InterContinental Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel by IHG — Hotel in Bordeaux

Le Grand hotel Intercontinental Bordeaux is located in the heart of Bordeaux and connected to the public transportations (mainly trams which take us to every attraction places easily). We booked a junior suite with opera view for 15 nights. After we got into the room we realized that our room not only faces to opera house but also the tram rails, surprisingly the room is quite quiet. There is almost no disturbing sound from the outside.Overall, service is good. Check-in was smooth. Greeted by the GM and RDM. Thank you Nicolas, Room division & Spa Manager whom gave us useful tips for activities etc. Housekeeping: for the first 4-5 days we needed to explain several times how we prefer our room to be made up. But we could see that they try to make things as good as they can. As we realised there are two departments taking care of the room we figured there must be some communication issues between them. But they figured it out, and since then all is as we expected it to be. Even the chief housekeeping came to check if all is good. Breakfast team: is doing a great job. As are the cooks at the egg station. Nicolas , Catherine and Anastasia are outstanding especially Nicolas & Catherine are exceeding our expectation by organizing us every day some proper chairs (most of them are to low and your not sitting comfortable).

Dinners at "Le Bordeaux" are ok. Only the cold draught through the windows is disturbing, making the window tables a little bit too cold. The Concierge Team is helpful, we would like to thank especially Philip for the good advices that fit us perfectly. They also organized us a rental-car for some day trips when we needed it. Spa "Guerlain" experience was great, we love it, Victoria is our favourite staff there. "Night Beach" is a cool roof-top wine bar with beautiful sunsets. Thank you Constance to give us the hint to be there around 6 o'clock to enjoy sunset as well as recommending us some good wine. One thing they could improve, change the menu from white font on black paper to something readable especially for when the lighting on the table is not white but colourful."l'Orangerie" bar was good. We prefered to enjoy our time there during weekdays in order to avoid the crowd at the weekend, but someday we went down around 23:30 hrs expecting to enjoy a glass of whisky but found the bar closed. (opening times Sun-Tue till midnight, the other days till 1am) Sometimes the staff could be more attentive. Seven employees, still we had to pour the wine by ourselves. We chose "Le Pressoir D'Agent" to celebrate our 10 years wedding anniversary. We pre-selected the menu beforehand and discussed our special wishes with Huge. The start of the service was a little odd as we got some pre-starters and the starter before being able to order the wine (was not pre ordered) for the meal. Afterwards everything went well and we enjoyed our evening. Thanks to Huge, Amaurice and Victor. Room service: the delivery time was good. Only the menu choice is a bit boring as it is almost the same as in the restaurant "le Bordeaux". If you had dinner more than two times there, the room service menu becomes a bit difficult to choose from for your lazy days if you would like to enjoy some in room menu. The management team is interested in getting is some feedback. We took the given opportunity to inform them about our experience. Mathieu was showing real interest our findings and explained what all has already been planned for the next year. Over all we had a great time at the grand hotel and can recommend...

THE ROOM

Compared to our stay at the lesser expensive chateaus, this hotel did not live up to its price point. We were upgraded to a junior suite which was nice but the room had problems. The entrance into our room smelled and that smell of organic mold lingered into the sleeping area. Our bathtub was stained so it looked dirty. The lighting was terrible; we couldn't make it bright. The bathrobes are stiff like cardboard. The concierge though nice enough was unwilling to go out of his way to deliver good customer service. When our room was being turned down for the night we went to the lobby and asked the concierge for the room service menu to place our order. He told us simply that he didn't have the menu. I guess room service menus are not printed to have extras--only enough for one menu per room. Ok so we had to wait until we had access to our room to look at the menu.

THE SPA

Where do I start?

My sister and I both got massages. I got the 75 minute deep tissue massage. Well, deep tissue did not happen. When I asked the masseuse to increase pressure, she said she would try her best - I got a better massage at the Chicago Airport by a 90 pound masseuse on my flight back home - and that was with aircraft engines roaring in the background.

