Holiday Inn Express Strasbourg – Centre Review

Booking & Stay Details

Well. The end of the year was approaching fast, and I was still sitting on two IHG free night certificates which were expiring at the end of the year. As I was already in Germany to visit friends and family, I was looking for a good place to stay to redeem these certificates. These certificates can be redeemed for hotels which cost up to 40.000 point per night. However, since IHG recently rebranded their rewards program to IHG One Rewards, you can now top of these certificates with as many points as you need. Basically, they can give you a 40k points discount on a reward stay.  After searching cities like Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg in Germany, I didn’t find a suitable place to stay. The points cost for these hotels were pretty low as well as the cash price. The price was below €100 for most of these hotels. Some of them even cost as low as €70 per night. Here it makes rather sense to stay on a paid stay and get points if the nights are that cheap. By extending the search radius, I found the Holiday Inn Express Strasbourg – Centre. As I had never been to Strasbourg, I locked in that property and made the reservations. Yes, you have to book every single certificate you want to use separately. Which is not a nightmare to book, also for the hotel, as they only see the one booking for one night and don’t realize right away that there is a follow-up stay. At least IHG makes it pretty easy to book these nights online either on their website or in the IHG app.

Location

The Holiday Inn Express Strasbourg – Centre is located south of the historic city center. Which is easily reached on foot with only a 15-minute walk. The closest tram station is even closer, and only half of the walk and you can take the tram to the city center or wherever else you want as public transportation is very good in Strasbourg. This is for sure a good place to set up your base to explore the city. You can buy a day pass or multi day pass for the public transportation system very cheaply.

It is also only a 15-minute drive from the German Border in Kehl to the Holiday Inn Express Strasbourg – Centre.

Parking

According to the hotel’s website, parking needs to be reserved in advance via email or phone. There will also be a €13/night charge for parking. I made the reservation just the day before arrival and called on the morning of the day of arrival to make parking reservations. All went smoothly but the hotel didn’t realize right away that I would be staying two nights, as every certificate has to be booked separately. 

Parking is in the parking garage next door on the first floor. Which means in France one level above ground level. You can’t miss it, as all the parking spaces have the IHG logo and a number. There is a ramp at the back of the parking garage on the first floor which will lead to the hotel.  What I didn’t realize was that there is a good amount of street parking available around the hotel. It’s free and there is no time limit. The hotel, of course, doesn’t want you to know. 

Normally you would open the exit gate with your room key. As I checked out and left the key with the front desk, they gave me a “golden coin” to exit the garage. I dropped it into the slot, but the gate didn’t open. Of course, a car was waiting behind me to exit as well. I maneuvered back and let the car pass before parking the car off to the side, as this is a one-way driveway inside the garage. I walked back to the front desk and told them what happened. They gave me two additional coins for me to drop in and told me that I must drop it fast, with speed. I tried again, and of course the gate wouldn’t open and another car was behind me. Same game again, but luckily the receptionist at the front desk gave me their business card and called them if it wouldn’t open. I did and one of the ladies was rushing over to the garage with a key to open the gate manually and let me out.

Shuttle Service

No hotel shuttle available.

Check-In

There is no real space to park to check-in at the hotel. There is some street parking in front of the hotel, but it was all taken, and I had to park on part of the sidewalk and turned on my warning flashers in my car. Two people were working at the front desk on my arrival during the check-in time. One of the agents was already helping a guest and I got greeted by the second agent. I got greeted in French and I replied with English. Both agents spoke a decent English, the other agent also spoke perfect German and of course both spoke French. The check-in process was a bit weird. They still only thought I booked one night, but I told them that there is a follow-up stay tomorrow. They found both reservations and merged them and also told me that I will be staying in the same room. I used both certificates to book the same room type. there shouldn’t be even a question about it. Unfortunately, instead of placing callers on hold when they have a guest in front of them. My agent put me “on hold” while she was handling a few phone calls. Might be standard in France, I was just not used to it, but she also said sorry for the long wait. Also, I didn’t have to swipe any card for incidentals. She just told me; we can settle the bill on the day of my check-out. I got my room keys, which would also work for the parking garage next door. I unloaded my car really quick and brought everything up to my room before parking at the parking garage.

Check-In: 2 p.m.
Check-Out: 11 a.m.

