Stay here during a trip around Normandy. The location is good - walking distance to the train station, and also close the the old city and main shopping streets. Friendly staff and comfortable room.

Recently changed from Holiday Inn to best western.
Well situated for Normandy D Day site visits, St,Mere Eglise is aproximately 75 km away. Canadian and English sites are less than 25 km away. Clean rooms, comfortable beds, Walking distance from old downtown Caen, where you find lots of fine dining establishments.
Breakfast is available at hotel, Although cost is 14 Euro, it provides ample choices for adults and children.
Parking is on the street but there is lots of availability.
Internet is available at hotel.
There is also a restaurant-dining room connected to the hotel, but we did not see any clients. Most visitors seemed to visit brasseries downtown. I believe the hotel at Euro 122 a room provides good value for your money during the month of November. I have no info in respect to high season prices..

We (2 adults and 2 children) stayed at this hotel having been told by the Inter Hotel de France (which we had booked through Expedia) that they did not have a reservation for us and no rooms were available.

After the manager made a few calls, we were found 2 double rooms at the Holiday Inn. The rooms were pristine and very comfortable but there was no mini bar and no coffee making facilities which we would have welcomed. The reception staff were very welcoming. Our rooms overlooked the street but we were not disturbed by traffic noise or revellers.

There is secure parking about 60 metres away from the hotel at 0.75 Euro per hour and street parking adjacent to the hotel.

There is a flight of stairs from street level to the reception desk which was difficult to manage with heavy cases.

Cannot comment on whether the hotel was value for money as our bill was picked up by the Inter Hotel.

I have always wanted to go to Normandy for the D-Day anniversary, and this year it worked out with my work schedule, so with about a week's notice I was able to go. Booking a hotel in Normandy so close to the anniversary wasn't easy, but I I had no trouble getting a room at this Holiday Inn for the night of June 5th. I left Paris a day earlier than anticipated and drove to Caen, hoping to find a hotel somewhere. When I had checked online this hotel was showing full, but I thought I'd try anyway.

I was glad I did try because the hotel had no record of the reservation I had made (through Holiday Inn's corporate site, not a third party such as Expedia or Travelocity). When I showed the lady at the front desk my confirmation e-mail she argued that is was for May 6th, not June 5th, and even when I explained the difference in US date format she didnt seem to believe me. I never did manage to resolve the missing reservation, but they did have a room available for the 4th and I was able to get it for both nights so I dropped the issue.

The hotel is clean, and apart from some communications difficulties the staff were professional and friendly enough. The hotel location is not as ideal as the website would lead me to believe however. "City center" is a bit of a stretch, as the hotel is more on the outskirts of what I would have called the center. The area around the hotel was not particularly inviting, with a garbage dumpster along one wall and a lot of graffiti in the immediate area. I made the walk into town to the castle, but didnt stay long as I realized on the walk into town that I did not want to be making the same walk alone after dark.

The room was clean, though typically small. The website lists 88 rooms, 48 with AC, and my room was one of the 40 without. Upon arrival the room was uncomfortably warm, and had it not been a 60 degrees and rainy it would have been uncomfortable warm the entire stay. The bathroom was also clean, but the shower was ridiculously small. Small to the point that it was impossible to shower without constantly hitting the faucet and turning the water full cold or full hot.

Since dining options in Caen were limited on Saturday after 8 I ate in the hotel restaurant. The waitress was very friendly and helpful, but spoke virtually no english. The full menu was also in French only, and since my French language skills are limited (my fault, not theirs!!) I ordered from the specials. I had the delectable sounding "Meats Plate", which was as advertised, a plate of meat. A single 2-inch lump of delicious sausage, a small piece of what I think was beef, though it was hard to tell since it was about 50% fat, and three pork ribs. It was a bit of a disappointment considering the reputation of French cuisine to see that the meats had been prepared using two ingredients only; meat & heat. The ribs especially were dry and completely unseasoned. All of the above was served with frozen french fries. Very disappointing...though at least the wine was fairly good.

On my second night I had spent the day touring D-Day sites and thought I'd give the restaurant another chance, but when I got there I found that only the bar is open on Sundays. In fact there are no restaurants open on Sunday in the area apparently, so it was a dinner of Heineken. Even the bar closed no long after I arrived (10ish closing time). It's worth noting that the hotel website states that food is served on Sundays from 7-11 and that the bar is open 7-days a week until midnight. I tried to mention this at checkout, but again there was a language barrier so I emailed the hotel from the link on my Priority Club webpage to let them know the error on the website, but received no response.

On the plus side secure parking is available across the street, though it is not free.

I would stay here again if there were no other options, since it is clean and overall is an average Holiday Inn, but I'd make sure to remember the location isn't as great as advertised, I'd stay close by after dark, I'd request an air conditioned room when making the reservation, and I'd plan my meals better, especially on Sundays.