Coquillade Provence — Hotel in Apt

We (my wife and I) stayed at Coquillade from the 8th until the 15th of August 2023. This was our second stay here after many years. ||Given the experience of our stay it is hard for me to remain objective, nevertheless I will try to be neutral, as I always aim to be when writing a review. ||First of all, I’ll address the negative (to put it mildly) experience with our hotel room.||Upon arrival, we noticed that the keys to our room didn’t work and we couldn’t get in. Apparently the magnetic keys hadn’t been activated. At secont try: no result. We were let into our room by hotel staff and were asked to pick up our keys at the reception the next morning. As the magnetic keycard is also needed for the lights in the room, I had to ask for a solution. From the very first time I suggested to the receptionist that I suspect there’s just been a mix-up between the keys and our room number, seeing as the master key she eventually used to let us in worked just fine, meaning that there was no problem with the lock itself. I am not being taken seriously and neither is there any means of apology, only a strange chuckle that rubs me the wrong way. Later the next day, another staff member informs me that they found the issue, being a mix-up between the keys and our room number. |||Our stay was in ‘Charming Room’ 29. A room in the new wing of the hotel. With a terrace but no view. I wouldn’t therefore recommend these rooms. Another negative is that there’s very little light in the bathroom and that the lighting turns on automatically when someone uses the bathroom at night. Because of the glass door that separates the bathroom from the rest, this would always cause us to wake up whenever one of us used the bathroom. On Thursday the 10th, after two very uncomfortable nights with little sleep due to the heat, I contacted reception to ask whether they could send someone over to check on the aircon (‘le clim’) as it didn’t seem to be working. A technician by trade myself, I provided some information on what seemed to be the problem. I felt like I wasn’t even being listened to, or else I was just not understood. The feedback after this ‘intervention’: zero. Problem solved? Nope. This made me question as to whether I was the problem, so I decided to wait a bit longer. |On Sunday morning, after another sweaty night, I called again. I’m being told that there’s been a technician on Thursday. I tell them I find it embarrassing that I’m not getting any answers and that the aircon still doesn’t function. This time I’m being a bit more assertive as my patience is running out. I’m told they will send over another technician. No apologies are made. |When we return to the room later in the afternoon: no feedback and the aircon still isn’t working. I call reception for the third time and am told that they don’t have any feedback for me, that they will inquire about it. No empathy shown. This time I don’t hold back on showing my frustration and I demand they send yet another technician, but this time I’ll make sure I’m there too to provide information. I also ask to be given another room if it isn’t fixed this time. This ensues: a very friendly technician shows up and concludes that the aircon is effectively broken and that he’ll need a colleague to fix it. Someone from reception (always nameless) calls me to say that the aircon cannot be immediately fixed as a spare part needs to be ordered. After ‘consulting with the manager’ I’m offered a different room and I even get an apology! After discussing with my wife, we decide not to move after all because it would mean packing up and moving just two days before we have to leave again as our holiday nears its end. ||On Tuesday morning, the morning of our departure, I ask reception about a late check-out. I get the standard response that this is unfortunately impossible because of new customers arriving that day. That’s when I really snapped. My interpretation was that it was well known before our arrival that the aircon didn’t work but that they hoped that I was a nitwit who would just acquiesce. And that I was baffled that they would put other customers in the room without any qualms. The receptionist clearly had no response to this and I was told I would get a room call on the matter. During said call, very friendly and for the first time with some signs of empathy, I was told that it wasn’t a problem at all for us to have a late checkout, and that we could contact them in case there was another issue. During the length of our stay as well as during final payment, management stayed conveniently out of sight. A visibly embarrassed receptionist offered us a 250€ discount to make up for the inconvenience of not having had any aircon. What a joke. Especially since no member of management dared show their face. It was though very obvious that everybody at the desk was well aware of the situation. ||And now I’ll list the positives of Coquillade, with some difficulty I must admit.||The siting of the hotel is sublime. Just like its facilities and the beautiful gardens. Most of the staff members are very friendly. I would recommend staying in one of the authentic rooms in town as they are a lot nicer and more charming than the new rooms. Our room this time around was therefore a bit disappointing, especially because of the lookout onto a little side street, so no view and neither was there an umbrella hence rendering the balcony a bit useless. |We dined at the ‘Les Vignes’ restaurant a few times. It is very nicely embedded in the environment and for this I would recommend it. ||Areas for improvement: |- I won’t elaborate on the aircon anymore.