InterContinental Paris Le Grand

It was our first visit to Paris and we were celebrating 50 years of Marriage. so we booked into the Intercontinental Paris le Grand and it was indeed very Grand. We were treated like royalty from the start till we left 6 days later. Reception from Valentin was a real treat. First of all he upgraded us from a cosy room to a beautiful room with Balconies overlooking the Opera House. He had a great personality and we were well welcomed. When we got to the room a few minutes later , a member of staff appeared with Champagne and Macaroons! What a treat. Another day we had great help from concierge Benjamin who was able to make a booking for us. Although we found the Hotel expensive to eat in we did book a table at Cafe de la Paris on the last night and again a real treat and lovely experience. Our waiter James was a real treasure and made us very welcome and the food was grand too. There was a beautiful girl playing a Harp, so what more could you ask. Many thanks to all, from the Door people to the excellent room Staff . We found the Hotel very central and were able to walk to all the attractions although we sometimes got a Taxi back.

This hotel is a gem in the heart of Paris! All is walking distance! We stayed for two nights in December at the same time of the opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral! We are a family of 4 ( 2 adults, a 4YO and a 2YO) and we were all very well treated by the friendly staff, despite all the security measures in place, we managed to have a normal stay. Breakfast and restaurant are very nice and there is always something for you to enjoy. The rooms are old-style maybe asking for an update, but very comfortable, clean with a touch of luxury. The Club Lounge is very nice, great selection of food and drinks. For sure a place to consider if you want to stay in the Paris city centre.

I can not remember how many times I have stayed at Le Grand Intercontinental Paris. The first time I stayed was well over 25 years ago. Located near the Opera House and intersection of many main streets, near the airport bus stop, department stores, the hotel location is excellent. Since the hotel is old, many rooms have different layouts. Some rooms even have odd layouts by today’s standard. This time my room has the toilet door facing right the room door, and the toilet has no sink in it. You have to walk through the room to wash your hands. Having said that, my superior room was considered spacious given a central Paris location. The room fitting is updated and has smart TV. The best part of the hotel is the breakfast at the restaurant Cafe de la pax. The food choice is wide and food is of good quality. Service people is helpful and polite. We did dine at Cafe de la pax for dinner for one night, but the food was average in dinner. It was not bad but there is much room for improvement. The escargot and the ravioli was good, but the scallop, which is pretty easy to cook, was below average. Front desk, concierge and house keeping staff are all efficient and have good smile.

The disappointment I got from Intercontinental Le Grand has ruined my first day of holiday…. I want to bring this to management’s attention and kindly do something about it as I am currently feeling guilty for choosing this hotel for our stay and not going somewhere else… the IHG service standards in this property are lower than I have ever seen anywhere…. It started from when I arrived to the hotel by taxi and the concierge took my luggage. I checked in yesterday with my partner and I was given a room on the first floor with the Bd des Capucines view which was extremely noisy, no Opera building and Five guys infront of me. It’s been 20 minutes since I checked in the room and had no luggage delivered to me still and I also asked for the wrack to put the suitcase which was also missing. I asked to change my room to the quieter place and I was given a different room. I reminded the receptionist that I am still missing my luggage and she told me it will be send straight away. The room I got was something I haven’t seen even in 3 stars… I had dust on my bedside table, the leftover water in the coffee machine, only one bathrobe, one set of glasses and no water in the room (the previous room had 2 water bottles). The toilet didn’t have a sink next to it, so in order to wash your hands you need to open two doors and only then you would have a sink to do it. Also, you can not switch on the light in bathroom/toilet without switching it on from the bed and light in the whole room, so at night/in the morning you can not visit bathroom without waking up your partner with a bright light and also reaching the switch on the other side of the room. Its been more than an hour I waited for my luggage to come to my room and I couldn’t change my clothes to go to dinner. Finally, after one more call I got it (after total wait of 1 hour and half and reminding 3!! times about my suitcase). It would have been easier for me to take it myself. The next issue was a luggage wrack. I also had to ask for it twice. It took 1 hour to arrive and the housekeeper was placing it on top of my Christian Dior shoes can you imagine???? He didn’t care at all in what he was doing and I was just speachless…. Later we tried to connect HDMI cable to the TV to watch a movie… it was also a challenge as the plug was located at the back of TV and we had to lift it and find with a torch in the area that was probably never cleaned, full of dust. Very inconvenient, TV is old and works only with Windows, doesn’t support apple tv or bluetooth…. In the evening we placed DO NOT DISTURB sign on a door handle but still got a call in the morning if they can come in. The receptionist didn’t tell us anything about breakfast availability and timing, no spa opening hours and facilities… I didn’t expect that from 5 star hotel with an over €500 per day fee. Not mentioning that the walls in both rooms were scratched as well as furniture… I understand it is a historical building but this shouldn’t be acceptable in 5 stars…. In the afternoon we got a room service with one pizza and carbonara. The room service lady on the phone couldn’t say the size of the pizza in the menu, the time it arrived was 15 minutes longer than she told us and they charged €8 for a hot milk pot… Carbonara wasn’t tasty and pizza was with a base similar to the frozen one from supermarket…. It was also almost impossible for 2 people to eat in the room as it was so tiny. We already paid for one more night here, otherwise I would have moved to another hotel today.

Our stay had its ups and downs but was overall decent. We stayed on points for 4 nights in early January 2025 in a “queen classic balcony” room. I’m platinum elite, in case that matters to anyone reading this. The hotel itself is beautiful on the inside. Location is great, 15-45 minutes walk from virtually all the major sites. The Eiffel Tower was one of the farther walks we made at about 40 mins. Service at check in was friendly and quick, and we got a small upgrade from a queen classic to a queen classic balcony room with a slight view of the Eiffel Tower. The room itself was very nice as well. It had a very small balcony connected to the main room and another accessible through the bathroom. The bed was made up of two twin mattresses connected side by side, but we didn’t notice while sleeping on it. Pillows were nice and sheets were decent, but we’ve had nicer at other Intercontinental hotels. The bathroom was medium sized. Shower had low water pressure, and the door wasn’t large enough to consistently prevent water from being sprayed out (which seems to be common these days for some reason). Towels were a bit scratchy, but nothing too bad. Service during the rest of our stay following check in was inconsistent and overall not very good. Our Nespresso pods were replaced just once on our four night stay. We had to ask for them three times. The used pods were also never removed from the machine. I could be wrong, but I think there were even some left over from a prior guest. Our water (a bottle the hotel refills itself with purified water) was also inconsistently refilled. At turn down, pillows and blankets were placed at random different spots each time. Not a big deal, but just another example of inconsistent service. Finally, and most concerning, we came back to our room one evening to find our door open and unlocked. There was a “we’re servicing your room” sign on the door; however, no one was in the room and hours went by without anyone coming by to finish cleaning the room or even to retrieve the sign. It stayed there until the next morning. It seemed to us someone was cleaning the room, left, and just never came back. We have no clue how long our room was left open, leaving anyone who walked by with access to our valuables. Equally concerning, when I called housekeeping to let them know this had happened, the person who answered the phone was dismissive and not concerned at all. The response I received was “what do you want us to do?” Overall I would consider staying here again on points for the location, but it would not be my first choice and I would not pay the full cash price for a room.