Hôtel Le Pré Saint Michel - Manosque, Luberon — Hotel in Forcalquier

Hotel Le Pre Saint Michel was recommended to me by a workshop tour. The place of the hotel in proximity to the town is about a mile outside the historic district. The hotel is a newer building, set in a residential district. It's a nice, clean hotel. I arrived around 3:30 i the afternoon and I felt like I had interrupted the desk person. To make a long story short, the hotel shuts down during the afternoon, locking the doors and you need to have a passcode to get in. ||||The room I had was on the main level with a lovely view of the pool and hills. While they called it a premium room, it was quite basic and small. I acknowledge there is a difference in size between American and European rooms. The mattress has seen better days and the pillows were not very comfortable. ||||The room was kept neat for the most part. They staff failed to show up one day. On a different day, they left their dirty cleaning rags on the furniture. Yet another day, they failed to pick up the trash and left it on the bathroom sink. They also were inconsistent in leaving toiletries, toilet paper, etc.||||The front desk staff are mostly friendly. They do not speak english - save for one person whom I believe is the owner of the property. She's a bit older than the rest of the girls who work the desk and breakfast bar. In the beginning, she was quite helpful but I always felt like I was annoying her by asking a question. I used a google translator when she couldn't understand me. When I asked her if she could call a cab for me, she abruptly said I would not be able to get one and that cabs don't like to go to the hotel. She pointed to the corner and told me to take a bus. My experience with her was similar to other guests experiences. One guest asked if they could get some ice and the hotel staff were rude and abrupt, not providing any assistance for them. There was also issues with their rooms being cleaned correctly. ||||Finally, one day the power went out and the code to enter the hotel was not working. I had to call three times and finally someone answered the door after they were quite upset I had to contact them to let me in. ||||The breakfast bar was $12 every morning and consisted of yogurt, pastries, cheese, dry cereals, coffee and juice. There were many flies around the food which was not very enticing. ||||Overall my experience was adequate. I certainly have stayed in better and worse places, but I don't believe I would stay there again based on 1) the rudeness of the staff (the owner, I believe), 2) their lack of responsiveness to help, 3) the fact that cabs won't go to the hotel. I can't give the hotel anything higher than an average rating. ||||The restaurant in the lower part of the hotel is very good. It is NOT affiliated...

This is a cozy, out of the way place that we used as a home base while visiting the lavender festival in Valensole. While the proximity to what we wanted was good, Manosque is a sleepy little town that appears to shut down on the weekends. Similarly, the hotel shuts down during the afternoons, and early evenings as well. If you think of this as a B&B that is run by a small staff, and not a full service hotel, then you will have a better idea of what to expect here in the way of service. ||||The only issue we had is the size of the rooms really is not fit for families with children. We were two adults and one child, and while we had requested 'adjoining rooms' as we would with a hotel in the US (since two double beds are not available), unfortunately they only had rooms 'right next to each other', and we were not comfortable letting our child stay in a room by herself. ||||The rooms themselves were not really as we expected, as they appeared to be very modern in the pictures, but were actually older rooms decorated with rustic country/cute furnishings. This was not a bad thing, it was just different than expected. Additionally, the doors to the rooms were very old, using old style keys, and were very difficult to lock and unlock, at one point we were almost locked in the room! Also, be aware that the rooms that appear in the photos, only the ground floor has walk out balconies. Our room was on the first/main floor, and only had a window. ||||We did not have any issues with the staff, they all spoke English very well and were actually very helpful in finding directions and recommendations on restaurants. However, we used the 'do not disturb' sign to indicate that we didn't want our room cleaned, but they cleaned it anyway, so would suggest speaking to a staff member prior to leaving if you don't want your room cleaned. ||||The pool area is very nice, and the common patio is also a great place to relax. We did not eat the breakfast, as we felt it was overpriced at $12 Euro a person for...

I had read some mixed reviews so weren't sure what to expect, but we came away pleasantly surprised and overall had a fantastic time.||||The property is located about 1-2 km outside the town centre of Manosque in a residential area, so it's quiet and right in the middle of nature.||||The receptionist lady (sorry I forgot to ask her name!) who checked us in/out could not have been more kind. Speaks perfect English and is so warm and friendly. The room we had was a "Prestige", it's very spacious with a private terrace and recently renovated. We loved the open bathroom and the giant Italian shower. It's not a "luxury" room but is clean and has everything you'd need. The view from our terrace is towards a little garden, which was very relaxing.||||Parking is free and we were able to park just outside our room, so it was quite convenient. Breakfast consists of basic French breakfast items (cereals, pastries and fruits) and we found it to be sufficient. The pool looked inviting but we didn't get to use it.||||We did encounter a male staff (twice on the phone) who didn't seem to be very helpful or knowledgeable, but all the female staff were wonderful. Wifi signals were pretty poor in our room - I had to resort to personal hotspot to download my photos.||||Highly recommend this charming little hotel as your base to explore this...