Stopping Over on route

[John Brown]

Because of the snow etc. I need to break my journey of over 800kms to the Ferry by staying over on route.

I'll leave a day earlier so I can choose when and where to stop

What are the Motels I've seen at the sides on the main routes to the north like.

I'm only looking to rest our heads ( Me & OH ) for the night without all the frills ( as long as its clean )

Are there a national rate generally for each brand. I'm thinking of just south of Paris or off the A1 on the way to Lille

Are they all priced similar. I don't what to book on-line so I can pack in for the day when we feel knackered 

Thanks JB

[dave21478]

The common ones are Formule1 and Etap Hotels. Both do basic room deals for around the 35€ mark per night for up to three people. They usually have a double and single bed in the room although the single is usually a bunk bed.

Generally clean and well maintained, but fairly small and basic. Ideal for an overnight stop on the road, but you probably wouldn't want to spend a fortnights holiday in one. The only complaint I have had was at an older F1, which did not have an en-suite bathroom - the facilitie were shared between half a dozen other rooms. As far as I am aware this is not common.

A nice advantage is they all seem to operate on a code rather than a key system and are automated after hours, so you can stop at any time of the night and buy a room using a credit card in the machine in the foyer, which spits out a ticket with room and parking gate access codes.

[sid]

As Dave says, there are several chains; we've used this one and found it satisfactory http://www.hotel-bb.com/

Sid

[idun]

AFAIK all Formule 1 hotels have communal toilets and showers. The Etap Hotels were the next one up with en suites and a little dearer.

Formule1 are fine for a few hours kip though and usually a few euros cheaper than the other chains.

[Pierre ZFP]

In addition to the BB chain of hotels mentioned by Sid above, the F1, Etape, Ibis etc are all part of the Accor group

The range from the cheap 'n cheerful F1 (no private facilities) to the more upmarket Sofitel etc. Yer pays yer money and takes yer choice.

All of them are fine for overnight stops, usually close to the Autoroute and near a modest restaurant for a bite to eat.

I've used all of them many times but recently I've thought of booking a private B&B as several forum members here run. I'm not sure how welcome a one night stay would be to such owners of B&Bs given the work involved for just one night stay.

[connolls]

In my opinion.............AVOID FORMULE 1.

I'm sure other's will have other experiences.

We pre-booked our rooms on three occasions to find they had cocked up the bookings, over-booked or just not got them on their system.

Tried the ETAP'S (Owned by the same company) after that and they seemed much more on the ball. Plus you do get on En-suite.

Have fun.

Mel.

[crossy67]

We have stayed in one F1 hotel with shared facilities.  We found the Premier Class was better and only cost slightly more but you do get en suite.

[Benjamin]

Long journey, snow expected..................................................

I'd stop earlier rather than later as these hotels will fill up pdq if driving conditions deteriorate rapidly, not that they're particullarly empty any way as they're much favoured by companies as cheapish accomodation for junior staff.

[idun]

The good thing with these cheap hotels is that you can actually book in advance using your card and then you know you have a room waiting no matter what time you get there.

Also if you do make better time than you imagined you can call them before 17h and cancel and not lose any money. (Check that, but that is the way it has always been for us with all the hotels).

When the Formule 1's started they were 'it' for cheap convenitent quick stop overs and we were darned glad to have them. The others started very soon after, but we still used the Forumule1's for quite some time for the price.

[Kevinmc]

Don't assume you'll find a room in one of these that easily. They're the staple accomodation of white van man and other business travellers and are very busy during the week, often block booked by some companies, even if they don't actually use the room. Weekends are different and easier to find a room

[John Brown]

Thanks for all the comments. They have been really helpful

We are setting off soon so wish me luck. Mind you it might be more of a challenge getting around in the UK

Cheers JB

[idun]

Well so far the UK has not has a 150km traffic jam, which is actually is very big in bad conditions.

Bon voyage anyway.