Hôtel de la Bannière de France

Absolutely wonderful charming traditional French hotel in a great location. The warmest of welcomes from the lady receptionist/owner who spent some time explaining what was on offer in the town and helping us with our pronunciation. Our bedroom was spotlessly clean and large with two very comfortable double beds. Secure parking which is in short supply in most hotels in the area. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and laid out and the food is excellent. Breakfast was the usual continental offering. There is also a small lounge area in which to sit and have a drink and relax. Previous reviews have mentioned that the decor is a little tired and to some extent I would agree, but that is the whole beautiful charm and character of the place. This was our first time in Laon and unfortunately had only one day to explore the place, but we will be back next year and without doubt booking in at this hotel. Highly recommended.

A few positives and a lot of negatives. We were offered private parking on site, received a warm welcome and were shown to our rooms. It really was a case of if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry. The rooms were dirty, overstuffed with unnecessary furniture and loads of cheap soft furnishings. The wallpaper was hanging off various walls, the paintwork was stained and dirty and the overall impression was actually unsettling rather than comforting. That said my we were fortunate to have two queen size beds and after stripping off the woollen blankets, cheap bedspreads and removing loads of nasty cushions and cleaning the dirty wall behind as the beds didn’t have headboards, the white sheets were clean and the mattresses comfortable however that could not be said about the other room that our friends had been given - one ancient bed with a mattress that dipped in the middle and had seen better days. The minuscule bathroom door didn’t even shut, the loo was angled across the front of the door, the bath mat was damp and smelly, the loo brush dirty - they both were put out of sight. When leaving our room, we struggled to lock the door as the door lock had clearly been jimmied over the years. The hallway was poorly and the stair carpet tired and dirty. However we did manage to sleep OK. Breakfast was quite simply, the worst we’d had all holiday and yet the same price as other far superior hotels. The low point came when, on clearing a table, the manager offered us croissants and sliced bread (sliced bread!) left over from other guests. The fruit was old, the meat and cheese tired, fresh bread lacking, no granola/muesli…. And yet the manager was friendly and charming, perhaps that’s why we just paid and left - I think the hotel is simply too far gone to bring it back from the brink of squalid - sorry.