Hotel de La Matelote

Needed a hotel for 1 night and myself and friend saw that SOMEONE has rated this hotel as a 4 Star. Unfortunately the staff does not know that. They missed the memo. The staff was aggressively RUDE and IMPOLITE. It was almost like it was in their job description to be rude. Unfortunate.

A big family reunion so we decided to make a weekend of it and book a hotel with a nice restaurant so we could all enjoy it. Had a wonderful time. Food and service was out of this world. We were 11 people and service can sometimes be slow with this amount of people but it was perfect. Staff were friendly and nothing was too much trouble. The hotel facilities were great and the rooms clean, well equipped and comfortable beds. The breakfast was simply staggering. A vast array including fried bacon and eggs. Cannot recommend enough, and dog friendly too.

In 15 years we have visited this hotel to stay and eat twice and twice to the restaurant alone . Honestly though the experience would be so much nicer if the staff in the hotel and restaurant were warm , friendly , engaging, smiling . Most of them have never been this . Only the wine waitress was friendly and the restaurant staff never like to use English in our experience . Dishes are not explained by waiting staff . We took the tasting menu which generally was good but the service was bit slow …so much so that two of the dishes were not served hot enough and looked tired …I think they had been left in the kitchen too long. The whole experience was underwhelming . As for the hotel …we had stayed 10 years ago for our 30 th wedding anniversary …this time for our 40 th …but there was not a single acknowledgment of this . Greeting and departure were abysmal . It was pouring with rain and windy and I used the intercom at the garage to establish where to park . It was two twenty pm. The first response when I said I wanted to park to check in was to say check in was at 3 pm ( hello , welcome to the Matelote !) . My wife then had to walk to the reception ( despite a route possible in the dry thru the garage could have been offered ) to collect the garage key . The receptionist, if properly trained could have offered us a at least to wait in the lounge with a coffee…..and of course the rooms were ready …he was just playing by the book ! On check out the receptionist , a different one, produced an invoice and I paid …..not one comment …’ hope u had a nice stay , how was everything ?have a good journey , come again . ??? The bedrooms feel very old fashioned …dark red and gold and brown furniture …dated in style …they need a lift I am a retired travel agent and have inspected and stayed in thousands of hotels in my time . I know what service should look like . Our stay here was at odds with the night before in a fabulous little four star hotel not far away …where the staff were warm , welcoming and celebrated our anniversary in many ways with us …..with equally as good food and better value . I don’t believe the restaurant holds a Michelin star any more . Really , I have always had a slight issue with the service here and was apprehensive about this stay but ready to be pleasantly surprised ….I think for us now the hotel and restaurant is past its sell-by date . We won’t return

- checked in late afternoon - given a dark dingy room (#18) which had a view of brick walls about 10 meters away. Awful with old worn out interior. - this for 250euro for the night - complained and transferred to new room #60 - which looks about the biggest on that floor. Still tired decor and old bathrooms. - everything was extra - cramped breakfast room with very limited selects + pay to use the parking garage. So standard of interior barely 3* and value for money 2* - find somewhere else.

The hotel is nicely located. A few minutes' walk from the beach. The rooms are spacious and nice. Good air conditioning. Breakfast was a buffet and quite well furnished. Staff very friendly. I just had a strange credit card transaction a week before arrival, they blocked 50€ as a security in case,we didn't come although my reservation had a 48 hours cancellation guarantee. When asked, what would have happened, had I cancelled, I got no answer. They said it was their usual method. I am a frequent traveler and it's a first for me.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay here due to severe delays at Eurotunnel - I’ve given them 5 stars because we emailed them in the evening to tell them about the severe issues and that we, finally, weren’t able to get to France. They have not charged us. This is amazing! We are so grateful and will not hesitate to stay here when we come over again.