The spa is coed - more coed than I would have liked. We went up to the Jacuzzi and found a man completely naked in the hot tub. The jacuzzi, the pool, fitness area and spa are all combined - so non spa clientele roam the spa areas. We were not sure if the man was even a guest at the hotel. If that was not bad enough, the temperature of the water was less than desired and we had to constantly push the button to keep it on. The view from the roof top would have been nice, but the bar area blocked the full view (the roof top becomes the Night Beach restaurant/bar for the hotel at night). After a few minutes, a group of men came up to the roof top hot tub area to hang and drink. We tried to be open minded, but this is far from a spa environment.

After the massages, there is a relaxing area which is a balcony over the pool. It would have been nice, but the spa pool is the fitness pool as well. A group of men were swimming and socializing - their voices echoed throughout the indoor pool and relaxing area.

The entire Spa experience was just awful. It felt like a waste of our hard earned money. We were very disappointed.

LE PRESSOIR D'ARGENT

Eating at Le Pressor D'Argent was the culinary highlight for my sister and I. My sister and I decided to be surprised by the tasting menu which includes a variety of dishes from cheese and tomatoes to pigeon, oysters and duck ending with a pre-dessert and dessert followed by a final surprise. We also decided to allow the sommelier to pair the wines with all the dishes - Champagne, Chinon Blanc, 20 year old Tawny Port, gewurztraminer, etc. My sister is vegetarian - the chef catered the menu to her needs.

It was just an extraordinary and...

We took the TGV from Paris and then the tram to the hotel. It’s all very easy. After arriving in Bordeaux, exit the train station and find the tram (line #C) and take to Quinconces. From there it’s a short walk to the hotel or one stop on the tram (line #B) to Grand Théâtre, which is next to the hotel. We arrived early and were given the option of a room that was ready or a fantastic upgrade. We left our luggage and went for a walk. Upon our return, the room was ready with our luggage awaiting us there. I had booked a standard room and had been upgraded first to an Executive Opera View room a few days later and then to a Junior Suite Opera View a day or so before my arrival, but we received a Prestige Suite Opera view for waiting an hour or so at check-in! This was one of the best, if not the best, upgrade ever. It pays to be a Spire Ambassador. We each used our Chase IHG annual free night so all of this for just the city tax. I received a handwritten welcome note from Thomas B plus some sweet snacks and a few tangerines, but the housekeeper took the tangerines the next day so we weren’t able to eat them! This Intercontinental has no Club lounge so they offered us everything non-alcoholic (including snacks) in the mini-bar complementary. We walked in the room and had an entryway with the toilet room first on the left followed by the bathroom with shower/tub combo and sink area. Proceeding ahead, there was a huge bar area with bar stools on one side and an area behind the bar with the mini-bar and a sink area. Next was the fancy, old-fashioned living room area with chairs and a settee. There was a TV in this area as well as one in the bedroom. The bedroom had a king-sized bed that was very comfortable with ample pillows. There were windows in both the bedroom and the living room area that offered magnificent views of the Opera House and the square in front of the hotel. This was an area frequented mainly by pedestrians but also had tram tracks. Everything in the room and the hotel was clean. The staff was very professional and well trained and was always looking out for us to make sure everything was perfect. We didn’t eat at the hotel since we weren’t hungry enough for the expensive breakfast buffet offering. We slept in the first morning (New Year’s Day) after a late evening on a Bordeaux River Cruise to ring in the new year. On the second and last morning, we just went across the square to a small restaurant for an omelet and some pastry plus coffee and juice. The location of the hotel was convenient for everything. The area was very safe, and noise wasn’t a problem at all. In conclusion, this was one of the best hotel stays ever. We hope to return in the next few years, but at a normal, non-holiday time so that we can take a few wine tours and visit the wine museum and more!...