navatwal

Thanks for the info, How does this property compare with the Kimpton?

I hear a lot about Kimptons these days, stayed at one (La Peer Beverly Hills) I was not overly impressed.

HadesNL

As promised a pictorial review of Intercontinental Paris Le Grand hotel.

Our stay here was the first time we went abroad.
France by then was one of the few places where you could enter without a PCR-test.
An easy Thalys train ride away from the Netherlands and the prediction of a sunny Paris in the (Easter)spring made us book. The train btw was fully booked and ofcourse behind us were sneezing and coughing Flemish so i kept my mask on.

For our situation we had booked orginally and got eventually:
1 prestige suite aka 1 bedroom suite with living room €900 -> ambassador suite
1 club room €495 -> interior courtyard facing classic room
This was reflected 2 days before in the IHG-app.
We got clublounge access due to being Royal Ambassador and booking the designated roomtype.
Otherwise as others have mentioned there is an upsell to get club access. (Just like IC Parklane)

So let's start with the photo intensive overview:

1) Arrival & public areas
We remembered the hotel as being all red/blue with gold and although slightly over the top, it felt great to be transported to another era.
At the moment all rooms / suites have been renovated in a much lighter tone but hasn't lost its feeling of grandeur.

We arrived by taxi from Gare du Nord station and were met by friendly doorman Calum.
Every time we needed a taxi onwards, he was there to help us, always cheery greeting us.

As stimpy suggested we should have checked in at the club lounge but instead i just checked in at normal reception off the lobby.
The Chinese receptionistlady was very friendly, even so after we conversed in Mandarin and then switched back to French.
She reconfirmed our upgrades and and informed us our room was ready and the welcome amenity was already in place at the room.

All staff we meeted in the hotel were greeting us with a "bonjour" so it felt really "savoir vivre"!


Entrance rue Scribe





Car/taxi dropoff on driveway,
there is an elevator for the impaired





Wintergarden / conservatory / bar
Closed during our stay,
reopens this May





Wintergarden / conservatory now being used as lobhy for peoplewatching




Elegant artwork:
Although my preffered styling is Himalayan, i would even buy this!





Grand opèra ballroom foyer




Grand opèra ballroom




2nd floor corridor





2nd floor corridor





Better signage everywhere since the refurbishments




Tastefull walldecoration




More tastefull walldecoration:
every floor has a different one, can you recognise them all?





Wallpaper in the hotel's public loo





Signpost to our rooms



2) Ambassador suite #2300 & #2302
Yes, you read it right?
Two room numbers, two doors = spectacular room!
Factually #2300 is the door to the living room, whilest #2302 the door to the bedroom.
This setup allows you to receive guests without entering the privacy of the sleeping quarters or to order in crumpet and no one's the wiser
We received this room as un upgrade while technically this catagory is excluded, so kudos for the hotel to go the extra mile!



Floorplan #2300





The location of this room is on the secondfloor,
2 windows on the left rounding is the living room
Left of it 2 straight line windows are for the bedroom/bathroom






Entrance hall, with right the door connecting to another ambassador suite





Extra toilet off the entrance hall,
Note: with a bidet hose
Handwash & lotion from Byredo bal d'Afrique





Double doors leading to....




The livingroom





Living room seen towards the double doors,
Left open door is to the bedroom




The closed left door leads to....





A hidden storage closet






All furniture was in great shape and the couch comfy to take a nap






Nespresso pad machine





All windows can fully open for fresh air!
There is some street noise though but with windows closed it is fairly well insulated
View from the room, if your ambassador suite is on the 3rd floor you will have a balcony though





Welcome setup:
Evian + Vitel waters
Macaroons
Chocolate
Strawberries
Juices
Champers





A warm welcome with champers Castelnau





Yes it is the real thing


The rest of the ambassador suite:


Now to #2302 the bedroom







Enter and you will find the closet with:
Safe
Iron & board (other closet)
Laundry bag




Right the entrance from the outerhall (crumpet door)





Empty minibar of the automated registration kind
(Royal Ambassdors can order any drink from room service for free)





Minibar pricing list




Kettle setup
Mineral waters were daily replenished





Iron, it worked!





