What I Liked
- The design of the hotel has an old world Parisian Charm. It is truly stunning
- The hotel location in Paris Opera is right in the centre of all the action
Some of the links on this website will earn an affiliate commission – at no extra cost to you. Without these affiliate commissions, I could not have kept this website running - I want to thank everyone that has supported me! Full details can be found at the Terms & Conditions Page
I was fortunate to be in Paris over the new year. Part of that trip involved staying at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand.
The Intercontinental Paris Le Grand is the flagship IHG hotel in Paris. My stay at the hotel was a mixed bag. The hotel design is beautiful and located in a wonderful part of town. Sadly it disappointed in some areas. Elite recognition, lack of swimming pool and in room facilities.
This review is an in-depth guide with lots of photos. Each photo can be clicked to open out the full slideshow. Know exactly what to expect when you visit.
I also explain how I saved around 50% on the cash rate. By using a combination of tricks. IHG Points. And the Intercontinental Ambassador two-for-one voucher.
I stayed at the hotel for 3 nights. I booked one night with IHG Points and two nights with an Intercontinental Ambassador Two for One Voucher.
I used 70,000 IHG points to book one night. This was a pretty good deal, as the cheapest non-refundable rate was €600/night.
If you don’t have any IHG Points, you still can take advantage of this deal. Buy IHG Points from here. IHG have regular 100% bonus points promotions. So it costs €315 to buy 70,000 IHG Points.
Intercontinental Ambassador is a paid membership program with IHG. It costs $225. You can buy membership here. It’s great! For the following reasons:
I booked two nights using my two for one voucher. So I only paid for one night. Given that each night costed €600, it was a pretty good saving.
Do I recommend Intercontinental Ambassador? I definitely do! If you visit an Intercontinental hotel once a year, then it’s great value.
The Hotel is located in the fashionable Opera region of Paris – at the heart of the action. It’s 15 minutes walk from the Louvre Museum, and the area is bustling with bars, cafes and restaurants. The establishments cater for all budgets too, from street vendors to high end venues.
It’s a very swanky part of town - The Park Hyatt and Hilton Paris Opera are all close by. On a personal level, it’s probably my favourite location for stays in Paris.
One locality to avoid is the area around the Arc De Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. This part of town is a pure tourist trap, jam packed with tourists and over-priced restaurants. Definitely visit these places and get some photos, but then retire to an alternative part of town!
The hotel is pretty light on facilities, and consists of the following:
The highlight of the hotel had to be the wonderful design. Everywhere you go, there were paintings, grand staircases and stunning architecture. It was everything you could hope for in a Parisian Hotel. I have a soft spot for French design and flair, but the hotel design really is beautiful – I urge you to view the photos in the above slideshow.
There is no swimming pool, which I found to be quite disappointing. In my experience, most city centre 5* hotels do have a pool, although New York is a notable exception.
The central area on the ground floor contains a café and a relaxed place to eat food. This really was a beautiful space to kill some time. As I was there over the new year, the Christmas tree was still up.
If you like Marriott hotels, I wrote a must read article. A complete guide to Marriott hotels in Paris. I cover each hotel and explain how to get the best deal. I provide a ton of tricks to create Marriott Bonvoy Points for free.
The elite recognition was a little disappointing. I am an Intercontinental Ambassador, and the benefits I got are as follows:
The hotel did everything they were required to do, but no more.
The drinks voucher is offered to all platinum IHG members (not just Intercontinental Ambassadors). So it is was not an additional benefit of my Intercontinental Ambassador Status.
My room was on the 4th floor (out of 5). It consisted of the following:
Sadly not much to write home about! This was the 1st time I’d stayed in a 5* hotel that didn’t have a coffee machine, and frankly it’s not good enough.
Another issue I had was with the temperature of the water. I had wanted to take a hot bath, but the water was not hot enough and my bath was lukewarm. This isn’t a problem if you are staying in the Maldives or India, but in Northern Europe, a hot bath is a must!
One of the benefits as a Platinum Ambassador was a free drinks voucher. To the credit of the hotel, they allowed me to redeem the voucher for most drinks, including champagne. At most IHG hotels, you are limited to house wine and beer, so this was definitely an upgrade!
The bar itself is nice, and my champagne was served with mixed nuts. I enjoyed both the champagne and the nuts!
I'm glad to see you have a strong opinion about the property! I am just providing my honest experiences, so readers will know what to expect when they visit
Loren
You are literally staying in 'history'. No, there's not a swimming pool. Try the Best Western, next time. Sheesh. They invented hot chocolate, at the cafe, and serve it as originally made. The staff are wonderfully attentive and supportive. You need to bypass the line at the Palace of Versailles? They can arrange it. Escorted directly into the Louvre ? You bet. The one thing you cannot buy on vacation, is time, yet their concierge services are brilliant. They are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. The traditional rooms are small in size because of when the hotel was built, yet you apparently have little understanding of this architectural heritage . I found it a privilege to simply walk in the lobby, yet was fortunate to spend a couple of vacations in Paris, there. Yep, there's no pool. I guess you're just not their customer and for that, I'm grateful. I, for one, value all this hotel and its amazing staff offers, every day.