Stay Report: Holiday Inn Paris - CDG Airport (Paris, December 2011)

Stay Report: Holiday Inn Paris - CDG Airport
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photo courtesy of IHG

I had a day layover between two flights so I was looking for a hotel that was near CDG airport and also had access to the train to go into the city.  There were many options that met these criteria, but since I was only going to be there for a little while I did not want to spend a lot.  The Holiday Inn Paris CDG Airport provided nice accommodation in a comfortable setting at a low cost.

It is very easy to book the hotel through the IHG website.  The hotel is located in the Roissy village, which is the town/village located right next to the airport and where most of the hotels are located.  The hotel is not connected to the train station, but there is a free bus that goes from the train station and makes a loop to the surrounding hotels in the area (it runs about every 10-15 minutes).  From the train station to the hotel was about a 5-10 minutes bus ride (the Holiday Inn is part of the later stops).  As the bus runs a loop, you can take the bus from the hotel to the train station but it does take some time so factor this in.  Even though the hotel is located towards the back of the ‘hotel’ village, it is actually closer to the real village so you can walk (about 5-7 minutes) to the village town center to access restaurants, coffee shops, ATM and bank, as well as a convenience store/market. 

From the road, you walk up a nice covered walkway to enter into the hotel.  There are benches on either side of the walkway so it provides a nice place to sit outside and wait for the bus.  As you enter in the hotel, straight ahead is the check-in desks.  To the left of the check-in desks is the restaurant and bar as well as little sitting area.  To the right of the check-in desks is access to the first floor rooms as well as the elevators.  There is also a monitor that provides live information on your flights.  Check-in was quick and efficient, I received my key for my room on the first floor, and proceeded to my room.

The room itself was comfortable, nice and updated, but it was not the biggest room.  I had booked a

photo courtesy of IHG

room with 1 queen bed so as I opened the door, on the left was the entrance to the bathroom while on the right was the closet.  The bathroom was clean but very small; it reminded me of a standard European bathroom.  The bathroom had a toilet, a bidet, a shower, and a sink but it was all right next to each other with very little room to move.  The shower was also very small and tight.  The interesting and nice thing about the hotel was that they had dispensers for shampoo, body wash, and lotion instead of individual, travel-size containers – a nice eco-touch.  The bathroom shared a wall with the main area of the room. 

The main area had a queen size bed against the right-hand wall and across from the bed was a desk along with a chest with drawers on the bottom and TV mounted against the wall.  Next to the bed was a small chair and table that faced the windows – there wasn't much to look at but the curtains were thick so they could block out most of the sun (if you wanted to sleep during the day – again a nice touch since passengers are coming in from all over the world).  The bed was a standard Queen-size bed that you would fine in America and it provided a really comfortable sleep.  (I was surprised at the size of the bed as I was expecting the smaller, European-style beds).  Overall, the room looked and smelled clean and comfortable. 

photo courtesy of IHG

The hotel has many facilities, but since I was there for a short while I did not experience them all.  The hotel has a business center, fitness center, restaurant, bar, wifi, and complimentary shuttle.  I did experience the wifi, which was complimentary and had good speeds.  I was also able to print out my boarding pass from the business center.  As previously stated, I also used the complimentary shuttle which, although took some time, provided good access to the trains and to the city.

Overall, it was a nice stay at the hotel.  The hotel looked modern, the lobby smelled really nice, and the service was really good.  The hotel had access to the bus for transportation (the hotel was in contact with the bus so you could wait inside the warm hotel until the bus alerted the hotel that it was on its way) as well as was in walking distance to the Roissy village to access restaurant, shops, and ATMs.  The only negative was the ‘small-ish’ bathroom and the transportation via bus, but both of those were small negatives as overall it was a pleasant stay.