Laundry information





Bedroom with door to living room







Door to bathroom






Door to 2nd entrance to outerhall
Bed: super KING = 220 x 220 cm




Desk has the following USB-plugs





Desk has the following electric outlets




View from bathroom





All outlets next to the bedside





2nd welcome amenity in bedroom






Welcome chocolate






Bathroom with freestanding bathtub





Toilet with bidetstick





Bathrobe





Showerstall with handhell and rainforest





Bathroom




View from bathroom, so keep the sheers closed so you won't show off your birthdaysuit





Utility box is back





Amenities by Byredo bal d'Afrique
and what ninjalad mentioned no bar of soap found anywhere!





View from bathroom window: BTW the hotel Scribe is now a Sofitel (Accor)




Each room has an individual airconditioning unit
For our American friends: the room can go to instant freeze in 5 minutes!




Information




Room seen from the outside at night




Goodnight chocolate on Easter





Laundy price list,
Interesting that i can get my djellaba here washed...... hope it fits as it might be skinthight by now as a cruise moomoo



3) Classic room with club access #2307
Faces the interior courtyard.
A spacious walk in closet but a very thight fit for the bed in the next room.
It does however have a proper desk and a seperate seat with table.
There is an (empty) minibar
No Nespresso machine but a kettle with Nescafé sachets (ahum....)
The toilet doesnot come with a bidet stick
This room is ok for 1 person but could get on your nerves if the occupancy is with 2, more then 2 is impossible!
If this is classic i shudder what cozy might entrail.......
As Dr. Frasier Crane has said, i need to step outside to change my mind....


Floorplan




Upon entry you will find a spacious walk in closet area:
- safe
- iron & board
- hairdryer
- full length mirror




The view when you enter the bedroom





The bed takes up most of the width of the room ....
It is though a super KING bed : 220 x 220 cm so you can sleep like an X




Desk, seat, table
All windows can fully open up for fresh air





Evian was replenished daily





The bathroom has a shower/tub combo



Byredo big flasks




Handwash and lotion
ninjalad : also here is the abscence of the individual soapbar




Toilet but without bidetstick




Empty minibar of automated registration kind





Courtyard view (quiet)





Alarmclock / telephone





Welcome amenity of :
- chocolate
- strawberries





Art in the room




By the way these are the only English language TV-channels
Fast response without any lag
(We watched Dr. Who the special)





Minibar pricelist is the same as the suite


Hope this gives you a taste of the newly refurbished rooms.
No paint smell, everything worked and housekeeping / turndown were friendly and polite.
We liked the redesign although it is a departure from the rich and heavy red/blue gold style.
A word of warning, in both rooms when you turn main power off, it also stops charging your electronics at some poweroutlets.

We got lucky with our upgrade from prestige suite to ambassador suite which the hotel didn't need to do according to the RA-terms.
But it meant also that our booked club room stuck at the classic catagory with no upgrade.

Conclusion:
Can recommend but research
what roomtype,
what max occupancy,
what view (street/opera/interiorcourtyard) for soundlevels of the sophisticated sleeper

stimpy

Thanks for the pictures of the newly refreshed Ambassador Suite. But I suppose there must be at least two rather different Ambassador suites. The one I've gotten upgraded to a few times in the past had a significantly larger salon. But this one looks very nice and is certainly a good step above the latest Prestige Suite.

HadesNL

Part 2 will give you an insight in the roomservicemenu and the gym facilities.

