We stayed in Kyriad La Defense in April 2006 when my husband took part in the Paris marathon. I spent a good deal of time reading reviews to find something dirty cheap (we were on a very tight budget) but decent (as we were traveling with our 1 year old son). I decided for Kyriad considering the price (we paid 46 Euro for a double without breakfast), the location on Metro 1 line (connecting to the marathon start and finish), reviews and pictures.
All in all, we were not disappointed. The goof (but partly on my part) was that we extended our stay and before the arrival I booked online one extra night. I hoped they would let us stay in the same room, but the administrator was very persistent and made us move after the first night into another room... So we got a chance to experience two rooms in this hotel...
Both rooms were definitely clean; there were complementary tea and coffee, minibar, toiletries. But on the whole, you could help noticing that the rooms and overall building badly needed a profound renovation - the owners desperately keep "patching" but before long it would be futile.
When you book, better opt for rooms facing inner yard - the windows frames are wooden and let the street noise in reaching you even if you are on the off-street side, on the front side the noise must be even greater (Blvd St Denis does have traffic day and night). And yes, the rooms are small, but even with a baby cot we managed to navigate.
Be advised that the nearest metro station is a long walk - it took us app.30 min to get to Esplanade de La Defense station, the area is safe, though the stone jungle of La Defense pretty deserted evenings. In fact, the hotel is NOT in La Defense - it is beyond its boundaries, in the adjacent township of Courbevoie.
Breakfast - nothing special, we could not run around in the morning with the baby and paid 7,5 EUR/person for conventional cold cuts, warmed pasties and mediocre coffee.
BUT - that is the perfect value for the money! You do feel neither overcharged nor humiliated by the cheesy hotel.
Would stay there again if on a budget.
- Kyriad Paris La Defense Courbevoie
