la mandarine chambres d 'hôtes restaurant gîtes piolenc

My husband booked online a room for 3 people, and the compulsory car parking charge, and received confirmation that we had paid for 3 people and the parking. Unfortunately, old reviews were not checked first otherwise we wouldn't have booked! When we arrived, I was immediately taken to see a room for 3. My French is limited, but I understood that the woman wanted to discuss breakfast etc. Using Google translate she told me that we had to pay another €50, as we had only paid for one person and we had to pay for breakfast, even though we wanted to start travelling a long time before the start time of 8.30 a.m! I took her back downstairs to see my husband, who showed her the payment confirmation for 3 people. She wouldn't accept that information and kept insisting that we paid more! She also indicated that it was late by tapping her watch and closing the outside shutters. Another person arrived, and she indicated that she was going to deal with them instead! We decided that we weren't going to pay extra and decided to drive through the night instead! When we arrived back in England, we tried to reclaim the monies we had paid, but our bank said it was a non refundable payment! The room and parking was just about worth €80 for 3 people, but there was no way I would pay €135 after seeing the room particularly as the breakfast was too late for us to participate in. The room also didn't look finished as a scrunched up duvet had been left on the covered double bed, and she made it clear that it would be staying like that! The room looked clean, but it and the ensuite bathroom were dated, and she was not helpful, friendly, or welcoming. We both felt at the time that she had previously tried to charge people extra when they arrive, and we have found multiple evidence that that is the case across multiple websites. This experience has now put us off staying in independent hotels, and B&Bs when we travel through mainland Europe, and we will now stick to the international chains!

Not really a 5 star hotel. The facilities are ok but the rooms are very very small and outdated. The property also doesn’t have a gym, just a Pilates class where the instructor seemed annoyed that we didn’t speak French. If you’re looking for a high end 5 star hotel this isn’t it but it’s decent if you just want a nice place to stay.

We highly recommend this treasure of a place. What a find!!! Gorgeous area, peaceful, a hidden secret! The host was super friendly and with the help of her phone she was able to converse with us. A beautiful property, very clean, an amazing place to totally relax.

A mistake. That's how I would sum up my stay at this place. Owners are horribly chauvinistic, speaking no single word of English, nor trying to make their guests feeling at home. When you make a request that touches upon something they dislike, they become aggressive. The drinking behaviour of the owner does not help. We took a bottle of water into the garden for the restaurant was closed, the owners were eating in front of us and had not offered drinks (we did not even know this was a possibility for they had not welcomed us at all). When they saw the bottle of water they started shouting at us. SO RUDE! Will never come back, and nor will my friends.

Extremely unfriendly and rude hosts who seem to have their own rules in ‘hospitality’. If you don’t speak French please stay away from the place for they don’t communicatie in a different way. A shame because the place looks great. Owner likes a glass or two but honestly he shouldn’t.