This is the Thursday 8 June will open on new Grand Voyageur lounge of the SNCF to the Gare du Nord. Now located on the 2nd floor of the building, its entrance is right next to the Relay shop, facing Track 14. As with the recent Eurostar loungeThis 320 m² space has been fitted out in what used to be the station hotel before being transformed into a buffet and then offices for the railway company. This grandiose space is now back to its original purpose, as it was originally the salon d'honneur of Emperor Napoleon III, designed in 1864 by Hittorff, the architect of the Gare du Nord.
Now equipped with designer seating, the lounge offers 62 seats and a range of services, including wifi, work tables with power and USB sockets, hot and cold drinks, daily newspapers and magazines and a digital bar with free access to digital tablets. Open Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 9pm and at weekends from 7am to 8pm, it is accessible to holders of Grand Voyageur Plus and Grand Voyageur Le Clubbut also to passengers travelling with the Pro rate 1st of the day or a Fréquence 1st card. An exit will soon lead to the Eurostar terminal on the first floor. Without giving an estimate of future passenger numbers in the new lounge, Jérôme Leborgne, Director of SNCF TGV Nord, points out that the old lounge welcomed a thousand passengers a day.
A major new feature is the SNCF has entrusted the management of this Grand Voyageur show to Regus which has a Regus Express centre with two adjoining meeting rooms for 12 and 16 people, around twenty private offices and, on the upper floor, around thirty places in a vast open-space of coworking. " Business travellers can hold a meeting or hire a space for 1 hour, for the day, or even for a long period throughout the year." explains Christophe Burckart, Managing Director of Regus.
This SNCF-Regus partnership has also been set up in the stations of BordeauxLille Flandres and Amiens by the end of 2017. " Our ambition is to support business travellers, who are increasingly mobile, and to provide them with the best possible customer experience." he adds. As an added bonus, SNCF Grand Voyageur Plus and Le Club passengers will receive a 15% discount on the rental rates for these work and meeting spaces.
