Shopfranceinc

I know the "head spinning" that goes along with this. I'm a regular here and here's my advice. Book the advance purchase for 315€. That's a bargain. Then, you can pay upon arrival 120€ per night for two people (90€ for one person) to have club access. As an ambassador, you will be upgraded to something...so whatever!!! For the free weekend night..if you can split the reservation up and book just a 2-night weekend stay at the prevailing club rate, you can use your certifcate. Play around...there are minimum stays required per booking. Enjoy!! It's a lovely property in a fabulous location. And the hotel has LOTS of history...WWII, Napoleon III, etc! Bon Voyage!

milepig

Thanks for all the advise - I just booked the prepaid classic room for 4 nights in early September, and will work on using the coupon and getting one night credited when I arrive at the hotel. Here's hoping for a significant upgrade! I'll send in a trip report when I'm back.

milepig

And here is the trip report.

Checkin took a little bit, and the person had a hard time finding me a room, much clicking and saying "we're really full". She finally called someone and negotiated a room for us. She then said something about "a view of the opera" "very nice room" and even wrote "opera" for our corridor. When we got upstairs the room was actually on "Scribe" and faced the inner courtyard, but we didn't really care about the view since it was dark when we were in the room. Good sized, but I'm not quite sure which category it would be - large bed, two bedside tables, a desk with chair, an easy chair, one additional chair, a small table and the minibar/tv thing. Separate entrance with the closet and both the room and the bath had big windows. Very nice.

The welcome ammenity was about 24 plums and a very nice box of chocolates. There were bottles of water the first night, but they were not replaced.

Only problems? The cold water in the sink kept getting hot -weird. And, we were hit with a EU125 minibar bill, which was instantly removed when I questioned it. (We had one bottle of water and did move things around a bit to get a couple of our own things in.)

The took the free night coupon and promised a credit on the CC.

broadwayboy

I just checked out from Le Grand today. I had quite a nice experience staying here few years ago using the Junior Suite with Club access promotion from Departure magazine and this time redemeed 30K PC points for a 1 night stay.

Checked in around 4PM and the folio was ready with a room number pre-printed, 2309. I asked for a room with a high ceiling and the receptionist changed the room to 2331.

The room faces the not-so-pretty courtyard, but I love the windowed bathroom. Paris was beautifully sunny yesterday and this morning, it is a wonderful thing to have the bathroom bathed in sunlight. The plus side from the inside rooms is that it has no street noise, although about 1AM this morning two kids from adjacent rooms were screaming at each other, loud enough to wake me up.

The room is small. No, make it TINY. As an Ambassador, I know I was entitled to be upgraded to a SUPERIOR room (based on the photo on the website, I was given the CLASSIC room). I didn't make a fuzz because I am travelling solo and only for 1 night.

The bathroom has no separate shower and the toilettries are L'Occitane Verbena instead of the Molton Brown given in the Junior Suite few years ago.

I got a chance to go back to the spa to use the gym. There was no one at the reception, so I just walked in, worked out, had some OJ and water, then used the sauna. I wanted to shower in the locker room, but out of the 2 showers, I couldn't figure out the jet-spray system in one stall (it might be broken, actually) and the other stall has no shampoo or body wash. Decided to go shower in my room.

I did not get to use any of the dining facilities, though noticed that the American breakfast cost 45 Euros and Continental is 38 Euros (IIRC). I also noticed that a glass of orange juice costs 11 Euros. Hmm.

Service is rather spotty. When I called the 'service express' to inquire whether or not there's a steam room in the spa, the person transferred me the spa, but there was no answer and I was greeted by a voice mail. When I called back, the same 'service express' person answered the phone and had no clue about the facility.

I called the reception to confirm the 'free movie' for Ambassador and call was answered immediately. This morning, when I called to check out, no one answered the phone and I was greeted by a voice mail again.

Overall, an OKAY stay. I would certainly stay again because of its location, but if I am paying next time, I would definitely make sure I got at least an upgrade to a SUPERIOR room.

BTW, what's the difference between the CLASSIC and SUPERIOR anyhow? It seems to be about 30 Euros... can't be that much larger in terms of size.

