Best Fleurie Hotels

I booked this place in a bit of a rush because we had to return from Provence early and to find a stop-over at short notice. I wish I'd researched it a bit more carefully and read some of the reviews here very critical of the service - because that was very true of our experience, too. And for me the warmth and welcome of the staff is as important as the comfort of the room (which was OK) Some of the service wasn't just mildly bad - it was startingly so. For example, the extraordinary indifference (some might say rudeness) of the guy on reception when we arrived set an unfortunate tone. And the grumpiness of the young woman who served us at dinner felt like a parody at times . She would have fitted in well at Fawlty Towers and having the menu literally plucked out of my hand would have been a comedy moment if it hadn't been so unpleasant. The young woman at breakfast was much more helpful. But the whole impression was one of a big corporate establishment which didn't take much interest in giving its clients a positive and happy experience. My professional background is in management - and quite frankly if any of my staff had behaved in these ways, their feet wouldn't have touched the ground! This calls for some radical staff training - and maybe a thought about whether staff recruitment policies are working?! Suffice it to say, when there are so many lovely hotel and Logis experiences to be had in France - we wouldn't dream of going back.

I have stayed at the Chateau before and it is good value as well as being an interesting building with many artistic features, there is also an outside pool. Generally, it’s clean but the rooms are a little dusty. The staff are helpful but on my previous stay the restaurant was shut due to staff problems. It was a disappointment but gave it a second chance. However, having booking again, I was told on arrival that the restaurant was not open on Mondays or Tuesdays. Please don’t be fooled by websites as every one I found stated that it was open on these days, so it’s a must to take this into account if you’ve had a long drive and do not want to dine out, you may well want to think again. It does seem to be under staffed as it can be difficult to find anyone if you would like an evening drink. You would either have to drive fifteen or so minutes into Macon where there are plenty of restaurants or if you prefer a village, drive in the other direction for less than ten minutes and there is a small restaurant next to the station called ‘Aux Dix Vins’ which I recommend and it’s open on Mondays and Tuesdays. The menu and quality is good, with some nice wines to accompany the food and the owner cares about how it’s run.

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