|- The lighting in the bathroom is utterly insufficient. |- The automatic lighting in the dressing and the toilet is bothersome. |- An umbrella or other type of sun protection on the balcony is a necessity, otherwise it is useless. |- Restaurant ‘Les Vignes’: We dined here 3 times. The stress levels in and around the kitchen are palpable. The first time this resulted in quite a disappointment: I ordered the chicken and got an overcooked (dry) piece with a side of dry lettuce. No sauce, no dressing. Other than that, I had to wait half an hour for my aperitif glass of wine. It came through after having asked for it 3 times. We had the oysters twice. The first time they were fresh as can be and relatively small. The second time they were bigger but definitely not fresh. Advice: Oysters are a delicate product and either they are fresh or you don’t serve them at all. Other than that the food is nice and fresh, the bread included. It’s a pity that the menu lacks all creativity/originality. The dishes, though nice, are standard and for that they are quite pricey. The setting makes up for a lot, as does the wine menu. |- According to the housekeeper it was impossible to make a reservation at restaurant l’Outsider in Gordes for the next 3 weeks. When I called there myself, making a reservation wasn’t a problem and we ended up going there...

Honestly, their social media team is SO bad, we almost did not book here because so many other places nearby had stunning pictures of rooms, the grounds, etc. which looked a LOT better! Coquillade's seemed to hype DJ nights and restaurant menus. (Ironically, The only part of our stay we didn't enjoy was the restaurants ... and thankfully there were no DJs/dance parties while we were there!!)||We looked at Airelles Bastide in Gordes and Crillion la Brave in Vaucluse ... we weren't blown away by either of the rooms and for our stay, the dates were not available. We stumbled upon an article in a travel magazine, which stated this was one of France's top resorts and despite not much information to go on ... we booked it. Long story short ... great decision! It was a highlight of our trip.||Before getting into the specifics ... I will just say that while we were there, it just felt like home. We only had 3 days, but by the second day, the staff knew us by name and we felt that we could wander around the property freely, which we loved. There are walking trails which lead you past lavender lined walkways, fields of clover, vegetable gardens and unspoiled hills and forest. While we HATED the lobby (it felt like a high end golf club ... or conference center hotel) and did not love any of the restaurants ... the room was fantastic and cozy.||There is not much to do around this hotel. In Provence, literally everything closes at 9 p.m. It is impossible finding something to eat at 10 p.m. and after 9 or 10 ... there really is nothing to do at this resort. The pool is closed, it feels like a ghost town ... luckily the rooms are great. We were upgraded to a suite and were in love! So much space to spread out ... a beautiful bathroom with dual vanity, separate tub and a steam shower.||The bed was comfy and there was a small patio overlooking the vineyard. I am a cigar smoker and loved this view. We also had a big window, floor to ceiling, which opened and each morning we laid in bed and looked out over the winery and tall pointy trees. Each day, sweets and treats were left for us ... bignets, candied oranges and our mini-bar was stocked each day with waters, local beer and little jars of nuts ... all of this was included in the room cost. A very underrated feature ... unlike tye US, there was no resort fee!||The breakfasts were amazing, and also included! Relais y Chateau properties focus on local foods ... much of the fruit, vegetables and honey were grown on property. The cheese plate was amazing! And they had a hot egg station, sausage and anything you could want for breakfast (except for Mimosas).||While you are basically in the middle of farmland, it's a 15-30 minute drive to some great towns. Of course Gordes gets all the glory being ranked one of the most picturesque towns in the world. (We found it overrated.) Rossillion was our favorite town nearby. Its an instgram dream. We did not see Lacoste which is also nearby ... but the concierge recommended a few great, local restaurants. One was a roof deck restaurant, which was very cool. The other was Clover Gordes ... very expensive and fancy but essential for the Provence experience.||Onsite, we had 2 dinners ... mostly because it was far to drive elsewhere at night. Both were average at best ... and expensive, although not shockingly so. The restaurants need work here ... thai and Italian at a French resort. Blah. We did have pizza at the pool one day, which I will admit was good Neopolitan style pizza. The pool was super warm ... although a bit crowded. It was huge though, most other resorts feature narrow pools for dipping ... this one seemed more for recreation.||The landscaping is breathtaking here. All the gardeners deserve a raise. Hedges of wonderful smelling jasmine ... flowers ... and of course the lavender hedges. We were not there for the flowering but even so, we snapped a little bud off here and there to smell before we went to bed at night. The rows look wonderful with the tall, pointy green trees. The only downside to the grounds is its a bit hard to relax in the room in the morning/afternoon because there are lots of hedge trimmer, leaf blower and other machinery sounds as the groundskeeping staff keeps the property looking beautiful.||Overall, we loved our stay. 5-stars and then some. Even though nights were boring, we could have stayed an entire week. It felt like home. Driving or biking, know that you will need to take some day trips ... but losing yourself in the French countryside is what this place is all about. If you want to be more in the action/closer to town, maybe Arielles Resort in Gordes would be better for you. However, if we were to return to the area, we would...

