Chalet Hotel Les Campanules — Hotel in Bonneville

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BOOKING

The photos on the booking platforms are fake. We were extremely disappointed with our stay and the service. In reality, this is a very, very old hotel with serious cleanliness issues — black mold, warped laminate floors, damaged and dirty walls, and even a dead bug on the wall that had clearly been there for months, if not years.

We booked through Booking.com and will continue to file a complaint with them, but I decided to leave a review here as well to warn future guests.

The problems started from the very beginning. The website stated check-in at 4 PM. We arrived tired from the road, only to find out that our pre-booked room was not ready. (Keep in mind that their check-out time is 10 AM, so they had six full hours to clean it — and failed!) Shameful.

We waited for 20 minutes and began to lose our patience — after all, when you’re paying €500 for two nights, your expectations are quite different. A blonde receptionist offered us drinks — at our own expense — while we waited. So they failed to clean the room in 6 hours and still expected us to pay for our drinks? Outrageous. Clearly, customer service is not a priority here.

After almost 40 minutes of waiting, we finally received a key — only to find out the room was nothing like the photos and, even worse, it hadn’t been cleaned. Trash from the previous guests was still there. So we had waited for cleaning that hadn’t even happened.

Eventually, we were given another room (by now, it was almost 5 PM — nearly an hour delay!). This time, the layout was somewhat similar to the photos, but the condition was absolutely unacceptable: mold, dirty walls, food crumbs on the table and chairs, a dead bug on the wall, and thick layers of dust in the corners. (Photos attached.)

I went downstairs to report this, but the receptionist said that this was “normal” and there were no better rooms available. She promised to speak with the manager and offer us a discount. That also turned out to be a lie.

At checkout, they had the audacity to charge us for the drinks (€13), despite promising a discount. It became clear that the receptionist hadn’t informed the management about the mold or any of the issues. We had to waste more of our time and energy showing photos and explaining the obvious — that there should not be mold and dirt in a €250-a-night room.

In the end, they gave us a miserable discount. I strongly advise against staying at this hotel. Black mold is a serious health hazard and should never be present in any living space, let alone one that charges...

What makes this hotel really special is the common areas. Not only does it have amazing views on the Alps mountains, but it is also organized with a myriad of small, cozy saloons, in which you can have a drink, play a games, watch TV or play pool that makes you feel like you are in your own little mountain chalet, and not in a hotel. The hotel staff is also very amenable, and will get all the way to accommodate you (for example, I had to stay for work over lunch, and, even though they did not offer lunch, they still made me a sandwich, so that I didn't have to go out and come back). ||||The rooms are nice and functional, even though it would be nicer to have the shower separated by a wall, so that you don't feel like you are showering in the middle of the room.||||The hotel has a great selection of appetizers and drinks, and also offer dinner - which i would recommend as to not have to drive on snowy mountains roads at night. The restaurant menu was good and varied. They also offer transportation to the main ski slopes in the morning and evening, which is useful as you don't have to drive.||||The only thing to note is that this hotel is not the place to stay if you are planning to work remotely as the wifi connection is quite spotty and will not allow you to conduct meetings or...

We stayed 3 nights at this establishment in total - one before our TMB hike and two afterwards. We were ‘upsold’ a balcony room on our first night and had no regrets as the view was lovely. On that occasion the owner was friendly (though somewhat stressed). Our return from the TMB 11 days later was a different story. We had completed a very long hiking day and my husband went to check in and buy us some much needed cold drinks. He seemed quite shaken on his return and informed me that the hotel owner had been very sharp and dismissive with him regarding his request for food. We decided not to eat at the hotel at all over the next 36 hours and took our custom (and money) elsewhere. It’s worth stating that other staff we encountered were as friendly and helpful as one would expect at a hotel. Having stayed in a number of refuges on the trail, I feel that ‘Campanules’ sits uncomfortably between refuge and hotel. Basic toiletries and a hairdryer are provided but towels are an optional extra! The menu is limited (which is no problem) but unlike a refuge there is no guarantee that you will be fed. |I’m not given to writing negative reviews but we would not choose to return in...