Looking at staying at one of these hotels on drive to the alps. Will be checking in about 3am in the morning.

Does anyone know if they have a automated check-in system in France? ie with credit card I paid with etc

Some do, some don’t. Usually tells you on the website IIRC. You just bung in your credit card and it prints out a wee ticket with the access code.

Yep. Automated check in with the credit card you booked with or the code from your reservation. You might need to park outside, walk in and check-in to get the code for the car park gate. Most have 24 hour staff on call as well which is handy as the automated system doesn’t always work.

We used one a couple of weeks ago and fortunately it was manned as our booking had evapourated.

I hate F1’s, they are shabby, noisy and smelly….. but cheapish…. Take ear plugs as the floors/walls are made of cardboard.

Thanks… check in at 3am and gone by 9am so not to worried about the condition – we just need to get your head down for a few hours.

If you want to sleep much past 6 then ear plugs are a must as they are usually full of contractors who are up early.

Also in the summer they are pretty sweaty places with plastic mattresses and no air circulation.

I have come to the conclusion that there are 2 options 1.powerthrough/kip in car or 2. Stop earier in a nicer place.

Premier Classe are also a sweaty option.

Have to agree, they are low rent doss houses now. When they were new, they were just a bit noisy, now…. We had one locally here in the UK when Formule were trying to expand accross the known Universe. It was used heavily after the local nightclub kicked out for certain liaisons….

Having written that, we still used our regular stop off in Challons en Champagne en route to the 3 Valleys a couple of weeks ago.

If you are in a hurry to leave next morning, then think about Etap or Premier classe. They have en-suite bogs and showers whereas with the communal Formule 1 ones you might end up queuing. 10 euros more though.

It’s worth an extra 10 euros to stay somewhere else.

I’m not a fussy man but, bleurgh!!