ibis budget Lyon Villeurbanne

The staff who moved me to another room were kind and proactive. They found me a much safer one by a stairwell and security camera, and even though it cost a little more, they didn’t charge me extra. My bus was late, so I got back to check in at 10 PM instead of 7 PM, and I appreciated how they handled it. The Wi-Fi worked well too. That said, I had a frightening first night. I’d accidentally booked an accessible ground-floor room, and its window was right at parking level, where someone could easily look in or break in. Three times that night, someone tried to open my door. I don’t know whether it was the same person, but they were clearly trying to get in. My portable door lock stopped them. Without it, I wouldn’t have felt safe. I told the staff the next morning. I believe the way check-in is handled may be why my room was targeted: the night clerk said my room number aloud in a lobby full of people, as well as writing it down. That’s a major hotel industry no-no around the world, especially for women travelling alone. He effectively announced that an exhausted woman by herself was staying in that room. I’ve worked in hotels and understand that customs vary by country, but I know this is a global standard. The manager dismissed my concern, saying his staff “always say it out loud” and there was no rule against it. That’s concerning and puts guests at risk. On my last morning, he checked the cameras and confirmed my original room was in a complete blind spot. I saw that three other ground-floor rooms were too, with no camera coverage. Someone could rob or assault a guest there without being caught on video. A couple of other things: the bedsheets were damp on my first night but fine after that. My Do Not Disturb request was ignored twice. They cleaned on the second night after I asked them not to, and by the third night my sign had disappeared entirely. I appreciate the care from the staff who helped me change rooms, but the safety procedures need serious improvement. Until the blind spots are fixed and staff are trained not to say room numbers aloud, I can’t recommend this hotel to solo women travellers, or anyone concerned about safety. If you stay, bring a portable door lock and ask for a room near a security camera.

Parking is limited, as you can see in the pictures, so if you arrive in the evening you may end up on the driveway. Also, if your room has an extra bed or bunk bed, you have to make it yourself, which is really uncomfortable. The cleaning needs work, even for a budget hotel. There were crumbs or something on all the beds, as if the bedding had been left on a dirty floor while being changed. There was black hair on the walls and towels too. It’d be so easy to fix. The room had a weird smell, maybe mold. And I wouldn’t recommend the fruit salad at breakfast.

After a six-hour motorcycle trip, I got to the hotel and was told my booking had been cancelled because the €45 rate I’d booked online was for day use, with no overnight stay. I’d found what looked like a great special deal in an email, entered my dates for one night, and saw no clear warning that it wasn’t an overnight rate. The fine print did say the room had to be vacated by 4:00 PM, but I, like many people probably would, took that to mean 4 PM the next day. At best, the offer was misleading, and it felt like a bait-and-switch. Tired and with little energy to find somewhere else, I had to book a standard rate there and then. It came to almost €100 including breakfast, plus extra for the parking garage, more than twice what I expected. The room was acceptable, but at that price I could have had a much better experience through loyalty programs with other hotel chains. The receptionist in Lyon was polite and wasn’t to blame. She just had to give me the bad news. But the way the rate was advertised and handled felt deceptive, and I left feeling taken advantage of. I won’t be back.

A good choice for a one-night stop while travelling. The desk staff are friendly and helpful, and there’s secured underground parking. Rooms are clean and modern, with a very efficient layout. I found the mattresses really comfortable, even compared with pricier hotels where they can be too soft or too hard.