As the hotel is now offering room sevice by QR-code it can be a puzzle what is actually available.
Here you will the menus for inroom dining:


Let us start with le petit déjeuner - breakfast:











-----------------------------
Continué avec plaisir le déjeuner & dinnér - Lunch and Dinner menu
-----------------------------







----------
Drinkslist
-----------









----------
Supper - All night service
-----------

Midnight supper service - all nighters





If, after all the interesting French cuisine in Paris, you need to work on the excess flab, the hotel has a gym on the first floor.
Fortunately the gym has windows that can fully open for fresh air but looks at the interior courtyard.
It has no changing rooms or showers/toilets but does come with a fridge full of waters & energising drinjs.
Don't get all to carried away as there is a surveillance camera and the keycard registration upon opening the door



View upon entry

View to the left upon entry

The latest equipment so one can train like a mad hamster on a wheel

The well stocked fridge

Also waters at room temperature

More equipment

Windows can fully open for fresh air

Gym is open 24/7, as you can see i prefer to go around 5AM

Extra

Free weights

All basics are covered but the space isn't that big so come early as to avoid to bump into each other.

HadesNL

The two variety of Ambassador suites are:
- ours: 2 windows living room
- the neighbouring connecting room ambassador suite with 3 windows living room

Clarifying:


2 types of ambassador suites NOTE: those on the 3rd floor are even larger!

HadesNL

Part of the hotel is the venue:
Café de la Paix
It is not the cheapest but it has lots of character and is a prime spot to people watch.
Bills can be put on the room folio and are EQP earning.

Our regular server was Mr. Emmanuel who spoke excellent English and was a true delight in providing service with a smile. He's been there since 1998 so he knew all the scoops and was great in remembering our preferences. No grumpy french but a typical bon vivant!

We've had a dinner once here upon arrival.
We tried their breakfast buffet
We sat outdoors on their terrace
On Easter Sunday we treated ourselves to their brunch buffet

Let's start with some photos of dinner
PS: all photos are inspired by nicolas75 (our resident IHG-food photographer)




1) Dinner at Café de Paix
Impressions:
- You get unlimited servings of bread
- Serving staff was very attentive
- Seen and be seen!
- Portions were tasty + filling and it seems larger than prepandemic
(Our opnion as a dinner restaurant : a pleasent place to eat if like us you were tired after the full train ride to Gare du Nord and want to crawl back easy to the room to catch some zzz )


Glad covid-restrictions are lifted and people are enjoying themselves





Nibbles with our drinks






Starter of crab






Onion soup





You can also sit under the glass skylight





Tuna




Seabass






A lot of people were coming for.......






The fruit de mer .....




Of all kinds.....





And types ...,





Fresh on display.....





With a dedicated monsieur.......





Preparing them upon ordering.......





Some adult beverages on display




The portable drink cart



2) Breakfast at Café de la Paix
Breakfast is served full buffet style with a custom order to make eggs station
Every morning you are allocated a seat and Emmanuel brought us fresh juices and coffees and kept them refilled. The buffet was nicely presented and clean. It can however get quite busy so better to come a bit early.

After we were done with eating, we were allowed to grab one last coffee and sit on the Café de la Paix terrace to induldge in our nicotine craving and watch the world walk by. The outdoor table was always set with an ashtray and a reserved sign for us.



An overview of options





Seating





Being served juices and coffee/tea





You can sit under the glass skylight






All types of sugar






Buffet set up





Clear soup station





Meat





Fish






Meat





Cheese





Yoghurts






Glutenfree station






Agrumès





More nuts






Cereals





Butter





Veggies





Fruits






Hash brown






Greens





Ready for pick up





Eggs cook to order






Cook to order egg menu





Jams +
Nutella (deadly on crêpes)





Lychee / rambutan fruit





Seating area






Croissant






Pain au chocolat





Marble cake






Du pain





And simply bread


3) Terrace at Café de la Paix
Always a bustling place, as Raffles mentioned the Opèra Garnier square has now performing artists of different quality.
We can attest to some providing romantic interludes like Charles Aznavour but some equally energetic like the Jedward brothers. We were actually hoping for Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton but alas....
By the way sitting at the terrace is not the cheapest thing to do so be aware of the pricing.


