Le Grand Intercontinental Paris
In reading about this hotel the good news is that rooms have recently been renovated. The bad is that the bar and one of the restaurants will be closed until May while renovations are ongoing. The spa is also closed until then. That’s a little disappointing as we’ll be there 2 nights early April so I would be interested to hear from anyone who has stayed at this hotel during this renovation. I understand the main cafe is open but sounds like the food isn’t that great. Would be open to suggestions for nearby bars and restaurants. Just wondering how breakfast works too if Tauck is utilizing a separate space for that since the one restaurant is bound to be extra busy.
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Are you sure about that info? I've read several reviews that the renovation was completed last year. Per their website, only the La Verriere restaurant is closed and that may have nothing to do with renovations - possibly staffing issues - they don't say. When we did this cruise in 2014 Tauck guests ate breakfast in Cafe de la Paix and it was excellent. Buffet plus someone making omelets to order. We got to sit looking out onto the Opera house and people watch. It wasn't that busy - frankly I think most everyone was part of the cruise.
I wouldn't worry about it being too busy.
Restaurant/bar recommendations? If you want good feedback, you might want to provide some info like price range, type of food, etc. The hotel is in a very busy area with plenty of choices.
A word of warning about the rooms - very plush even back in 2014 - but really small. We had a huge bathroom with sink, shower, and tub. But the room was so tiny we had trouble finding places to put our suitcases. There was only room for one luggage stand. We also kept getting lost in the weird triangularly shaped building.
BTW, this is still our favorite all time river cruise.
It has been a while since I stayed there, but I am guessing breakfast will be held in the cafe, which is quite nice by the way. Since the hotel is around the corner from the opera house, there are several restaurants and small cafes in the vicinity. I am sure Tauck and the hotel will offer many suggestions.
All in all, this is a beautiful hotel and a fabulous trip. Enjoy.
On the hotel website and in news articles the renovations continue until May for the Spa, Bar and La Verriere. Hoping it’s not too disruptive. The rooms and Cafe de la Paix were completed last year. The location is good and I’m sure there are plenty of eateries and bars in the area. We definitely plan to have a drink at The Ritz but if there were any standouts that any Tauck travelers could recommend it’s just good to collect the info.
We’re on the trip right after yours, Gourmet Gal…so I’m reading this with interest too.
I was there last August, the first tour. The breakfast in the cafe was wonderful. The service was excellent. It is a great place to people watch. Sit outside or by a window. There was an outside dance performance on the balcony of the opera house which is right "next door", one day. I walked down to the Louvre from the hotel (I'm 79). There are cafes along that main avenue. FYI the cheeseburgers are large and have runny sauce instead of melted cheese.
I may as well add my two cents, I've stayed there with the A Week in London and Paris land tour in 2011 and before both of my Rhone river cruises in 2014 and 2016. My room the first time in 2011 was beautiful and HUGE - I was spoiled because the next time in 2014, the room was so small that there wasn't even a closet, just an armoire. The third time the room was a nice, standard size. So I guess the room is the luck of the draw.
I find the layout of Paris confusing but I like the location of the hotel as I prefer to walk or take public transportation when I travel. I walked to the Musee d'Orsay on one trip, bad knees and all. On my first trip, a local tour guide walked us back from Notre Dame to the hotel.
I found a cute bistro just walking around by the hotel for dinner one night. I like to eat early and it was empty as it had just opened but by the time I left, it was quite busy with locals. As others have said, the breakfast buffet in the hotel is great. There was what I think of as regular breakfast food as well as a whole section of Asian options. I ate some of both!
I didn't know they had a spa as I was out and about most of the time. I went to a ballet at the Opera House which was lovely.
The hotel for our Rendezvous on the Seine cruise this fall is exorbitantly expensive so we might stay at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand for one night and then move to the Park Hyatt that will be on Tauck's dime.
Thanks for the feedback. I wonder if the size of the hotel room has anything to do with the category of cabin booked? I would normally much prefer a Park Hyatt to an Intercontinental but I’m not familiar with the Park Hyatt in Paris. We’ll be staying at The Peninsula for a week before moving over to the Tauck hotel…I think we’ll be spoiled by then.
Room sizes are a crap shoot. Several years ago we did the Seine cruise ending in London at the Savoy followed immediately by the ESW land tour also ending at the Savoy. First stay we had a huge room with two comfy arm chairs. Two weeks later a standard king bed room. Btw, a single friend on the river cruise actually had the biggest room of our group. Sometimes you luck out, sometimes not.
You’d think there would be some consideration by category but the deal with the hotels is probably for all lowest category based on availability.
It depends on what the lowest category is for that hotel and how many categories they have. I've gotten to where I can look at the hotel's website before a tour and pretty much guess what category room we'll have - size, bed, amenities. The main difference is whether there's a view or not. For singles some hotels have rooms sized for them with a bed smaller than a king or 2 twins. That happened to a single on our Normandy tour.
