Ibis Paris Porte D'orléans

“Ibis”

Great option if you don't want or can't stay in the heart of the city. Not far though and with great public transportation options. There is a supermarket almost next door and many restaurants if you walk for a few minutes. I really disliked that I had to pay for a locker service for the hotel to k… more

Great option if you don't want or can't stay in the heart of the city. Not far though and with great public transportation options. There is a supermarket almost next door and many restaurants if you walk for a few minutes. I really disliked that I had to pay for a locker service for the hotel to keep my bags after check out. This should be a free service.

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“VERY GOOD LOCATION WITH LOTS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION”

WARNING: This review contains more than 256 characters. If you can read more than 256 characters without fainting like some of my younger students from the Florida International University in Miami, keep reading and chances are that you will learn a lot of things. I) PREAMBLE: Although I hav… more

WARNING: This review contains more than 256 characters. If you can read more than 256 characters without fainting like some of my younger students from the Florida International University in Miami, keep reading and chances are that you will learn a lot of things. I) PREAMBLE: Although I have been a loyal ACCOR HOTELS customer for about twenty years, sometimes with the GOLD status several years in a row, and although I had been in many IBIS hotels in Paris, such as Ibis Paris Porte Dorée, Ibis Avenue d’Italie, Ibis Porte d’Italie, Ibis Styles Meteor Porte d’Italie, Ibis Styles Masséna, Ibis Nogent-Sur-Marne or Ibis Paris Orly-Chevilly-Larue Tram 7; March 23, 2024 was the very first time that I stayed at this Ibis Porte d’Orléans. HOWEVER, although I was very satisfied with this hotel, I will never return, not because of them, but BECAUSE OF THE NEW ACCOR CANCELLATION POLICY: 1 day before the day of arrival. In fact, I stayed there just in order to get rid of the points I had on my account before divorcing from ACCOR HOTELS. Eleven years ago, in 2013, I could still reserve many nights in many hotels of this group, in SEVERAL COUNTRIES, on a 6 PM COURTESY HOLD, WITHOUT ANY CREDIT CARD. Among others, at the abovementioned locations in Paris, but also at Ibis Orléans, Ibis Styles Aix-les-Bains, Ibis Dijon, Ibis Styles Bourg-en-Bresse, Ibis London Heathrow, Ibis Madrid Ventas, Ibis Madrid Valentin Beato, Ibis Frankfurt, Mercure Dreieich (Frankfurt Airport), Mercure Bad Duerkheim (region of Manheim, Germany), Ibis Vienna Wien Messe, Ibis Styles Lisbon, Novotel Lisbon, Ibis Lima Larcomar, Novotel Sao Paulo, Mercure Sao Paulo, Ibis Rio de Janeiro, Dumont airport, Mercure Rio, Ibis Congreso in Buenos Aires, Ibis Montevideo, etc., etc., always in FLEXIBLE RATE WITHOUT any CREDIT CARD, on a “6 PM COURTESY HOLD”. Then, around 2014 or 2015, ACCOR started asking for a credit card, but they still offered a REASONABLE CANCELLATION POLICY: DAY OF ARRIVAL BY 6 OR 7 PM, depending on locations, for “FLEXIBLE RATES”. BUT NOW, not only they want a credit card for a “flexible” rate, but THEY WANT TRAVELERS TO CANCEL THE RESERVATION ONE DAY BEFORE THE DAY OF ARRIVAL, WHICH I NEVER ACCEPT because, every time that my flight has been cancelled (which has happened more than 20 times in the past 30 years for multiple reasons, from volcano ashes in Paris and Montevideo to weather problems, mechanical problems, controllers strikes, pilots strikes, flight attendants strikes, Paris CDG airport firemen strikes, you name it!, whether with PAN AM, TWA, UNITED AIRLINES, DELTA, TAP, IBERIA, AIR FRANCE or AMERICAN AIRLINES!) it has always been cancelled at the very last minute, NEVER 24 HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE!!! On May 8, 2010, my AA 63 Paris to Miami nonstop flight was cancelled after I had been sitting in the plane for several hours, because of the ashes of a volcano in Iceland, and therefore I missed my flight from Miami to Atlanta the next day. With this new cancellation policy, I would have lost my money at the Atlanta hotel! More and more hotels are adopting this deplorable cancellation policy of 1 day before DOA because people accept it, until their flight is cancelled at the very last minute, they lose their money and learn the hard way that they should never accept this outrageous cancellation policy for “flexible” rates! A “FLEXIBLE” RATE has to be cancelled the DAY OF ARRIVAL BY 6 PM, NOT THE DAY BEFORE! BEST WESTERN and CHOICE HOTELS leave the liberty to their members and each hotel decides of the cancellation policy, while ACCOR policy seems to be worldwide for all Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, etc. This explains why, last March 17, 2024, I went to Best Western Arcadia in Vienna instead of returning to Ibis Wien Messe, where I had been staying during my last trips to Vienna, because at Best Western I could cancel until the same Sunday, March 17 at 6 pm instead of one day before arrival for my usual Ibis. And now, instead of returning to Ibis hotels in Paris, as I used to do for