DGellman

I have stayed at this property more than a dozen times in the past few years, before and after the remodel, and I can say that after the first couple of stays, my treatment improved dramatically. I became a repeat guest, and have been treated thereafter as a valued customer, even though I don't have big bucks to spend.

I always book the least expensive, advance purchase rate, and have almost always been upgraded several levels, usually to a Junior Suite with a drop-dead view of the Garnier Opera. Lower floors are nicer, as the ceilings and windows are higher. I keep a copy of the hotel floorplan handy (available at the front desk) and have it with me when I check in, so I know what I will be getting before I leave the counter. Alas, I have never been offered a comp to Club Level.

I have found the service to be quiet, efficient and unobtrusive, and every staff member religiously says "bonjour" when passing in the (endless) corridors. The coffee is excellent; so are the croissants. ^ ^ ^

One more thing - the RoisseyBus to DeGaule Airport arrives and departs directly across the street, next to the American Express officec.

Dave

Happy

When we arrived last Saturday at about 6pm, we were told our room was not ready because the guests occupying our room checked out very late. We were offered a complimentary drinks at the bar. A beer and 45 min later, the room was still not ready. This time was the room was cleaned but had to be inspected before it could be assigned! We were offered another round of drinks (actually the front desk wrote us a card, which was good for: coffee/tea/beer/house wine/Champaign, but not cocktail). We waited another 30 minutes and were eventually given a room that was not what initially promised - we were promised twin bed, non-smoking 2306 but was given double bed, smoking with a totally different room number 1532 than the one printed on the check-in paper. We arrived at the same time as the room service with a bottle of red wine sent by management as apology.

When we discovered the room was the complete opposite and we were made to wait so long for it, naturally we were not happy. The room service lady got the front desk on the phone and after a bunch of conversation she handed the phone to me. The supervisor explained they were full and could not give us the room type because all twin bed rooms for the Classic Room type were gone (we were on 5 reward nights). We suspected he just gave our initial room away. I told him we could not sleep on this dingy double bed for all 5 nights. He promised to switch us the following day and for the duration of our stay if we came down to see him the following morning. They would move our luggages to the new room as long as we packed.

The following morning we came to see him - he looked up the computer and said he found us the room but he could not give us the new room number just yet! We were told to come get the new room keys when we returned to hotel in the evening and our luggages would be in the new room.

Guess what? When we returned, only one staff who was a Japanes lady actually knew the situation - none other stuff had any idea, including the one who checked us in the previous day and who gave us 2 drink cards! Anyway, the Japanese lady checked us in for the new room (they actually took out another 30K pts but put the pts back in - we did not know that until we got home and looked at the account activity) and said our luggages would be in our new room - Nope, the luggages were not there and we were very hot and sweaty and desperately wanted to take a shower. Had to come down to front desk as no one answered the phone. 15 minutes later they delivered the luggages - one carry-on and one backpack. We were not impressed by the service until on the 3rd morning when we did the check-out / check-in thing. The supervisor recognized us and immediately invited us out from the que, handled the process himself. We asked to change the duvets to blankets as it was way too hot with the duvets. He immediately called housekeeping to give instruction and told them to clean our room first. So the remaining 3 nights we finally got to enjoy our stay. FWIW, the 1st room had a large foyer - a double-closet on one side and a foyer on the other side - the foyer is a total waste of space esp when you compare it with the very cramped room size - there is hardly any space between the bed and the cupboard. The 2nd room has more space inside the room but a very tiny single closet - even with our very limited wardrobe (2 jeans/shirts and 1 jacket each - it barely has space to hang them all. The foyer is a tiny square - but then the room feels much more spacious - there are 2 wooden chairs and 1 soft chair and still has space for one to move about. We do not know if this is considered Superior or still Classic.

One very good thing though is all windows can be opened fully and that is a major plus, plus the AC!

The only complain we still have, is the tiny tiny bath tub and the totally useless, movable, 1/2 glass "wall" - there is no way to take a shower without splashing the floor.

Oh, the services were uneven - on one day the maid did not replace the wine glasses, for example. There were only 2 sets of towels until the last night they gave us 2 more sets. One of the hanger for the bath robe broke - the maid got rid of the broken hanger but did not replace it with a new one, so one robe was on the hook and the other was on a hanger that hang on the hook. Also we did not get any turn down service, though we really did not care for that. The maid did not clean our room as late as 4pm on our last day. When we returned the room was still not done and then she was antsy when we told her we would stay in for about an hour...

