Domaine de Ronchinne - Château et Ecuries

Sensationally underwhelming. This about sums up our experience over the course of a weekend getaway to celebrate a special birthday 😌 We’re the first to understand the complexities of running a hospitality business & to be understanding but at the end of the day, when you price yourselves in a certain category & market yourselves as offering certain services, you simply have to deliver. What’s great ? - The location is simply beautiful with stunning backdrops, as well as some beautiful historic architecture & contemporary renovations ; - The catering staff (bar & restaurant) are also lovely, friendly & make you feel directly at home ; - Although the style of massage should be better communicated for those expecting something more ‘standard’, the therapists were lovely & the massage itself very good ; What’s not great ? Too many things unfortunately - if it was just 1 or 2 this review wouldn’t be here but it’s not the first review of its kind underlining similar issues & it appears the message simply isn’t getting through to management. The most disappointing was the wellness space, which they do underline as neither being a spa nor a wellness, however a space of “délassement profond” - this is sadly a very bad joke. After 72 hours of trying to find a brief period of the day to finally enjoy the pool or the spa facilities to relax, on our last day we finally gave up & headed home… A wedding reception on our arrival which essentially privatised the pool area, kids screaming at all moments whilst dive bombing into the water, parents shouting across the pool at them & small children relieving themselves in the pool, all make for a pretty un relaxing time. A real shame as the location itself is beautiful & very well suited for a relaxing space. The reality is that you find yourself in an environment that would be more akin to a Center Parks than a luxury resort. - The spa facilities are insufficient for the amount of guests (sauna). Over 3 days unable to use them ; - They charge you to rent a dressing gown ; - They charge you to use the lockers in the changing rooms ; - The jacuzzi was OOA for the entire period ; - No staff in sight to ensure that all guests can enjoy their experience, children included ; - The decking needs a solid refurb with holes & wood splinters all over the place ; The room itself is nice but again, is slightly underwhelming for the price you pay & what you expect at this level. - Shower leak meaning water went all over the place ; - 3-in-1 shower gel ; - A slight smell of toilets upon arrival ; - A couple of sachets of tea for a 3-day stay but no coffee machine ; There’s a few more things we could mention like the quality of the buffet dinner, the wedding reception upon arrival with Britney Spears blaring across the resort but it all reflects the same thing, far too many negative aspects for the price you’re charged & the expectations sold. You have a beautiful space with beautiful facilities and for us at least, you

This hotel is different from others me and my family stayed before. We wanted to spend some time in nature at the uniques location and we succeeded. The hotel consists of different rooms and units located on the big landplot. We stayed in the main building, "the castle" in a family room. The room was suitable for our company of 4 persons but all had to sleep in one room, which for us was not a problem. Beds were comfortable. Except of the restaurant which serves a buffet diner for 50 euro p.p. on a regular day, there are no other dining options in the hotel. Things we liked: great location with gorgeous views, beds, nice breakfast (but strangely no vegetables). We didn't try wellness so can't say anything about it. Things that could be better: dusty cord of the bedside lamp and dust at some other less used places; only one dining facility at this more than 40 ha landplot. We ate in the restaurant on a New Years Eve. The food was of a very good quality but some of the dishes didn't have any signs explaining what it was. So I skipped many dishes for this reason unfortunately. In general, the hotel met our expectations, we enjoyed our stay.

