Hilton Charles de Gaulle Bottom Line Review

During my most recent trip to Europe, my wife and I ended up spending an unplanned night at Charles de Gaulle airport, courtesy of Air France/KLM. Because of a two hour ground delay in Dusseldorf, we ended up missing our connecting flight in Amsterdam and the quickest way for us to get to our destination the next day was actually to fly to CDG and spend the night there. Air France told us that they would give us €155 per person towards lodging for the night, so we looked for a place that would both maximize our allowance and be convenient to our flight the next morning. We chose the Hilton Charles de Gaulle.

Whoopsies.

Ok, I’m being dramatic. We were only in the hotel for around twelve hours and it does have a great location smack dab in between the Roissypole stop on the CDGval train and Terminal 3 (It’s about a 3-4 minute walk from each one). Both the RER train and the non-stop buses to central Paris leave from right out front. So it served our purposes. But the property has seen better days, to say the least. I asked for an upgrade at the front desk (after seeing suites available in the app) and was given a complimentary upgrade to a “corner suite,” or so the front desk agent told me. It was effectively a corner room with a sofa. The curtains were torn and stained, hanging off of the curtain rod. There were huge gouges in the walls in both the hallways and our room (one hole had drywall hanging from it). The wifi in the room was almost unusable. It was very Motel 6ish. The atrium bar on main floor is impressive and we enjoyed having a beer there after 8+ hours of wrangling with flight cancellations and delays.

The next morning, we went down for a breakfast of powdered eggs and canned fruit (with a terrific coffee machine at least). There was no one checking us into the restaurant, no one came to our table and we finally just gave someone clearing tables our room number just in case. There was a long line to checkout, so we did it virtually. After leaving, we discovered that we had been charged for the room upgrade. We called and they corrected it by charging us twice for the same room (but removing the upgrade charge). We then called again and they removed one of the two room charges. All in all, not a stay I’m looking to repeat in the near future.

Hilton Charles de Gaulle Bottom Line Review

Bottom line: The Hilton Charles de Gaulle is an impressive building in an incredibly convenient location that’s in terrible condition. The rooms are in poor repair, the hotel is understaffed and the food and beverage is mediocre at best. If you’re staying overnight and get a cheap rate, I suppose there’s worse options. Otherwise, it’s one to avoid.

• Points Price: 45,000-80,000 Hilton points per night, with huge variation throughout the year.
• Cash Price: Massive seasonal variation.  The night that we were there it was €295 for standard room (~$300) but a quick look at random dates throughout the calendar yielded results from €110 all the way to €415/night.
• Points Value: Varies incredibly, with points values as low 0.2 cpp or as high as 0.6. Our reasonable redemption value for Hilton points is 0.4 CPP.
• Resort Fee: None.
• Parking: Self-parking is available for €29/night and includes in & out privileges.
• Turndown service: Hahahaha (that’s a no)
• Housekeeping: When we were there, they were only providing housekeeping for stays of 3 Nights+.
• Internet: Not great. Service in our room was extremely choppy and the only place it was reliable was the lobby/bar area.
• Dining:
  • Skylight Restaurant and Bar is open daily from 6am-1am (food service stops nightly at 10pm). Breakfast buffet is served from 6am-10am daily.
• Spa: None.
• Fitness Room:There is a small fitness room that I was able to look at from the outside. Weirdly, it was closed while we were there, but it had a modest array of free weights and 8-10 cardio machines. Given the size of the hotel, I can imagine the fitness room getting quite crowded when it’s open.
• Hilton Diamond Elite Benefits: 
  • Space Availabile Room Upgrade: We booked a standard twin room. I saw that there were suites available in the app when we arrived and asked about an upgrade. We were given an upgrade to a corner “suite” that was really just a large corner room (in very poor condition). No idea if it was actually categorized as a suite or not. We were then charged for the upgraded room and I had to call back and get the upgrade charge taken off.
  • Club Lounge: Located on the first floor, but not open when I was there in May 2022
  • Free Continental Breakfast: Buffet breakfast was served daily at Skylight Restaurant and Bar on the main floor and you could also choose to grab and go using to-go containers. While the actual buffet was massive in terms of counter space, there wasn’t much actual variety present. The quality was on the lower-end for a mid-range European hotel: the fruit was canned, the eggs were powdered, etc.
  • Late Checkout: Didn’t ask, wasn’t offered.
• Would I stay again?  I love the location, right between Terminal 3 and the Roissypole stop on the CDGval train, it’s  20-30 meters from the RER train and buses to downtown Paris. But the poor condition of the hotel, lackluster customer service and high(ish) prices would have me looking elsewhere next time.
• Hilton Charles de Gaulle pros:
  • Good location at CDG, right between Terminal 3 and Roissypole stop on the CDGval train
  • Large standard rooms.
  • Impressive, open, atrium bar/restaurant area.
• Hilton Charles de Gaulle cons:
  • Property is well past its prime and is in poor condition.
  • Seemed VERY understaffed, and the staff that’s there wavers between indifference and incompetence.
  • Mediocre F&B.

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