Hilton Lyon
The Lyon Hilton is part of a new area built along the banks of river Rhone. The area has business and residential building. Part of the business building is the Interpol building, which is also signed on several streets and therefore is quite easy to reach by simply following this signs. From the airport, the hotel could also be reach by public transportation. One has to take the “Airport
Bus” (Satobus) to the Part-Dieu railway station (travel time app. 30 min). Change there to bus #47 (direction Cité Internationale) to the last stop, the bus is running every 15 minutes. Cost 8.40 EUR for Satobus and 1.50 EUR for bus to hotel. The city centre of Lyon could be reached either by walking or by bus and perhaps a ride by the subway, depending on your destination.
The hotel is an eight storey H-shaped building. The style is new and modern with orange bricks. In the souterrain is a casino. The main entrance is from the river side, the bus stop is on the other side. If you enter the hotel you find yourself in the mid sized lobby. On the left side is the check in are and the elevator while you reach the conference and meeting rooms over a walkway. On the right side are the bar and the Thai restaurant “Blue Elephant”. Lounge chairs and tables are available.
Another restaurant is located on the ground floor on the park bound side with a terrace. Called “Brasserie” this is the restaurant open all days from 07:00 to 22:30. Here the breakfast for hotel guests is served. The restaurant is decorated like a Brasserie.
There is a gym on the seventh floor. It not that spacious but the equipment is nice and one has good view to river Rhone. Towels and water are provided. A sauna, steam bath and a Jacuzzi are located in a separate area, which could be reached from the gym. This area is rather small, though the Jacuzzi has nice views to the river. A sun deck is available for sun bathing. A changing room and showers are also available. Only Hilton HHonors members who have at least HHonors Silver Level or guests staying on the Executive
Floor have access to gym and Sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi. One needs the room key to enter this area.
The seize could really be a problem, if the hotel is fully booked and the hotel limits the entrance not only to the quoted members. In this case, this area might be too small, but I have never seen there more than four people at the same time during my visit and that was more than okay.
If you have status with Hilton, you might check with the hotel prior to your stay, if you can buy access to the gym
The Executive Lounge is located on the eight floor and offers some seats on a terrace as well as lounge chairs and table. Breakfast in the morning is a continental buffet, while alcoholic beverage is available all days together with soft drinks, tea and coffee and some petit fours and small cakes in the afternoon and a really small selection of hors d’oeuvres for happy hour. The selection of hors d’oeuvres is very limited and the portions are really small; I think is below the average what you get on Executive
Lounges in European Hilton Hotels.
If you are staying on the executive floor, you can also have breakfast down in the Brasserie. One got either a voucher by the lounge agent, but from my experience the restaurant down in the Brasserie seems not to care, because the lounge agent was not always available and the staff in the Brasserie was satisfied if you gave them your room number.
Breakfast in the Brasserie is an extended continental breakfast. A selection of different sorts of bread, jam and marmalade, cheese and sausages, scrambled eggs, mushroom, potatoes, bacon and little hamburgers were available. Also provide were pastries, cereals and fruits. Tea and coffee were provided by restaurant staff. The selection was okay, for a country, where the breakfast consisted usually of a croissant and a cup of café au lait, this was a really huge selection and I have had a smaller selection in
German hotels.
stays 28 April 2006
Arrival Date: 28 April 2006
Departure Date: 01 May 2006
Room type booked: Standard (got Club floor)
Rate Plan: Net direct rates
Room Number: 803
Room Rate: 79.00 EUR (excl. city tax)
Status of Guest Program: Gold
I checked in around 17:00 and was told I was upgraded to Executive Floor due to my HHonors Gold Status. It took some time before everything was prepared, but the reason might be that some things were delivered to the hotel and now given to me.
My room was located on the eight floor with view to the yard.
After I have entered the room, I was a bit surprised that there was no light in the bathroom. It took some minutes before I discovered that the room had a central power switch. It was not marked and not the usual thing where you have to place you room key, just a usual switch.
The seize of the room was above average and from the floor map, the seize of my room covered the seize of two normal rooms. The most additional space was covered by the huge bathroom with two sinks, a bath and a separate shower and toilet. Bathroom amenities were provided and towels, slippers and two bathrobes. Towels were changed daily. The showerhead was in a bad condition and water was lacking. It could be solved by putting the showerhead in a certain position, but housekeeping should have noticed it and taken
care of a replacement. There were also some scratches in this area.
The room consist of a large bed at the one side and a lounge chair on the one side of the room while the desk was placed in front of the window. A small balcony with two chairs was nice to have, though there pigeons have been sitting and flying around the hotel and this was a bit of a downside. A wardrobe was placed opposite the bed along with the room safe. There were also the tea and coffee facilities. There were only empty packets of tea available, but after housekeeping the next day the bags were refilled.
A minor thing, but it should not happen. The desk was big enough to work on. A LAN connection was available. A lamp at the desk and a power outlet were placed at the desk. As a downside, the door to the balcony was right behind the desk.
The bed was very comfortable, exact the way I like it. Two bedside tables with reading lamps were on placed on each side of the bed. I missed the switch for the lights at one of the bedside tables.
The furniture in the room was in really good conditions, there was not a minor scratch. However the carpet has several stains.
Overall a nice hotel. The location a bit out of town could be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on the purpose of the visit. The park near the hotel is really nice. Staff is friendly and the rate was really low. It seems, the status recognition is good, however they seem to mix up Diamond and Gold Status a bit as some Diamond never get her welcome gift, while some Gold got a gift. I would definitively stay there again as the hotel has everything I would like to have.