Pittoresque situated at the corner



Amazing nightview on the Palais Garnièr





Terrace menu / pricing






Excellent to people watch






It can get however supercrowded





The Opèra Garnier is best visited on an early self guided tour at 10 AM







as Raffles mentioned all birds of a feather perform here

ARR72

The last time I stayed here was just pre pandemic, Dec 19 so I can see how procedures may have changed but this seemed rather odd: I made a reservation for late July on the ihg app, booking an advanced rate last week. Received the confirmation email as normal. This morning I receive an email from the hotel (address however is a female [email protected] indicating I need to provide my CC information again at the link provided. It cited a new European privacy law and said my reservation would not be honored unless I sent the Information via this link. I was hesitant to proceed to I sent the hotel a separate email asking about this process but have not heard back.
I made a separate reservation for the IC Bordeaux for the previous week using the same rate and that reservation was booked with out any issues (no breach of European privacy law in Bordeaux?). Can anyone chime in? Is this a legitimate new procedure? Seems cumbersome and honestly strange. Thanks

DonPedro

When I pay for this place (or other EU hotels) with an EU card, this check is done at time or reservation. If I pay with a non EU card there is no check, and I never had a follow up request.

Others may know more but this sounds dodge. Easiest would be to just call the hotel…although they’re also fairly good at replying to emails.

HadesNL

Is the email coming from M*****.B*******@ihg ?
I received the same email because i also booked an advanced purchase rate.
This means they will deduct the first night only as advance payment.
I do have contactemail at
[email protected]
Accounts Receivable
Tel : 0033 (0)1 40 07 35 63

HadesNL

Easter brunch buffet

Back every Sunday is the brunch buffet.
For this Easter sunday, the brunch buffet included a glass of rosé champagne and was priced at €125.
Normally this costs €98 : https://www.cafedelapaix.fr/fr/le-gr...est-de-retour/
Seating started at 12.30 noon and attracted both hotelguests and locals.
There is a cold seafood buffet, a hot station cook to order items and a extravagant dessert buffet.
We thought it was excellent quality and worth the money.
Everything was replenished quickly and used plates cleared away for new ones.
Enough staff was around to be of assistence.



Announcement Easter buffet 2022





Big parties can be accomodated





All set ready set for the madrush






Brought to the table To start with
- ginger apple refresher
- prawn cocktail





Desserttable




Breads





Lots of sweets





And ofcourse delicious






enough chocolate and sweets




Fluff buns





Yoghurts & crusli





Méditeranné



Cold buffet




Nigiri Sushi




Sushi maki selection




Salad station




Salad station





Salad station




Seafood buffet





Seafood buffet





Meats





Meats





Breads





Oysters & shellfish





Overview desserts: instagramabke




Les fromage - cheese selection





Cheeses 1




Cheeses 2





Cook to order: eggs





Egg station





Mini burgers





Pita & club sandwich





More sweets





I gained 5 pounds just hoovering over the buffet






Hummus





Again Mr. Emmanuel took good care of us





Fried shrimp, croque madame, cheese burgers





Fresh prepared hot items




Seabass





Menu cook to order pasta





Pasta station





We chose gnocci in cheese sauce,
So rich i had to faint and be carried to the elevator back to the room





Salts and toppings

ARR72

The name in the email address begins with a C vs. an M as in your email. I will try your contact email. Thank you

HadesNL

Before we go to the Club Intercontinental review:

Raffles : after reading your experience i can indeed confirm that there are in the lounge limited powerplugs to use ! Mostely at the two seater tables.


ARR72 : ninjalad for you a photo of those guests needing to knock to enter the club lounge


We met up with fellow Royal Ambassadors, Donna & Ron from Hawaï, it was great meeting you and discussing the direction of Intercontinental hotels and their lounges..... hope to meet you again in the near future over the art & archtitectual sketches!