Standard Double Room (Room 522)

The room is nothing special. It’s a relatively small room. Rooms in Europe tend to be smaller than in the U.S. The main room area consisted of the large bed, which was actually two single beds pushed together. Therefore, you had the split, right down the middle of the bed. On either side of the bed was a nightstand but only one had a power outlet. The outlet is similar to the one in Germany but has an added prong sticking out. So, I had to modify my travel adapter a little bit, to make space for the prong to fit. According to the hotel’s website, you can borrow one at the front desk.

Opposite the bed is a very tiny TV. I was surprised how tiny the TIV was. Never used it, though. Next to the TV is a small work desk with a chair. On the other corner of the room is another small chair.

The closet next to the bed holds a safe as well as the laundry bag and paperwork for the dry-cleaning service besides the offered storage space. 

Next to the room door is the bathroom. It’s a rather small bathroom but big enough to not feel cramped in. The shower comes with a shower wand only and inside the shower is a single dispenser for multi-use soap, which was almost empty. The same dispenser is also next to the sink of the vanity. Above the vanity is a large wall-mounted mirror. 

Next to the room door is also a little device, where you must insert your room key to activate power in the room. No lights will turn on if you don’t put something in that slot. It doesn’t have to be your actual room key. It can be an old one from a different hotel or anything the same size. Next to it is the temperature regulator. There is no AC in the rooms, only in the main lobby area. However, they have a heater. For some reason it didn’t work in my room. For me it was no big deal as the temperature was okay. If you want cold air, you can open the window in the room. It completely swings open and there is no screen on the window. The view wasn’t overly exciting. I got some nice sunrise glow after my first night, but the surrounding scenery is nothing exciting. You can see the neighboring apartment buildings as well as a large police station.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

The lobby at the Holiday Inn Express Strasbourg – Centre comes with lots of seating options. Some right by the main entrance and further down, close to the bar. At that location you will also find a pool table which is covered with a blanket during the morning and is open for everyone to use in the afternoon and evening. 

Business Center

As for the business center, there are two workstations in the lobby near the bar and breakfast area. You can’t miss them. They come with a printer in case you need to print stuff.

Fitness Center

This hotel does not have a fitness center.

Pool

This hotel does not have a pool.

Guest Laundry

The hotel offers dry-cleaning service, but they don’t have a guest laundry facility.

Dining

Breakfast

The website states that the continental breakfast is complimentary for all guests. Which it is. However, the breakfast items are a bit strange. There are no hot items, besides coffee and tea. No scrambled eggs or anything like that. Heck, there is not even a toaster for the toast. On the other hand, there is fresh bread, cheese, and meat. The milk for the cereals was room temperature but only during my first breakfast. The second morning, the milk was cold.

Other than that, I can’t complain. Breakfast was pretty good. There is plenty of seating in the breakfast area and there is even a kids’ playroom area, which is separated with glass from the rest of the dining area.

Lobby Bar

The lobby bar only offers drinks. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic but nothing to eat. No food at all. There is a vending machine near the main entrance, where you can get some small snacks and sweets, but that’s about it. 

Conclusion

The stay at the Holiday Inn Express Strasbourg – Centre was nothing extraordinary. The hotel served its purpose as a “basecamp” well. I only spend the nights there to sleep and in the morning for breakfast. I missed warm options for breakfast and the bar didn’t serve any food. 

I tried to get a late checkout and was hoping for a 2 p.m. late checkout which is offered upon availability according to my elite level. However, I was only able to get a 12 p.m. checkout rather than the standard 11 a.m.

Other than that, you still have to pay city tax even on free nights and the city tax is per person. Even though I was just one person, the reservation showed two adults and that’s how they initially calculated it.  

Also, the mishap at the end, that I couldn’t get out of the parking garage was unfortunate but not a deal breaker. I warned you. Better keep your room key and drop it in the small bucket above the terminal for the gate where you have to tap it to open the gate. 

Another weird thing was the Wi-Fi login page. There is an empty box where you have to set a checkmark to connect to the internet. Next to it, you read the IHG Clean promise, and the link brings you to the IHG clean promise. However, if you don’t check it, there is a warning to accept the policy. I don’t know which one they talk about, because it’s labeled wrong and sends you to the wrong page. 😉