You win some, you lose some on hotel rooms with Tauck. It’s best to consider the trip as a whole when it comes to rooms. If you get a wonderful room, it’s best to not crow about it, so n one gets jealous
We crowed a bit in Zermatt about our mini suite with the 2 balconies but only because we thought everyone else on the tour had the same. Oops. We did all get view rooms in Lausanne and Lugano. Caught up with us in Lucerne where we had a lovely room with a great view of the back of a parking garage instead of Lake Lucerne. Oh well. Was still a great tour.
I wish you could have seen the very very basic and old hotel rooms we had on our last tour, not with Tauck of course, not even hot water on about three nights, not even a toilet paper holder in one. Thing is, we only slept there, we were out from dawn to dusk and ate out in real local restaurants with delicious food. Saved a lot of money. I do prefer a nice hotel when we stay in one location when we can enjoy the facilities, but otherwise too much money on hotels is kinda a waste.
Tauck pricing is at the high end for their river cruises so one would expect a certain level of comfort regardless of how long one stays in the included hotel.
Comfort yes, views, maybe not. That’s what people tend to complain about. Definitely a luck of the draw
. I did notice on our last trip that people were allocated rooms in order of booking the tour.Not better rooms. In our case we were first to book the tour and were always either the nearest or furthest away from the reception and dining etc. we also seemed to get the upstairs rooms instead of the ground level ones.
It may not always make a difference, but you can ask Tauck to add room preferences to your file: upper floor, away from elevator, etc. I remember at the Tauck Chicago Event I couldn't find my room at the Intercontinental b/c it turned out it was a door next to the elevator! Actually noise was not a problem, but hotel apologized by offering me an upgrade next visit.
I travel solo and have taken many tours, never had a bed smaller than a Queen in any hotel and never twin beds.
LOL we asked if we could add an extras night at the Park Hyatt (since that's where our Gift of Time is) and Tauck said they didn't have any additional rooms. The Tauck rate is $958 for our GOT night and the Park Hyatt's website (and our travel agent) said we could book an extra night for $1,300 - $1,500 each.
As for the size of the room, my first land tour with the huge room, I was travelling as a single, just like on the river cruises. The Le
Grand rooms all had king beds and nice bathrooms. It was just the size of the room itself that was so wildly different.
Well, perhaps my question should be is the category of hotel room related to the category cabin on the ship? Hotel categories for rooms and suites are usually defined by view, floor, balcony, and also size, etc.
As far as I know there is not any correlation between cabin rooms on a ship and rooms in a hotel when traveling with Tauck. I have never heard of that nor is it written anywhere.
I only asked because on a another thread a Tauck traveler indicated they were told by a Tauck rep that to receive a view (upgraded) room they would need to book cat. 7 on the ship. I had not seen that mentioned in Tauck documents either.
On England, Scotland, Wales many years ago, we made arrangements with the hotel a few weeks earlier for a “castle view” room in Edinburgh. It was well worth the added expense- a great view of the castle and we got to see the crowd in the plaza in front of the hotel go nuts watching Andy Murray (a Scot not a Brit as reported by the press) on the Jumbotron win the British Open at Wimbledon!
A Scot is a Brit. I’m English, but I’m still a Brit, oh I’m now an American
According to them, while they may also be Brits, they are Scots first and foremost. Many took umbrage at the press referring to Andy as a Brit not a Scot or a Brit from Scotland.
Absolutely true, Alan. A Scottish friend identifies first and foremost as Scottish, has said he'll move back to Scotland the instant it gains independence.
Surprised your Scots friend uses the term Scottish. I thought that was a faux pas.
I’ve lived in Scotland. My husband has a Scottish grandparent. Yes. The Scots are very patriotic but whatever they say, until they gain true independence, they are British.
GG, yes, I did debate Scots vs. Scottish, since I have an editorial background and I know, shouldn't trust the Internet. I took this at face value: "In modern current British usage, in England as in Scotland, the general term for things from or pertaining to Scotland is Scottish. Scots is used for the Scots language and Scots law, although one increasingly hears it used of people and organisations, especially in newspaper articles." Not sure which my friend prefers.
The Scots have woken up the Flagger. Or does it prefer to be called the Flag?
Am at the Intercontinental hotel right now and I must say it is definitely not a luxury category hotel at all. The service upon check in was terrible - we waited 30 minutes before anyone could help us and there were only three people ahead of us in line. The room is tiny and the bathroom has only one sink and no separate water closet. The toiletries are very basic. I will say the breakfast is very good and so far the Tauck team seems very good although there was too much free time given on the culinary tour considering the street we were left to wander on. The macaron class at Le Cordon Bleu was fantastic.