years, I stay at the CHOICE Comfort Hotel Paris Porte d’Ivry (for which I wrote a review), because they also have a cancellation policy of DOA. ANOTHER OPTION would be the CHAIN B&B, where all locations have the same outstanding cancellation policy of DAY OF ARRIVAL BY 7 PM! However, their comfort is not as good as the one of Novotel, Mercure, or even Ibis hotels, which are now off the list because of their new, unacceptable, cancellation policy. II) IBIS PORTE D’ORLEANS HOTEL: That being said, this IBIS Porte d’Orléans in Paris is a typical Ibis hotel with the usual small clean room containing a queen bed, small TV with remote control, usual wood, unpadded chair, usual long wood board under the window from wall to wall serving as a big desk with a phone and AC outlets (remember: it’s 220 V all over Europe!), small padded bench to sit down or to put the carryon and, last but not least, a small bath with a clean shower, sink, hair dryer and private flushing toilet, the greatest invention of mankind. As in most IBIS, there is a bar where you can get a free glass of ice or a drink (Silver, Gold and Platinum members get a free “Welcome” soft drink – NO MORE wine or beer as it was the case before the “Pandemic”, which destroyed so many things!) and, right behind, there is a MERCURE Hotel, where they serve meals BUT NOT during the weekend, neither Saturday nor Sunday. However, there are two Italian restaurants (open Saturday evening BUT NOT on Sunday) right across the street and there is also a FRANPRIX grocery right next door, under the hotel, where you can buy food and even create your own salad from a salad bar, which I did for lunch in this gastronomic desert on Sunday, before checking out on March 24. III) IBIS PORTE D’ORLEANS LOCATION AND TRANSPORTATION: IF you don’t mind losing your money in case of a last minute flight cancellation, this is a good option because this hotel is just a walking distance from Porte d’Orléans, where you have multiple public transportations, such as: TRAM 3a going from Garigliano on the West, to Porte de Vincennes on the East, where you can take BUS 351 to CDG airport, but also where you may transfer to TRAM 3b going to Porte de la Chapelle in the North of Paris, where you can take bus 350, also to CDG. If you have plenty of time and travel light, this is a nice ride. At the same Porte d’Orléans, you can also take several busses to go to Quartier Latin, Montparnasse, etc. And also, there is the subway train (Métro) going to Châtelet, Les Halles and Porte de Clignancourt, in the north of Paris, where the old Flea Market is, or was in the 1960s, for nothing lasts in this ephemeral world… This Ibis is also a walking distance from my beloved Cité Internationale de l’Université de Paris on Boulevard Jourdan, where I spent the best years of my long life, between June 1963 and October 1968. And, right across from the CIUP, there is the former Students hospital, now called “Hôpital Montsouris”. Finally, if you arrive to ORLY Airport on IBERIA, for example (there are 2 daily nonstop Iberia flights from Miami to Madrid, connecting to Paris-Orly – a/o March 2024…) and if you travel light, as I do, you can take TRAM 7 at Orly airport “Coeur d’Orly” station to Villejuif Aragon. There, you can take bus 185 to the stop "Roger Salengro-Fontainebleau" (the very last one before the terminal), walk half a block back, turn left and you will see the bus stop of BUS 125 to PORTE D’ORLEANS, which will drop you at the door of this Ibis, at bus stop “BARBES / FRANCOIS ORY”, which is the last one before bus 125 turns right to go to the terminal. And if you come from Porte d’Orléans (from CDG via bus 351 to Porte de Vincennes, then tram 3a to Porte d’Orléans, for example) you can take the same bus 125, and get off at the first stop, after it turns left, right across this Ibis, at the same “BARBES / FRANCOIS ORY” bus stop. You can buy a WEEKLY PASS for 30.75 Euros (I only paid 17.10 € in Vienna, Austria, for the same thing March 18, 2024…) which will let you take unlimited busses, trams or subways from Monday to Sunday included and also including CDG airport without extra charge as in Vienna, where I had to pay 2 € extra in order to go to the airport with my weekly pass. HOWEVER, unlike Vienna, where you go in and out of the subway without any poisoning gates like in Paris subway (a dreadful expedition to get through with your luggage!), and without validating your pass, you MUST VALIDATE EACH TRIP IN PARIS, otherwise you get a fine. If you take 10 busses or trams the same day, you must validate your pass 10 times! Naturally, if you travel by limousine you don’t need all this information. But if you travel by limousine, chances are that you will be staying at the Hilton or the Sheraton and not at this budget Ibis Porte d’Orléans. TO CONCLUDE: I liked this Ibis very much and I will gladly return IF (and ONLY IF!) ACCOR HOTELS GO BACK TO THEIR REASONABLE CANCELLATION POLICY OF DAY OF ARRIVAL BY 6 PM for “flexible” rates, BUT certainly NOT as long as they will keep their current, unacceptable, cancellation policy of ONE DAY BEFORE DAY OF ARRIVAL for the most expensive “flexible” rates!

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