Firstly, it has all the appearance of a smart hotel, well positioned by the Gruissan marina. The staff are friendly – face to face, anyway, more below. The bed is comfortable and the facilities in the bathroom are modern – although the modern sink means there isn't much room to put toiletries etc. From reading other reviews, it seems the room has been modernised recently. The wifi signal is also exceptional.
On a less positive front, there are some areas that let the hotel down. Before booking I used their website to try to engage in a discussion about my needs. There was no prompt reply – some days later a warning came up on my pc to say that a contact had been made but it disappeared before I had chance to see what it was and I could find no trace of it anywhere (email, message, whatsapp, etc). I sent a second message but got no further response. I delayed booking until nearer my expected arrival because of the cancellation policy seemed punitive and there was plenty of availability. The website exhorts you to book direct for a better price (save 5euro pn) than through 3rd party, but I have an account with the 3rd party which represents 10% saving. (We were reminded of the hotel's direct-booking “discount” when we checked out, for if we ever returned, plus the welcome drink and stuff in the room that would also be a bonus.
I am a regular room-booker and I'm sure I chose a room with a balcony but, on arrival, we had a “panorama view”. As it was extremely windy, and the room rate was the same, I didn't make an issue of it. (The confirmation email didn't mention a balcony, which I didn't notice, so it could be my mistake.) I will mention that the room has a “balcony area”, it is just solid sided and completely glazed in the upper part – the view is good but you have to be standing to enjoy it – the table and chairs provided placed you too low down to see anything but sky and roofs.
One benefit of the “balcony area” was that at least there was somewhere to open a suitcase – there was not enough space in the actual bedroom area, although there was a suitcase stand. There was nowhere to put anything that you unpack, except for a narrow upright section with a rail and four hangers (supposed to be 5, see below!). The floor in the cupboard was taken up be a safe and there was also the downpipe from the upstairs bathroom running through it.
There were two things about the service that I have never come across before. The handbook was very explicit about the (punitive) charge that would be made if any of the room “equipment” was missing at the end of our stay. It went on to itemise all the stuff in the room that was moveable – e.g. 4 pillows, a runner, 5 towels, 5 clothes hangers, etc. You were told to warn reception if anything was missing on arrival. As we only had 4 hangers I passed on that information, and they seemed a bit puzzled why I bothered, and asked if I needed a 5th – I didn't, I just didn't want to have a chunk of money taken out of my credit card! I'm sure being a hotelier is fraught with people stealing stuff, but it's not good customer relations to assume you're going to. (There was a fridge that didn't get on the list but I doubt anyone would want to steal it.)
Another first for me relates to room servicing. They say that you don't get your room serviced unless you stay for two or more nights – which is also a first, but OK with me – we were to stay three nights. What was odd was being asked after two nights whether, as we were due to leave the following day, we would still like our room cleaned. We told them not to bother. It just seemed like penny-pinching – maybe business is slow?
A quick word about breakfast: we only had breakfast on the first morning. In the first place, I thought it was expensive for what was on offer, but we might still have had it on the other days. What stopped us going back was that a woman took her dog into breakfast and was feeding it buffet items by hand. This is not the hotel's fault unless, like me, you think the hotel shouldn't allow animals in the food area.
To sum up, there was quite a lot to like about the hotel, but also quite a bit that meant we didn't feel entirely comfortable.