Raffles

Room sizes are shown on the IC website if you click on the room descriptions (and indeed are quoted 3 posts above yours!).

milepig

I'm not sure what your point is, and in any case I didn't have a ruler with me! And, for that matter, even if I had had one, does the size include or exclude the entry area and bath?? The descriptions, beside xx square meters, don't give much helpful information. This, tied with the variable nature of the rooms at Le Grand, does not give enough information to begin to distinguish between Superior and Executive on sight. Therefore, I thought that my description of the - nice and spacious but unclear as to which category - room I received when I booked a Classic room might be of some interest to others.

Raffles

Sorry to confuse - I was replying to broadwayboy who asked the difference between a Classic and Superior, which AFAIK is size only.

Only in exceptional circumstances will I stay in a hotel room smaller than 40 sq metres. Life has taught me that anything less is likely to induce severe feelings of unhappiness!

milepig

No prob, Raffles. I am also intested in this statement:

"The toilettries are L'Occitane Verbena instead of the Molton Brown" We also had L'Occitane in our Superior/Executive room, but found them quite nice. Has the entire hotel changed, or do higher levels still get the Molton Brown?

Raffles

I would actually rate L'Occitane above Molton Brown, which is pretty middle market these days (BA puts it in their club washbags, for instance). L'Occitane certainly has a more sophisticated packaging and image.

Shopfranceinc

Does anyone know the answer to this??? I'd like to know if they have completely switched throughout the LeGrand. I always assumed IC tried to use British brands (Molton Brown & Penhaligon's) in their nicer properties...so L'Occitane would be French! I wonder if this is just for France?! Having said all this, any of these is better than the generic IC toiletries in the shape of the logo!!

The Mileage Millionaire

FWIW, IC Amstel uses L'Occitane. Their bottles are 75ml each!

stimpy

I've had 4 stays at the Le Grand this year and twice it was MB and twice L'Occitane. I think it depends on what kind of room you get.

gaussian

My girlfriend and I stayed here from 9/15-17. It was one of my most disappointing IC stays.

After an awful journey from Prague we arrived a little after 2pm and was told that our room was ready but needed to be looked at by housekeeping before they could release it to us, come back in 20 minutes. A half later we inquired again and was told the exact same thing - very classy. Ended up having to stand in front of the counter until they found a room. I booked a Deluxe room, with the hopes of an upgrade to a junior suite. No such luck there.

On the first day they dropped off 2 bottles of water, half a bottle of wine and a basket of fruit that was growing mold - what the hell??

The concierge was useless in helping us get restaurant reservations for the one night we requested assistance and we ended up doing it ourselves.

The room had a grand total of 2 towels in it, this still baffles me.

For the money, there have to be better places to stay in Paris. I'd been seriously impressed with IC service at the other locations I've stayed at (Amsterdam, Budapest, Prague), so this was a serious let down.

milepig

Not my experience at all.

Checkin was a bit rough, but they apologized that the hotel was very full but the person worked hard to find me a room, which she did the first time. I really would have expected that the room would have been pre assigned (we checked in at about 4:30).

Two bottles of water, wonderful plums, a good sized box of chocolates, no wine (half or full bottle).

More towels that we could have possibly used, every day.

Room serviced seamlessly and also turndown service every night. All totally transparent to us. Even the bathroom was carefully put back on the hanger with the arms folded just so, etc.

The concierge took good care of us and made a same day dinner reservation at a restaurant that I thought might be full. No problem at all.

I judge general hotel service by four things:

Is there a robe hook in the bathroom - Le Grand = yes

Are the partially used toiletries replaced with new ones - Le Grand = yes

Is the room left the way I want it or is it reset to hotel specs (is the TV remote where I left it or back on top of the TV, is the AC left where I set it) - Le Grand = passed

Are room service trays promptly removed from the hallway (it is amazing how many fine hotels fail this test) - Le Grand = yes

So, it passed all my tests. Sorry your experience wasn't as good.

Raffles

I have just used by RA status to get myself a room at Le-G for two 'sold out' nights in October, and the rate is Euro 540 per night for a Superior (ie still very small but could be worse) room!

Luckily I have a BOGOF available, and I assume the fact the hotel is sold out actually INCREASES my chance of a decent RA upgrade!