There were never anyone to open the door it seems - unlike our stay a week earlier at MR Grosvernor House in London, there was always someone to open the door when one approached - the doorman was invisible at Le Grand during our stay.

milepig

I found the door service to be uneven. Late in the day I usually opened it myself. When I went out running at 6:00 a.m. it was always opened for me, coming and going.

This gives me a chance to ask about the lamborghini/ferrari that was always parked out front (changed from day to day) our entire stay. I made a little joke with the doorman every day about wanting my keys now. One or the other was always there - are these hotel owned cars?

Happy

You should see those cars parked on streets around the Park Lane area in MayFair, London. We stayed 2 nights at MR Grosvernor House, on the front portion of our trip. The side streets in that area were full of exotic cars - while we haven't seen a Lamborghini, we saw Maseratis, a dozen or so various Porches, Bentleys, Royce, and countless "lesser cars" such as top end BMWs, Range Rovers, Mercedes.... There were always a Maseratis parked at the courtyard of GH and a Bentley or 2. On one side street, one can see the back of American Embassy's compound - there are several exotic cars parked behind the barrier but outside the compound. I dont think one can find such a high concentration of exotic cars in such a tiny area - less than a 1/2 sq mile me think.

Oh, on the evening we arrived Le Grand we saw a car (forgot which exotic breed) has a Kuwait licence at the back, parked right outside the front door. However I believe we saw MORE Arabs at MR GH than Le Grand.

luxury

ALL of the most expensive suites in Paris (Crillon, FSGV, Bristol, Plaza Athenee, etc) are usually home to many Middle Eastern families over the summer... quite a spectacle to see the motorcade of limousines followed by a HUGE truck with all of their luggage!!

stimpy

Moreso this year after Israel destroyed the Paris of the middle east.

janvdr

I stayed in the LeGrand hotel for New Year's Eve one year ago... I booked a standard room with my hard-earned points. After my reservation I made a call and agreed to be upgraded to Club-level for 70 euros extra.

Since the hotel was completely fully booked, they could not give us a club level room (that time not all the rooms could be club)... Though, I was give the bedroom of the Presidential Suite with Club access.

I was quite pleased with this, since I didn't have to pay the 70 euros and since I got this marvellous room for only 30k points...
However, I thought that service was a bit lacking, I would never again redeem points in this hotel on such busy dates...

PS: before questions arrive: that time I was only PC Gold, no AMB...

stratofortress

Completely unprovoked, of course...

elite13

You right about that, i got lost few times in the corridor.. Going around in circles !!

Shareholder

It seems that I read lots of stories about the wealthy young folks of Beirut frolicking at their night clubs throughout the "war" of 2006 and barely any areas that wealthy Arabs would deign to visit were touched by Israeli bombings of Hezbullah neighbourhoods. This was a far cry from the internal civil war between Christians and various Muslim sects we witnessed over the previous three decades that thoroughly leveled the city, and the ongoing instigations and instabilities fomented by Syria and abetted by the Palestinians who themselves "invaded" Lebanon to set up the government in exile.

BTW, not wishing to take this thread off on a tangent, if Stimpy will remove his post I will delete this one within the next few hours.

cs19

Anyone have any idea why there are zero rooms available at the IC Paris Le Grand starting with the evening of June 9, 2009 and there is no availability until June 21, 2009?

Seems too short for any work/renovations. A quick google search shows Paris Air Show in town June 15-21 but I'm not sure that would lead to absolutely no availability at that time... would it? Do you think it's truly booked full or is there some temporary hold while something is figured out?

uk1

Paris Airshow - with set-up and limited non-public preview before.

Shareholder

If you check out the IC in Buenos Aires in the first five days of January and the middle of the same month for five or six days, you'll find the same thing. They're running the famous Dakkar Rally in South America this year after cancelling this year's edition due to threats from Al Queda. Wonder if the RA override will work for these two events?

uk1

I would have thought the RA guarantee would work. I'd have thought it worthwhile booking a room via either the hotel or the desk and then e-mailing the hotel to update the booking to reflect the guaranteed upgrade asap.

cs19

Interesting thought. T&Cs for RA say:
Compare to the Gold/Plat guarantee:
Certainly different T&Cs. What are the odds that IC Paris has been "completely reserved by the Government"??