Najeti Hotel Lille Nord

The room we could access had a pretty bathtub, but it had no shower over it. There was a shower attachment with nowhere to fix it, so I had to sit in the bath to shower. Its sloping edges also left nowhere for shampoo except in the bath with me. The planes outside the window were fun to watch, and there was no noise or night flying. A couple of restaurants and a KFC were only a few minutes' walk away. We were there for one night between the Netherlands and Paris. The family room setup was odd: behind one door were two locked doors, one to a double room and one to a twin, each with its own bathroom. I wouldn’t want my kids in a separate locked room, and bags were the only way to wedge the doors open. We had constant key card trouble. We had two cards for the two rooms, and each worked once before needing to be reset. It's lucky our child didn’t get locked in. After each reset, the main room key worked once, while the key to the second room never worked again. Reception were very nice, but suggested I was holding the card too close. I’ve stayed in lots of hotels over the years, and this wasn’t a problem with me. The card was in my hand between reception and the door, nowhere near a phone or anything magnetic.

If aviation interests you, this place is great. Our room was about 20 feet from the taxiway and parachute school. While checking in, we watched parachutists land, then from our room saw four hot air balloons getting ready to take off. The staff were really helpful despite our terrible French, and breakfast was great.

We had a newborn with us, which made the stay even more difficult, and there weren’t any cribs available. The room had no working air conditioning, and the toilet was broken, so we had to go to the lobby whenever we needed to use one. Staff came up and confirmed that nothing was working, but could only tell us to email the hotel. That didn’t resolve anything. We wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone looking for a comfortable rest, and we won’t return. Breakfast wasn’t very good, and the air quality was poor, which may be because there’s an airfield next door.

Great spot, clean and modern, with everything I needed. The staff made my son and me feel very welcome, and I enjoyed the stay so much I’ve booked again for next weekend. Get a room overlooking the airstrip if you can. On the weekend you can watch the planes and skydiving lessons. Brilliant.