Thomas van Vliet
Google
The main reasons for us to stay at La Bastide de Saint Julien were our high expectations related to its website presentation, its location, its interior design and its rooms offering air-conditioning.
La Bastide de Saint Julien was indeed an impressive property with well maintained and manicured gardens, beautiful swimming pool & deck, cool contemporary design of public areas and guest areas (impressive elevator!), and well appointed rooms
Welcome at La Bastide was friendly and we were immediately handed over the keys for our room.
When we arrived at our room we noticed its location facing the main road which we found noisy (and upon calling the hotel prior to our arrival we asked for a room in a quiet location) and we asked for another room which we received immediately.
After we relocated to the second room we noticed that the temperature in this room was quite high, and when we checked with the housekeeping staff we were told that indeed there were issues with the AC system and in particular in the room allocated to us.
So unfortunately we had to ask for a relocation to another room again, a request which was dealt with immediately.
La Bastide de Saint Julien didn't have a restaurant but because of the rainy weather we decided not to dine outside the property and upon our request the staff was so kind to serve us a delicious cheese and cold cuts platter and house wine which we consumed on the outdoor terrace seated under an umbrella whilst it rained...quite a nice experience
Unfortunately that night we slept very badly, for the simple reasons the temperature inside the room, with the air-conditioning fully operating (switched on at minimum temperature and maximum ventilation, as per instructions in the guest room directory) not getting below 24 celsius and the bedlinen being 50% polyester/ 50% cotton (who sleeps at home using bedlinen of such a quality?).
We also noticed some maintenance issues in the bathroom...loose amenities tray, broken toilet roll holder and broken waste bin
When we complained about these three issues to the staff in the morning we were told by a supervisor/ manager that this was not a hotel but a Chambre d'Hote (=Bed & Breakfast) (no idea about its relevance, or it being a good excuse) and that the AC system was a centralised AC system and that it wasn't the management of La Bastide de Saint Julien which decided on the 24 degrees minimum temperature but the company which installed the AC system (quite an extraordinary explanation) and that nobody had complained about a too high temperature inside the rooms neither about the bedlinen containing 50% polyester, since the opening of La Bastide de Saint Julien. We were also told that apparently we just didn't like anything in the property and complained about everything, so indirectly saying that we were the problem
Not accepting these questionable excuses we explained that because of us not being able to sleep properly we expected to receive an appropriate commercial gesture, also because the final room we stayed in was of a lower category than the one we paid for, which finally resulted in a refund in relation to the room category difference and a waiver of the charge for the cheese/ cold cut platter and bottle of wine, to us not at an appropriate level.
We left disappointed and will never return