We booked a 3 night stay for 2 rooms as we were taking my mother on a trip through Provence and this would be our starting point. We had chosen this property as it was billed as a serene retreat, a place where we could relax and unwind.||As we turned into the driveway of the property we were all amazed at the stunning location, swathes of lavender lining the drive and the general peacefulness. Upon reaching the reception valet we were able to drop off our bags and were checked in with reception quickly and friendly.||We were then taken to our rooms which were lovely. We’d chosen the junior suites and they were as the images on the website showed.||As we were in the mid afternoon and had just arrived hungry, we decided to eat in their bar area for a small snack, and the food was lovely. ||After a couple of hours we went for dinner in the main restaurant on the terrace. The location and ambiance of the terrace was beautiful, unfortunately the food was ok, definitely nothing special. ||Having finished our meal we made our way back to our rooms. It was at this point we started to hear a loud thudding music, which as we approached our rooms (which were opposite the pool) we discovered there was a full-on pool party on, playing exceptionally loud music. We hadn’t been told about a pool party, and I had made the bookings back in Dec 2022 so there had been plenty of time for someone to advise us. Had we had known we would have arrived a day later, or chosen to stay elsewhere. When we were inside our rooms the noise level was so loud we couldn’t watch tv or anything else due to noise volume. Not only that, the actual physical affect of the bass was sickening.||When I called to reception I was informed there was nothing they could do, no managers were onsite and I would need to speak to management in the morning. They were also fully occupied so were unable to move us. To be plain, our rooms were literally next to the pool party, and the noise was exceptionally loud (pure bass, no music as such). This music went on until after midnight.||We spoke with the general manager in the morning, who could not have been less bothered that we had been inconvenienced or subjected to the immense noise from the pool party. Indeed it took him almost 10mins of us talking and explaining to him before he even apologised. When we explained we had been up since 3am travelling and all we wanted to do was go to bed at 10pm he didn’t care, and had the very distinct impression that we were inconveniencing him.||You don’t expect to book a destination resort that markets itself for relaxation, with spa retreat and the idyllic scenery setting…only to be greeted with an Ibiza style pool party. As it turned out, this manager was at the pool party himself, even though we had been told no management was available onsite to speak with us that evening.||The manager begrudgingly offered to take 30% off our first night’s stay, but we declined this as would have not chosen to stay at all if we had known. We informed him that we would not be paying for the first night to which he agreed. After this he very rudely turned away from us, and that was the end of the conversation.||I have to say, the interaction with this general manager was almost as bad, if not worse, than the actual noise and disturbance of the pool party. To leave guests so unhappy, unresolved and disrespected is something we have never encountered in all our years of travelling.||The setting of this resort is stunning, nestled in amongst lavender and vineyards. And the gardens and general planting are superb. It really does feel like you could be in a mini village setting.||Our following 2 nights were less eventful, and we slept soundly on the very comfortable bed.||We also enjoyed treatments at the spa which were very good and highly recommend.||So in summary we enjoyed the peacefulness of our last 2 nights, and the beautiful environment of the resort. The food isn’t the greatest, but all the staff (apart front he general manager) were exceptionally friendly...