Hôtel & Spa du Domaine des Thômeaux the Originals Relais

Guests appreciate the varied and quality breakfast, clean rooms, and spa facilities. The location near attractions and friendly, professional staff enhance the stay.

I recommend you avoid this hotel. Their approach to customer service is very poor. We arrived after cycling 45 miles, hot, tired and in need of a much deserved rest. There was a new trainee on reception and despite the notices upon booking, could not speak a word of English. This made check in a very slow and laborious task. We were keen to get to our rooms due to the heat. We were not advised in advance that we needed to book a table at the on-site restaurant. We discovered after having a shower and rest that there was nowhere else to eat. We walked over to the restaurant and, despite being residents, we were rudely shooed away by the maitre’ d with a brush of his hand, he was clearly not interested in our predicament and was indifferent to us. We resigned to the fact we wouldn’t be able to eat that night. It’s as if we were a problem to him. He couldn’t usher us out of his way quick enough! This hotel claims to offer three star service and having stayed at Manoir Bel Air, with the same three stars the night before, we anticipated a level of service that would at least match the wonderful experience we had there. Nothing could be further from the truth. This hotel is poorly run and undermanned, customer communication is substandard. As experienced cycle tourists we selected this place on the assumption that the Accueil de Velo facilities would allow us to store our bicycles securely. In fact, the only option we had was to leave the bicycles locked in a open courtyard visible from the street or begrudgingly placed into a meeting room that had to be vacated by 8am. It’s a great shame as the building and bedrooms are, on balance quite well appointed. Any other travellers touring the Loire by bicycle need to be aware that there are no restaurants in the village and the closest catering facilities are located in Amboise 10km away, €80 euro taxi ride there and back! It would be better to cycle past this establishment and cycle the extra distance to Amboise where there is ample accommodation and choice of restaurants. Having returned to the UK and read some of the reviews, it appears that our experience is not isolated regardless of the questionably high average score this hotel purports to have! My advice would be to avoid staying here and to undertake a little more research to find overnight accommodation which is genuinely able to offer an acceptable level of service for your money. Once this review is published I fully anticipate that the general manager will reply in a defensive manner justifying any negative experience we have chosen to share. This is the attitude you can expect.