Relais De Chambord, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World

We selected the hotel as a central point for our 3 night stay to Loire Valley, of course to also visit the Château Chambord. When staying here you have almost exclusive entrance to the Chateau when it opens at 9am, before the rest of the visitors arrive. For almost an hour we had a somewhat private visit! And after the day visitors leave, walking the grounds is magical. The hotel rooms are “comfy” but well appointed, warm towels, comfy bedding, very friendly staff throughout. The reception staff are welcoming and helpful. The bar/lounge staff wonderful, and the breakfast team efficient. (Although need some help on having the coffee machine working at opening!) We did day trips to Blois, and to Ambroise, and the location was very good for us.

I am travelling with Mrs. Sandra Neri but staying in a different room, and I believe potential guests should be clearly informed that the issues described in her review are fully and unequivocally confirmed by both myself and my wife. Our stay has been marked by a consistently inadequate level of service, entirely incompatible with a hotel presented as a luxury Relais & Châteaux property. Rooms are unacceptably small for the price and category; restaurant service is disorganised and unreliable, including the failure to respect a previously communicated food intolerance; the spa is poorly managed, overcrowded beyond stated limits, lacking basic amenities and with facilities out of order; breakfast on January 1st was rushed and unpleasant; the bar offers low-quality products and is unable to properly serve hotel guests due to uncontrolled access by non-residents; and the front desk was unable to provide even basic local information. The New Year’s Eve dinner, priced at over €250 per person, further exposed these shortcomings. In addition to the service failures, we were pursued at the end of the evening and required to immediately pay €15 for bottled water, an episode that was inappropriate and undignified in any high-end hospitality context. The overall approach to guest relations is what ultimately defines this experience. Despite these issues being raised on the very first day of our stay, no member of management made any attempt in the days that followed to apologise, explain, or improve the situation. The only proactive contact we received was only hours after checking out and having left the hotel, instead, a request from concierge and reception staff demanding payment for a jar of peanuts allegedly taken from the minibar, which had never been consumed. The accusatory and confrontational tone adopted was shocking and unprofessional. For travellers choosing a Relais & Châteaux property with the expectation of attentive service, respect, and genuine hospitality, this experience serves as a clear warning. The emphasis appears to be on control and additional charges rather than on care and service, resulting in a stay that falls dramatically short of the standards such a name implies.

Arrived at the hotel and asked for a rollaway bed for the room. Even though there was one available and I had been upgraded they could not fit a bed in the room because the category did not allow it. Not because it did not fit the room. The front desk and manager said that it was due to insurance reasons. Not clear but I had to get another room so ended up with 3 rooms. The fact that I was a Hilton Diamond member did not make a difference. Also be aware there is a 17,5 euro charge per room per day for the forrest of Chambord but no arrangement to enter to the Chateaux for a lower price.

Amazing place to stay if you are on your way looking around chateau’s in the area. Very welcoming staff , cozy room, great restaurant -

Very courteous and prompt service on arrival from valet parking our car to easy check in. It’s a nice hotel - and we had a room with a view of the castle. It was great to be able to just walk out, walk around the park and view the chateau on a lovely moonlit night. The dinner service was good - pleasant wait-staff and a good meal. The one downside was breakfast - which was not at at all what we expected at a luxury hotel - it’s buffet style, with the worst bread and pastry that we had in France. Packaged Butter. Coffee from an automated espresso machine. It really seems like they couldn’t be bothered at all as the nearest boulangerie is a 5 min drive.

We loved our stay at Relais de Chambord. The staff, massages, the views the chefs the rooms. We cannot say enough. Thank you for the best Christmas Eve and thank you for having it snow.

A wonderful place! What a privilege it is to have dinner and lunch with a view of Chambord. We stayed here for one night during our cycling trip along the Loire castles. The hotel has everything you need: comfortable rooms, good quality bed linen, and a fresh and tasty breakfast. It fully meets modern standards of comfort. And the best part is that when all the tourists leave, you can take a peaceful walk around Chambord and enjoy its magnificence in silence. Everything was simply perfect!

We were very disappointed with our stay at this hotel. Whilst the setting was undoubtedly stunning this was the only thing that we really liked about this hotel. The reception staff were very welcoming but after that the experience was sadly went down hill. Our room was by far the most expensive but easily the smallest that we had during our entire holiday in the Loire valley. The mirrors were dusty and needed a clean. In the morning we were woken by people setting up their market stalls right outside the window. The terrace bar and restaurant overlooked the chateau, which was absolutely beautiful, but sadly the service and food were extremely disappointing. The menu described a 'perfectly cooked egg ' but turns out it was actually raw, my steak was tough and inedible, no-one asked us if the meal was OK and despite having clearly not eaten it we were billed for it. We were so hungry after what should have been a lovely celebratory meal, we ordered a bowl of chips at the bar later that evening! Breakfast was equally disappointing, there were hardly any staff, very long waits for coffee half the plates on the buffet were empty and the bread was hard. A man was also using a noisy electronic sanding machine very near to our outdoor table throughout our breakfast! I would recommend visiting for a drink to enjoy the setting but we definitely would not stay here again.

This claims to be a four/five star hotel, but it's really not. The grounds are beautiful but the rooms are really plain. The on-site restaurant isn't very good--overpriced, mediocre food and not the kind of service you'd expect for the price and setting. The hotel double-charged me for a reservation and I had to escalate it to a director to get help reversing the charge. Overall, it feels like a budget hotel that happens to be in a beautiful setting. I would definitely recommend visiting the park (renting bikes or a boat) but staying somewhere else.