This is an odd place: it looks like a luxury hotel, but it's more like a holiday park. Lots of people in such a beautiful location means it's not exactly a calm place. The decoration in the public rooms in the chateau is very nice, but go to the rooms and the corridors and rooms have a dark grey/brown colour which is not inviting. The price for the rooms is expensive when there is very little service included, although the room and bathroom was quite sufficient. Plan ahead - the car park is a walk away from the hotel, although you can drop off people and luggage near by the entrance. There is a big beautiful terrace and the barman was friendly. The restaurant is a self-service buffet. There was plenty of choice for starters, less so for main course, and no choice for dessert if you are allergic to dairy products. There are waiters/waitresses to show you to your table and explain how everything works. Even the wine is self-service, but if you want a cool bottle that takes a bit longer. I thought the price for the buffet was too high. Breakfast is also self-service. Again plenty of choice, but long queues for orange juice and coffee, and the price for a self-service buffet again seems excessive. The grounds are beautiful for walking and it's a nice location with lots of nice walks / cycle rides around. The swimming pool is warm and a good size but needs some maintenance to the wooden surroundings and for the seating. There was some noise at night with large groups somewhere in the grounds having a party until late. So this is a decent place, but make sure you know what to expect before you book.

Beautiful surroundings, nature, quiet location. However, not everything was perfect. With a little better maintenance and more accuracy around set rules it would achieve a higher level. The road from and to the complex is substandard, rocks, potholes and bad bumps, risk damaging your car. The pool area is neglected and you risk being stung by bees that constantly circulate around the edge of the pool and the shower. The rooms in the annex are cramped, hot, claustrophobic. Clear rules regarding the consumption of your own food and drink are not followed up, not even in the bar terrace, where we saw several younger guests rolling in with their own bottles of wine and spirits. Is it worth setting up rules if they are then not enforced? Notice that the hotel welcomes groups and groups tend to take too much place, tend to be louder, tend to disturb the quiet! The hotel has the potential to be a 5 but due to above mentioned shortcomings, it does not get more than a 3.

The castle itself is simply amazing! The decoration is so beautiful, the staff was helpful and the whole property is breathtaking! The garden and the lake beside the castle is so beautiful even in the morning!

NEVER EVER AGAIN 👇👇 ROOM - "Family room" 106 is located on the side where the sun hits the windows continuously. The room does not have air conditioning. - One of the 2 windows was blocked so couldn't be opened - Dirty bathroom, clearly lack of maintenance and cleaning - Located above the terrace of the bar --＞ FANTASTIC location for a family room with children... Conclusion: completely impossible for our youngest son to take a nap in the afternoon + 2 nights with terrible sleep for the whole family RESTAURANT - Wooden tables outside in EXTREMELY BAD condition, parts of the wooden table broken or missing. Our bottles and glasses could barely stand on it without falling off. I have really never experienced this in my life and can't wrap my head around it that nobody from the hotel staff cared about this. - Self-service in the restaurant HORROR. You're supposed to cut the 'pata negra' yourself (you can imagine the result...), Make your own orange juice (blocked machines), Coffee machine (also breakdown with long waiting lines resulting), Bake your own eggs on completely crooked heating plates (eggs fell aside - fingers sticking, etc... It sounds funny but truly happened no joke) - Overall staff is simply incompetent, zero notion of the winecard, a bottle of champagne comes without ice bucket and when asking for it we had to wait +-30 minutes because waiter was too busy... SWIMMING POOL - Lack of Free seats - Entry door of course was also broken down the 2nd day which just characterizes the hotel MANAGEMENT - COMPLETE LACK OF IT; a bunch of students doing whatever they like to do - Entrance far away from parking place - There's an elevator (amazingly this one did not get broken!) but to reach our fantastic room 106 we had to cross another corridor, climb stairs, go through another corridor and eventually take once again stairs to enter the room.. To top it all off, we decided to left 1 day early; explained thoroughly why (see reasons above and there were even some more), were told to be reimbursed and guess what happened afterwards...The 'Hotel Manager' who was invisible during our stay wrote that he decided not to reimburse us. When asked for an explanation as the reception novice (one of the student staff mentioned above) clearly told us they would....NO MORE RESPONSE....even not after 4 reminders. Conclusion: THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A SINKING SHIP. There's no way this hotel will continue to exist under this management. The location is beautiful but truly, with that everything has been said. All other hotel features are lacking terribly or are just completely missing. You can't really have it any more wrong than the owners/management of this place. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND PLEASE DON'T GO THERE !