  It would be a much better property if staff were more professional and customer facing and expectations are set from location.