Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay

It is a beautiful setting, but this beauty is not worth its horrible service and staff. ||Thank goodness I only traveled 3 hrs to get here but I cannot imagine traveling far to get to this beautiful place and be so let down. ||When we were originally dropped off, we had no idea where to go and we asked the driver where to go to check in and he said “I don’t know”. ||Then there is no air conditioning which should be made WAY MORE clear on their website. ||We did see a fan in our room, but to no surprise we plugged it in and it did not work. We tried to find a reception number anywhere but could not so I went down to reception and waited for a while, all the while the staff was having a casual conversation just chilling out while multiple people were waiting. They said that the fan doesn’t work. And there was no solution. So what is the point of even putting the fan in the room. ||Also confused on how every restaurant is booked? And it is extremely difficult to get in contact with staff. ||So sadly, the architectural beauty is not worth the stay. Hopefully a bigger company maybe LVMH or another hospitality company can come in and buy it and completely do a 180, so this place can actually live up to its full potential. ||I have stayed at places with half this estate’s beauty and because of the staff and rooms and decoration was 100000x better than this.

The property is beautiful, but our experience was traumatic and extremely disappointing. During a horse-riding activity organized by the hotel, I fell badly, lost consciousness, and was injured — all without receiving proper guidance or adequate safety measures. Beyond the physical pain, this trip was meant to celebrate my husband’s birthday, and the entire experience was ruined: I was unable to enjoy the spa treatments I had booked, and we could not celebrate at all. Most shocking of all — no one from the hotel management came to check on me after I lost consciousness, and I received neither compensation nor even a word of concern. Despite sending several formal complaints with medical documentation, I have received no response to this day. Such negligence and lack of humanity are absolutely unacceptable from an establishment of this standard.

The property is very beautiful, with many different areas surrounded by nature, tastefully decorated in a style reminiscent of an English cottage, cosy and perfect for the winter season. However, the service still needs significant improvement and is not yet up to the standards expected by a luxury clientele. I found the team to be particularly disorganized. Room quality varies significantly depending on the building in which you’re staying, some are spacious and welcoming, while others are quite small. It’s also important to note that the property does not have air conditioning, so during warmer seasons, attic rooms can become uncomfortably hot.

Staying at this magical old world resort was amazing. My husband and I went with my daughter son in law and two children. There is so much for families to do between swimming, biking (appropriate sized bikes are staged all over the resort), arcade with tons of games (all free to play) kids club with games, role play cafe and kitchen, climbing area etc. Breakfast is included and quite a spread! There are paddle boats, tennis courts and a farm with a petting animals. Too much to do for one weekend. We will be back!

Unfortunately, our stay was far below expectations. While the property may look stunning on Instagram, the actual service and experience were deeply disappointing. The service was unprofessional from the start. Despite repeatedly informing the staff that we do not speak French, many continued to speak to us in French even after several minutes into conversations. Basic communication in English was a serious issue for many team members, including understanding simple terms like “cutlery.” In a hotel of this caliber, that is simply unacceptable. Housekeeping was superficial at best. The same clumps of dust remained under our desk for the entire stay, indicating that cleaning was done just to tick a box. Towels were replaced, but nothing more. The minibar was never restocked unless we called reception daily just to ask for water. And the fact that there was no complimentary water provided each day in the room is honestly a bad joke for a hotel in this category. The gym was in terrible condition dirty, poorly maintained, and under-equipped. It was frankly unpleasant to even consider using it. The worst part: we were bitten by bed bugs in our room both myself and my young child. This is completely inexcusable and raises serious health and hygiene concerns. This is one of those places that photographs well online but fails to deliver even the basics of guest comfort or proper hospitality. A serious rethink of standards and service is urgently needed.

If you’re a bride dreaming of staying at a picturesque hotel in France and capturing some special moments in your wedding dress—think twice before booking this place.||My fiancé and I fell in love with the look of this hotel and decided it would be the perfect location for our elopement photos. I reached out as early as December—both by phone and email—to ask a simple question: are elopement photos allowed on the property? When I called, no one had an answer. When I emailed, I was either ignored or given completely unrelated information, like being told I had to book the entire hotel (140+ rooms) to have a wedding—something I never asked for.||With no clear answer and no information about photography restrictions on their website, we went ahead and booked our stay in February. In March, we confirmed and booked our photographer—assuming everything was fine, especially after seeing multiple Instagram posts of other brides taking photos there, even liked by the hotel’s own account.||But just a week later, out of nowhere, we received an email from the hotel saying that photography was not allowed on the premises. I spent the following week in frustrating back-and-forth emails and phone calls with a manager, explaining that our nonrefundable flights and photographer were all arranged—and that our entire trip was planned around this location.||I was told that I could only take photos if I wasn’t wearing a wedding gown. I repeatedly asked for the hotel’s photography policy in writing, but it was never provided. To this day, there is still no such policy listed anywhere on their website.||It felt deeply unfair and discriminatory—especially since other people had clearly been allowed to take wedding photos there. In the end, we were refunded for our stay, but the emotional damage was done. We’re now scrambling to find a new location for our photos in France—and our elopement shoot is at the end of May.||This hotel was supposed to be the backdrop for one of the most meaningful moments of my life—and instead, it became a source of stress, confusion, and disappointment.||If you’re a bride hoping to take wedding photos at your hotel: this is not the place. I wish I had chosen a different location. I’ll never forget how this hotel took away my dream elopement photo experience due to a vague, inconsistent, and seemingly non-existent policy.

