I stayed at the Hilton Paris Orly Airport hotel property back in late June of 2008 and had a nice stay; so I thought that in honor of this hotel property leaving the Hilton worldwide portfolio of hotel and resort properties effective as of Monday, January 1, 2018, I would post a retro review while it is still branded as part of the Hilton portfolio — even if only for another day or so.
Remembering Hilton Paris Orly Airport: Retro Review
The Hilton Paris Orly Airport hotel property is located only three minutes by free shuttle — which operated every 15 minutes to Orly Ouest and Orly Sud terminals between 6:00 in the morning through midnight — within a mile from Paris Orly International Airport. Situated in a dynamic business district just 20 minutes south of Paris city center, our hotel is also well placed for major routes linking east to Versailles and beyond.
This hotel property had no executive lounge. Included in my room rate was a complete breakfast from the breakfast buffet in the restaurant, whose offerings were quite extensive and with which I was satisfied. I did not take any photographs of the breakfast buffet or the food.
Room
I remembered thinking that the room — which was recently renovated at that time — was furnished in a sleek modern style as my first impression when I walked into it for the first time.
The bed was comfortable — although I was not certain as to why three mirrors hung on the wall over the bed. A wooden armoire — hey, this room was in France — for hanging and storing clothing was on the side.
The one part of the room which was decidedly not modern was the television, which still used a picture tube instead of being comprised of a flat screen. A reasonably comfortably chair on wheels accompanied the desk — and gliding across the faux hardwood floor in the chair was fun, I must admit. I am still a kid at heart, I suppose.
Adjacent to the armoire were two shelves which held two plush bathrobes; two pairs of slippers; a bottle of water; a menu for dining in the room, which I did not do; and a coffee and tea station.
This is the wall near the entrance to the room opposite the bed and armoire which had a mirror, a narrow shelf, and three coat hooks attached to it.
Bathroom
The bathroom was nothing special…
…except that it had one of those raised bowl sinks which sat above the curved glass shelf.
Otherwise, the shower and bathtub, tissues and hair dryer, and the remainder of the bathroom was fairly standard.
Crabtree & Evelyn amenities were still offered as a standard at Hilton hotel and resort properties back then. Included in the amenities which were placed in this bathroom were shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand cream, a bar of soap, a shower cap, a sewing kit, and a cloth with which to shine shoes.
View
The Orly Ouest terminal was part of the view from my room — illustrating just how close was the hotel property to the airport.
The windows did a good job of soundproofing the noise of the airplanes taking off and landing at the airport.
The room also had a view of the control tower of the airport.
Summary
If I recall correctly, the Hilton Paris Orly Airport hotel property was in the midst of being renovated when I stayed there in June of 2008; but I had not visited the hotel property since then.
I stayed at this hotel property the night before I left Paris to return to New York as part of the launch of OpenSkies and its inaugural flight — but OpenSkies has since ceased existing as its own brand recently. I intend to post a retroactive trip report of that experience.
Overall — based on my experience from then — I would have recommend staying here and would not have hesitated to return. They treated me well, as the service was good and the people were friendly. I paid €110.00 for staying that night, including all taxes and fees; but if I recall correctly, the exchange rate was not favorable to the dollar at that time.
“Hilton Paris Orly Airport will be demolished late 2017 and be replaced by a Novotel” is what FlyerTalk member Simon Schus posted. I could not find official confirmation of that at the time this article was written; but Novotel already has two hotel properties — with Orly in their names — located near the airport; and one of them opened only within the past month or so. I cannot imagine why Novotel would want or need a third hotel property at this airport.
“Interesting, the front desk agent said they’re getting replaced by a TGV Rail Station”, responded FlyerTalk member CMK10, which seems more likely to me — although I could not find official confirmation of that either. “I just checked in. The hotel is a ghost town and the employees seem pretty sad.”
I can only imagine, as the hotel will only be open for one more day as part of Hilton…
Hilton Paris Orly Airport
Orly Sud 267, Orly Aerogare Cedex
Paris, 94544, France
+33-1-4512-4512
++33-1-4512-4500 Fax
All photographs ©2008 by Brian Cohen.
