Baltimorebergie
June 1, 2024
My family and I elected to stay here (formerly Chateau Marquise) because of the excellent reviews on trip advisor. Our stay did not reflect what we had read online from other travelers. While the exterior of the house and the grounds are pretty, it is quite isolated from the center of Saumur (which is not the fault of the hotel but should be noted for others arriving). If you do not rent a car, moving around the area can be quite difficult as the taxi services have a monopoly on transport and are not always reliable. There is plenty of parking on site. The staff are polite but disengaged. The front desk is often “unmanned.” There is no staff on the premises after 9PM. This is not well advertised and would have affected my decision to stay here. There are only ten rooms in the building and not all are occupied. Thus, when the lone staff member leaves at 9PM (and turns off literally all the lights in the hotel hallways and common areas, even the automatic ones triggered by movement), it is lonely and dark. There isn’t even a place to get a glass of water in the dining room after 9. Some of the rooms are quite dated and dusty, others are more fresh. Our rooms were a mix of well cleaned and below average. The bathrooms are spacious with both shower and tub. The hotel breakfast is quite average with supermarket products (yogurts, rolls). I regret participating and spending on the breakfast. The bakeries and restaurants of Saumur are so excellent, the twenty euro a person would have been better spent in the village. Overall, this was not the wisest travel choice I have made. I did not feel safe in the dark and empty chateau at night with no staff and no idea of who else was present. Had I known, I would have made other arrangements. The rest of the stay was not remarkable in any way.