* besides the Nespresso pad coffee machine, there is also a sophisticated machine making latte and capucinno and stuff


You can get to the lounge via the main stairwell or using the elevators.

HadesNL

And now the moment you were all waiting for,
An indepth analysis of the new Club lounge on the first floor of the hotel.
Access is granted by:
- booking a room with club rate
- paying a surcharge for access
- being royal ambassador

* Starting 1st of June 2022 with Diamond elite status going live,
one may be granted access also when being Diamond and having a minimal of 40 nights stay and chosing lounge access as benefit

Be reminded the offerings of this lounge and all other IC club lounges might change to cope with the rise and influx of users just like the current situation with Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott lounges.

1) the club lounge (space)
Entry is by using your special coded keycard, or just by knocking on the door.
Mr. Gilles is the club lounge manager and is always ready to help, a true gentleman and figure of French gentlemanship.
Mr. Henry & Mr. Morgan are roaming the lounge keeping things neat and clean and during afternoon tea offer to bring a pour teas and coffee or go around during happy hour offering cocktails or champagne.



Operating hours of the club lounge




Club reception Mr. Gilles, the manager, provides authentic French hospitality





View into the lounge





View towards the entrance




Elegant decor with comfy sofas





Small nooks to retire away also catering for the single traveller



2) what's always available
During opening hours, this is always available (even outside the 3 food & beverage presentation times)

Always available: soft drinks




Always available: mineral waters





Always available: Nespresso pad coffee machine





Always available: 2x rosé





Always available: 2x red wines





Always available: 2x white wines






Always available: free flow Castelnau champagne





Always available: Centre display with Castelnau champagne and mineral waters







Always available: Fruit selection





Always available: Damman frères tea selection (similair to IC AMS)





Always available: Nespresso coffee pads machine






Always available: Haribo sweets






Lounge dining room





Lounge decoration





Lounge art



3) breakfast time

Breakfast time : cook to order eggs





Breakfast time : champagne is available






Breakfast time : fruit





Breakfast time : selection small portions





Breakfast time : cheese





Breakfast time : cold cuts





Breakfast time : greens & butters





Breakfast time : bacon & sausages





Breakfast time : mushroom, tomatos, scrambled eggs





Breakfast time : breads





Breakfast time : jams





Breakfast time : cereals





Breakfast time : nuts





High counter top seating available





Nothing much in views out of the lounge



4) afternoon tea time

Afternoon tea : grilled veggies & pita cream cheese





Afternoon tea : Chocolates





Afternoon tea : Sweets





Afternoon tea : Breads






Afternoon tea : Haribo






Afternoon tea : Madeleine cakes






Afternoon tea : Fruit jelly & mocca puff





Afternoon tea : Madeleine hazulnut cakes




5) Canapés & Cocktail time

Canapés & Cocktail time: adult beverages





Canapés & Cocktail time: adult beverages





Canapés & Cocktail time: Nibble nuts





Canapés & Cocktail time: Chocolates





Canapés & Cocktail time: fresh oysters & prawns





Canapés & Cocktail time: Opèra gateau & macarons






Canapés & Cocktail time: Cheese selection






Canapés & Cocktail time: Foie Gras & Pâte






Canapés & Cocktail time: Smoked salmon & shrimp cocktail






Canapés & Cocktail time: escargots du jardin





A refined and relaxed ambience during happy hour, hopefully this won't be disturbed by the increased diamond access


Conclusion:
A must to try out before it may be overrun by the masses.
The free flow of champers is a welcome respite from Paris sightseeing.
Worth the upcharge!

HadesNL

Can't get enough and want to try another IHG-property?
Across the street from IC PLG is the new Kimpton St.Honore with an interesting roofbar.
Nice to have a drink and to get a feeling of a different hotel style and clientele.

Read my experience on the bar on https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34238782-post32.

HadesNL

Hope it works,
I had the same payment link for my advanced purchase booking but i googled Mrs. M.B. And it all checked out well.

Otherwise use this direct mail to reservations: [email protected]