InterContinental Paris Le Grand

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.

The Le Grand is in most ways a pleasant stay. The location is great, the staff are very friendly and polite, and everything has an air of old fashioned luxury. That being said, there is room for improvement. The upgrade that comes with being Ambassador and diamond was to a classic room with balcony. Balcony may be a bit of an overstatement, since it’s just a ledge with a locked door. However the light from the door is nice. A slightly better upgrade would have been nice, though, I haven’t really had a lees-than-junior-suite upgrade at any IC for the last year, but that’s me being spoiled, and I booked the cheapest room, so it’s fair enough. (This is one of the most expensive IC’s around, so it was still around 450 euro for the night). No the basics: The room layout is very strange. The TV is placed so as to be almost unusable, since it’s at a horrible angle from the bed. There IS actually room on the wall directly across from the bed, so it seems a rather strange choice. The coffee maker is placed on the desk - but mugs are hidden in a cupboard on the other side of the room…? The bathroom has separate shower/tub, which is nice and expected at a 5 star hotel, however you do kind of expect the toilet to actually… Well, you know, flush. This is an old building, so the plumbing is probably somewhat dated, but still… One major problem that is common in old hotels; the rooms aren’t soundproofed to any degree, so there’s noice from… Well, everywhere. But some of this could be fixed by making sure the door to the hallway at least was soundproofed slightly. Staff walking by with a cart sounds like they’ve basically rolled it straight into the room. There’s also a train running by - well, I assume it’s a train from the sound - which gives off a low rumble every ten minutes or so. In other words - if you sleep lightly, you may have issues. The lounge, accessed by my Club IC membership is quite nice, with a steady stream of (good) champagne and an extremely friendly staff. Food was pleasant as well, and almost makes up for a full meal in a pinch. The gym is good, and well equipped. All in all, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, however the overall charm and feel of the hotel is what still makes it worth a stay.

My horrible experience with Intercontinental Le Grand Paris began with the reservation. I called months in advanced and spoke with an IHG representative. I told them my girlfriend & I were heading to Paris to celebrate New Years, and I would be proposing during our trip, so I wanted to make sure that the entire trip went perfectly. My previously stays at Intercontinental properties (Tokyo, Seoul, San Diego) have always been very impressive, so I expected similar. I told the representative that I wanted a nice, spacious room with a view. I also told them I had points that I wanted to use. I was INSTRUCTED to book the room available through points (a Cozy Room), and they would put in for an upgrade or I would have the opportunity to pay the difference for a larger room. I did as instructed and even called multiple times leading up to our trip to confirm this. When we arrived, we were placed in the smallest, most poorly kept broom closet of a room. I have pictures to show how the desk was broken and falling apart, causing a safety hazard, the closet door broke off its hinges and almost collapsed on my girlfriend, there was constant plumbing problems / flooding with the bathtub, there were missing handles on some of the drawers (which were very limited to begin with). When the bellman dropped off our luggage, I asked if majority of the rooms were like this, and he said ‘No, this is the smallest room on the property. Bad view too’. Sure enough, when I checked the view, I had a wonderful view of the exhaust ducts from the adjacent building. Not a hint of sky, no view of the beautiful Parisian architecture that surrounds the property. I immediately called the front desk to find a solution, but to my dismay I was told continuously that there was nothing they could do. I was assured that I would be put on a cancellation list, and that as soon as a larger room was available, we would be moved out of room #3121. It is criminal to charge what they charge and place someone in that corner broom closet. Even according to the bellman, it is not suitable for even one person to stay, especially when staying for over a week. Our vacation passed by, more and more problems happened with the room, and we continued to hear apology after apology, but no room change every occurred, no compensation for our terrible experience at the property. No manager ever came to check on us, despite the constant calls to fix the problems with the room. So despite following the instructions per the IHG representative, and spending approximately $10,000 worth of points, our engagement trip was severely marred by the most uncomfortable, dilapidated, and unsafe room, with an entire hotel management team that chose to do nothing to fix the situation. I will NEVER recommend Intercontinental Le Grand Paris.

This is one of my favourite intercontinental hotels. The club lounge in this hotel is far superior to club lounges I have been in intercontinental and other hotels in various US, European, Canadian and Mexican cities. The standard of the food particularly the pastries and baked goods is superb. I received a room upgrade to a king premium with balcony which was nice. Bed and pillows extremely comfortable. Staff throughout were very courteous and friendly. Breakfast in cafe de la paix is excellent. Location is excellent. Recommendations for improvement: - bathroom a bit dated. Shower unit in particular not well laid out and dated - toilet in separate enclosure in bedroom had no sink so u have to cross to the bathroom on other side to wash hands.

This is a very expensive hotel and we were disappointed with our original room in the eaves, which I don't think was the type we booked (and it didn't appear the IC Ambassador one level upgrade had been taken into account). It was tired and small (stains on the carpet etc). However once we raised this, the response was faultless. The new room was superb. The best thing about this hotel though is the staff, whose kindness really was exceptional. I'd especially like to call out Qi on reception who was incredibly thoughtful, and also a member of staff on breakfast duty who came after me to check I was OK when I had a coughing fit over breakfast. I was so impressed with them. Breakfast is excellent too.