Ibis Styles Rouen Nord Barentin

When I first arrived and eventually checked into this hotel, I considered it to be a disaster. My view improved by the time I checked out, but I would still not choose this hotel again, mainly because I usually travel with luggage and they have no elevator, or luggage trolleys. I do not find any fault with the staff. They were as helpful as they could be with the facilities they had to work with. I arrived after 0200h in the morning. I had expected the hotel to be in Barentin town centre. In fact it is in a "centre commercial". This is the french term for a shopping complex. Note that shops in these french centres are frequently open on Sundays. Prices in these shops usually compare favourably with town centres. I should have been aware that it was in a centre commercial, because it had a "route nationale" address, so the information was correct on the Accor website. When I actually arrived at the hotel, the next problem was locating the entrance door. The hotel building is a rather featureless cube. I had expected the entrance door to be directly adjacent to their illuminated green Ibis sign. It wasn't. The entrance door was on a different face of the hotel. The reason I could not find it was because it was in total darkness and hidden behind a row of bushes. Apparently an electrical fault had disabled the lights in the car park at the time I arrived. The next problem was that my room was on the 3rd floor, I travel with a lot of luggage, and the hotel had no elevator. I was about to give up and find somewhere else, but the girl offered to move me to a room on the ground floor. In view of the number of times I had disturbed her sleep, I would have felt very bad about going somewhere else after her efforts to be helpful. It should be noted that at least some of the staff here live on the property. The hotel closes at night, but key staff are expected to be "on call". I had already disturbed this girl's sleep at least 4 times. When reception is closed, access to the hotel is gained by a 4 digit code. There is also a code for the hotel's parking area, but in event of overspill there is no apparent problem using the parking lot of an adjacent property. The rooms are not much bigger than what you would expect a Red Ibis hotel, although they are much smarter. Breakfast is a similar standard to what you would expect at a Red Ibis. At the time of my visit, breakfast was included in the room price. Coffee taken was also included, although is unavailable when reception is closed. I suspect that this is a relatively new hotel, and the building was not designed as such. I expect that the problems (including the lack of an elevator) will be resolved over time, following which the free breakfast will probably be withdrawn. The fact that the hotel is in a commercial shopping complex is actually quite convenient. The hotel does not have its own restaurant, but there are 2 "fast food" restaurants adjacent to the hotel. Fortunately fast food in France is

Whilst the staff were polite and helpful, the room was below par, mainly due to the pathetic Air Conditioning. I stayed overnight in the middle of August, where the outside temperature was about 35 degrees. The 'air conditioning' was like an asthmatic man blowing on you, it was pathetic. It didn't cool the room at all. The control unit for the AC was flashing an error code U17, suggesting it needed maintenance. Stay could have been so much better, but completely let down by a room which was like a sauna! So glad I bought my own mini fan and left that running all night to make it bearable. Also, the reception appears to be closed until 17:00, so if you arrive before that, like I did, then you are screwed for checking in! I had to hang around until 17:00 to check in, which wasn't great after a six and a half hour drive in scorching heat. Would I stay hear again? NO!

Stopped here overnight. It was in a commercial area with a Carrefour and other shops and restaurants. Reception and restaurant area were fairly small. There was no elevator so us oldies had to lug our luggage upstairs. Room was tiny with only one chair and nowhere to put our luggage. Very cramped for 2 people. Bed was very comfortable. Good walk-in shower with door so no flooding. Breakfast fairly limited due to space and no one seemed to be checking on things as there were no eggs left. Not a bad hotel but not up to the other Ibis Styles we have stayed in on this trip with similar rates.

I have stayed here many times without a problem but this time it was different. I arrived around 7.30 pm and the room was as expected. Clean and all ok although most of the tv channels weren't working (although not a problem for me). Went out for dinner and returned around 9.30pm to find reception and bar closed so was unable to take advantage of the free drink . There was a displayed note to say that reception closes at 9.00pm but this wasn't visible when I arrived. At no time when booking or on the website does it state that this hotel is not manned 24/7. A similar thing happened in August 2021 when I arrived at midnight to find the hotel locked with a message to ring a Paris number to get access but there were no towels in the room. Lucky I had a working telephone. This time I arrived at breakfast at 9.00 am (!0.00 finish) to find the hot food (scrambled egg and bacon) cold and congealed with no possibility of getting some more. Plates and cutlery was non-existent and the orange juice machine didn't work and the 2 "15" year old girls didn't seem to have any idea what to do. I'm in France for 3 months of the year and sometimes Barentin is the ideal location for me but I won't be staying there again. I still like Ibis Styles and will probably use one in Rouen next time.