Marriott Lyon Cité Internationale : correct

The choice of the Marriott Cité Internationale in Lyon was more a choice of reason than of passion. I still had nights to do to keep my Titanium status at Marriott and unless I go to the Moxy Lyon Airport which is a bit far, it’s the only hotel of the group available in Lyon. But I can’t say that the two reviews made by Olivier of this hotel were very motivating. It is therefore not this stay that will extend our list of hotels in Lyon.

For the record, the various articles written about this trip.

#TypePost
1IntroductionPreparing a last minute weekend in Lyon
2TrainParis-Lyon, Trenitalia Frecciarossa, Executive Class
3HotelMarriott Lyon Cité internationale
4RestaurantLéon de Lyon
5RestaurantSubstrat
6DiaryThe essential of Lyon in one day
7TrainLyon-Paris, SNCF, TGV inOui Business Première

Booking

I booked on the Marriott website a fortnight before my arrival a standard room for 130 euros a night, which is not excessive.

Location of the hotel

As its name indicates, the hotel is located in the International City area, not in the city center at all. It is a recent district in full development but very out of the way.

For those who know the city it is at the end of the Par de la Tête d’Or, almost at the border with Villeurbanne.

However, there is nothing prohibitive about it. The city center is accessible in 10 minutes by cab (we are not in Paris…) from the train station count 15 minutes by bus or cab.

It is next to a casino where events are sometimes organized (a boxing match during my stay) and is a few meters from the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Arrival at the hotel and check-in

I checked in online the day before I arrived and a few hours before I got to the hotel the app would notify me of a junior suite upgrade.

I will arrive at the hotel in about fifteen minutes from the Lyon Part-Dieu train station. Here is the first hitch. The ground floor of the hotel is located high up, perhaps on the 3rd or 4th floor of the building and is therefore accessible to vehicles and pedestrians via a ramp. But the genius architect who designed the building provided a single-lane ramp so that when a car is parked for a long time in front of the door to drop off or load a passenger the customers have to be dropped off at the bottom of the ramp and they only have to walk up it dragging their luggage. Not very optimal.

So in this case a guest had parked his car during his check out and was taking his time to get out and load his luggage. It blocked the ramp for a good 10 minutes so I had to walk the rest of the way.

No bellman to greet guests, so I walk into the hotel and head to the front desk. The place is quite nice and airy but it’s crowded at the reception and there is no priority queue.

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The staff behind the desk looks quite distraught and disorganized. Or rather one seems to master his job but spends his time explaining things to his two colleagues or answering their questions. It looks like a training phase.

So at first he greets me by doing four things at once and I feel like he is doing his job mechanically without even looking at me. After a while his colleagues leave him alone and I feel that I finally get his full attention.

He thanks me for my loyalty, reminds me of my upgrade and lists all the benefits I enjoy in the hotel. Unfortunately there is no club lounge (in fact there is one but it is closed) but the mini bar is free.

The junior suite of the Marriott Lyon Cité Internationale

So I head for my room.

A view of the Cité Internationale from the corridor that connects the two wings of the hotel.

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The bedroom opens onto the lounge area.

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It’s sober, nicely decorated in a Scandinavian style, but it’s a bit empty.

No electrical outlet near the table, we can see that the hotel is showing its age (it was opened in 1999 under the Hilton brand).

On the left we find the night part, separated from the living room by a piece of furniture that offers a TV on each side.

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I might as well tell you that for me it’s not a “real” suite because I like when the spaces are separate and independent.

Otherwise the night space is pleasant and the bedding of quality.

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The decoration is rather successful, sober and warm.

Let’s go to the bathroom. It is very large with a large corner bathtub, a shower and a separate toilet (well they are in the bathroom but closed).

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The two-basin sink:

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The big bathtub:

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And the shower is a good size too:

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A really nice bathroom.

So, in the end a nice room, spacious even if a bit empty, tastefully decorated in a style that reminds me a bit of the Scandinavian design that I love.

You can see that the hotel has been renovated fairly recently (2016). But on closer inspection we can see that the room is already very worn.

For example the sofa:

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And the traces of mold on the joints in the shower.

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So a nice “fake suite” but leaves something to be desired if you do a thorough examination.

And we finish with the visit in video.

Marriott Lyon Cité Internationale   Junior Suite

The hotel facilities

The hotel has a gym that I will not try during this stay.

Catering

The hotel has an Italian restaurant which obviously has a good reputation but which I will not try and a bar.

On the other hand I will go to the bar at the aperitif time.

It was redesigned just before the COVID and looks great.

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The cocktail menu is beautiful, the cocktails well made and the staff very pleasant. There is also an appetizing snack menu.

Check-out

I will check out on the Marriott mobile app and leave without going through the front desk again

The staff and the service

For the little that I had to interact with the staff was globally pleasant and professional if we omit the moment of hesitation at the check-in mainly due to the fact that the person who took care of me had to supervise colleagues who were not yet very autonomous. Nevertheless, if you judge a hotel on the first few minutes of contact with the staff, it wasn’t very brilliant.

Special praise for the bar staff, very nice.

Bottom line

The Marriott Lyon Cité internationale, although out of the way, is a pleasant hotel overall even if its recent renovation leaves something to be desired. A pleasant hotel but one that does not leave an unforgettable memory either.

Bertrand Duperrin
Bertrand Duperrinhttp://www.duperrin.com
Compulsive traveler, present in the French #avgeek community since the late 2000s and passionate about (long) travel since his youth, Bertrand Duperrin co-founded Travel Guys with Olivier Delestre in March 2015.
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