We came for dinner and to inquire about a room. While there were 2 bell boys at the parking lot with golf carts none of them would take our luggage. Even when we asked if they could help they said we should just carry the luggage to the hotel (we had a lot of luggage) ourselves. The uber was not allowed to go further. Pretty unbelievable for a hotel! 😅

We have been global luxury travelers for almost 50 years. I even had a column and wrote many features for the US’ premiere luxury travel and lifestyle magazine back before the GFC killed print magazines. We have stayed in literally hundreds of great hotels from 5-star ++ grandes dames to faded queens of yesteryear. Lately, we prefer to rent apartments or houses than do the hotel hop when we spend a week or so taking in the sights. A fablous aparment overlooking the Grand Canal or the Seine for the price of a 1 BR closet of a suite is a vastly preferable experience - particularly if you speak the language and/or don’t mind managing your own logistics.||But every now and then it is nice to indulge, and our trip to the Loire this spring ended at the Abbaye. We went big - La Suite de la Barone, and it was well worth it. We generally eschew the resort hotels - overrun with loud kids and homogenized for the US/Middle Eastern crowd. But the AVC had no such issues.||The service was fantastic, and the staff could not have been nicer. No Trump animosity whatever! The sole shortcoming in the suite was terrible night time lighting in the bath and dressing rooms - a shame considering their size and truly “baronial” decor. The towels almost made up for it. I am desperately trying to get the precise variety to restock all our bathrooms! The best ever - supplanting the Ritz and Hotel du Cap. One side note: the deep and narrow vintage soaking tub was great, and the filler was like a fire hydrant - no waiting around for a hot bath! This is a rarity, and shows the engineers were paying attention!!||The property is gorgeous. The romantic ruins play off the beautifully-restored and converted structures to turn the former Abbey into a simulacrum of a French aristocrat’s country manor for 100 guests. The pool is a bit of a stumble - it is small and relatively unattractive, No deck, just grass for the lawn chairs there, The indoor/outdoor feature of the pool is nice, and of course the spa building is lovely.||Our meals were more than acceptable for a big hotel. The fine dining option was certainly that. There was one misstep - a massively oversalted sauce on the foie gras - but massive apologies and corrections were swiftly offered. All else was superb. The buffet breakfast in the converted carriage house (?) was gargantuan and SPECTACULAR. Something for all cultures and tastes. Everything made fresh and of top quality, particularly the breads and pastries. Plenty of fresh juice and good coffee. This was not quantity over quality in any sense.||There was an “influencer” party at the bar one night, but it was not intrusive. Lots of adorable over-dressed college-age and young professionals networking and drinking. They fit right in.||I can’t really think of a negative. Our conceirge, Noemi was as good as they get. Helpful in every way without being at all obsequious or intrusive. She had about two months until her baby was (is?) due but was as energetic and upbeat as possible.||I won’t opine on value for money because we cast that aside for a relatively short stay at a top line hotel. I will say that there really wasn’t anything we wanted we could not get. The only tiny, tiny thing was when I asked if they might open the gift shop for us an hour early the morning we left. I had seen some really interesting items the night before but my wife didnt have the energy. That inquiry went without a response. Partly my fault for inadequate follow through. Also - probably saved us a lot of money!!||All in all, AVC is a 10/10

What a wonderful hotel! It is an old abbey in the middle of the forest in Rambouillet. When I visited last year I was attending a very serious and highly charged executive committee meeting for work. Inside the meeting room things were quite tense but outside the snow came down and when we retired to the common areas with their huge fires and the dining room with the wonderful food, all of the tension melted away. It was a perfect picture postcard scene with the cold and snow outside and a roaring fire in the lounge. The only downside would be that if you have a bedroom anywhere near the large fireplaces, your room and clothing stored there will smell of smoke.