The Ibis Styles Hotel in Lafayette Paris France

What a cool place to hang out in between international training sessions. I had just completed a week of training in the FACOM automotive repair training Center in Moran-gees, Orly, Paris and had a day and a half before I needed to fly to London for the next training session in the Stanley Black and Decker University in Slough, on the edge of Windsor and so the good training head at FACOM suggested staying in a hotel in downtown Paris. It was the IBIS Lafayette Opera, named so for its proximity to the famous Paris Opera House. I had stayed previously in an IBIS several times booked for me in Riyadh, in the Kindom of Saudi Arabia which had quite frankly sworn me off the brand altogether, the builders of it having taken the utmost liberty with the architects’ and concept designers’ original intention, reducing the size of every room and careless placement of amenities to the point of being altogether nonfunctional. But here in the middle of Paris the IBIS designers’ original intent could still be found – big enough to still be called a hotel room, mine was good. After all, only two nights in a joint and many things can be ignored. Once again the big feature that IBIS Lafayette Opera provides is that is a very affordable hotel in such a significant location. That’s hard to find these days anywhere.

Photo Ops abound as you step out the door into the narrow streeted history of old Paris. I saw in a very short space of time, and by the grace of our good training manager from FACOM in Moran-gees with him driving us in one evening to the main tourist attractions of central Paris. First - La Sacre Coeur on top of the hill overlooking, yes of course you guessed right, La tour Eiffel. Then from there through moderate Thursday evening traffic directly to Le Champs Eyeless and then the famous tower itself all lit up in yellow, with bright white beacon rotating slowly at its tip proclaiming its sovereignty as one of the most famous landmarks in the world.

From what I saw in the lobby this Ibis thrives on mostly young, vibrant, mobile, adventurous and mostly beautiful travelers coming to Paris for the reasons we all want to go to Paris, once, someday, to see and fall in love with….
The breakfast nook is below ground one floor and its basement location adds to its coziness. All done in White and red of the Ibis brand the furniture brightens the ambiance of the place and the buffet is French bread and soft cheeses and of course madeleines by the dozens as though they were the expected fare by tourists far and wide and nothing could be done to stop that expectation. Additionally, the double Espresso is not the molasses and mar mite mix that most establishments shamelessly pass off as the real deal. Here the Espresso tasted like it is supposed to.

Ok, so that’s a quick look at my stay in the IBIS Lafayette Opera, Paris. It is a nice one to choose if you want to stay somewhere affordable in the centre of Paris, walking distance from La Gallery Lafayette Shopping Centre, I almost forgot to say. And Uber is no problem – every Uber driver was there in less than five minutes. One was from Syria, another from Libya and the third from Tunisia. History tends to dictate current opportunity I guess.
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