Château de Théoule — Hotel in Grasse

After scanning the entire Côte d’Azur for the perfect stay with my wife, I was happy to have found chateau de theoule. Online it looked beautiful and it seemed to be in a great location, and upon arrival it was beautiful. BUT this hotel is just not ready to service the caliber of guests they’re expecting to attract. At check in was the first time they informed about their $1400 euro hold on your account for damages…in addition to having to pay your full stay at the same time (this part is typical in France). If you rent a car like we did, the parking is $50 per day…worth it I guess. Then we were escorted to our room however, we came to find out at the end of our stay that the person that escorted us should’ve told us about the free services/amenities available to us at the spa during the stay…after a 5 night 6 day stay, that was not fun to hear. Their spa had a jacuzzi that was not working on that last day and neither was one of the plunge tubs. Going back to the first night there..we checked-in in the evening so by the time we showered and changed their restaurants were not serving dinner…the only option was the bar menu at the lounge area…which honestly is beautiful and a great setting. I ordered a tequila reposado..the waiter asked if Don Julio reposado would be fine fine I said sure. Later come to find out that he serviced us Don Julio 1942 and the price was $70 euros per drink. The menu they had given us said 1942 was $45 per drink and they had a cheaper reposado for about $22…so I figured Don Julio reposado would be about $30 per drink…but I def did not request 1942…after all that they say the menu pricing changed that night and it was their mistake so they discounted it to make it right. Some more negatives in my opinion is the $40 per person per day for the breakfast. You literally have the option for omelets and assortments of breads and croissants. There’s a bakery right across the street that if I had known (bad planning on my part) I would’ve just walked across and paid $8 for the same. Another negative is that the property is sandwiched between two public beaches which people arrive to at 8am everyday…nothing wrong with some local culture and atmosphere but for the price you’re paying to stay here, you want to have some privacy and exclusivity. You don’t have that here. On the beach note, make sure you check your bill at check out because their beach club charged us $90 for a day however we never even used the beach club…good thing is they corrected their error and removed the charge….btw There aren’t any security cameras anywhere, there aren’t any security personnel at the front gate which is right on the public street, no security personel outside if you stay out late…and we met several people that had expensive items stolen from their rooms…from over $1k cash to $6k channel jacket…some more positives, the rooms are decorated nicely and we had a spacious room with a spacious shower which had a beautiful glass looking over to the bed area..:very sexy…great views, the gastronomy restaurant is a must…very good..the service there was great. The young men parking your car are very friendly….beautiful property and beautiful views….but you are just not going to get your...

Headline: Rude, aloof staff; inattention to detail; and far from a luxury experience.

Here are the things we liked:

The valet staff were super friendly and couldn't do enough to help. They remembered small detailed, gave helpful recommendation, were always enthusiastic and always on hand to do their job.

The room and pool area were lovely. High end furniture, super comfortable, great views. We had a cocoon room and it had a beautiful terrace overlooking the pool. Also loved the double shower. The building itself is beautiful.

Here are four things that were really disappointing:

1. Staff at reception and at breakfast were rude, disinterested and dismissive

Example 1: we left our room and returned at 3pm to find it hadn't been cleaned. We went to reception to ask for a clean and they didn't apologise, seemed surprised and said they would send a cleaner - the clear came hours later.

Example 2: there were no staff within 50m of the pool, so we went to reception to order a drink. They spoke amongst themselves in French and then one of them stood up and left the room without saying anything. They returned and said someone would come to take our order. Again, no apology.

Example 3: there are no English menus (which is fine), but the waiter didn't offer to help or translate. At a 5* hotel, we'd expect the staff to accommodate the fact we don't speak French.

Example 4: we walked through the restaurant to get to the pool at ~730pm one night and not a single member of staff (there were about 5 or 6 of them) said bon soir or acknowledged our presence.

Example 5: we asked for two plates to be brought to the room - staff member asked why then didn't bring them.

2. Misrepresented facilities with hidden charges

Example 1: the hotel advertises parking - it's a €50 per night charge. Had we known this, we probably would have taken a cab as it doubled the cost of our car rental.

Example 2: the hotel advertises a private beach - it's a €70 per sun lounger charge. The private beach was one of the main reasons we chose this hotel. Instead, we went to the adjacent, free, beach, but it's hardly a luxury beach.

3. Food and coffee was distinctly average (and sometimes cold)

Example 1: pastries at breakfast are supermarket standard at best and coffee tastes like an automated machine.

Example 2: omelette ordered fresh came out cold. Croque monsieur ordered fresh came out completely cold without the cheese even melted.

4. Cleaning and turndown service was irregular (and not done...

The good: Location was good and set in a historic building, but more on that below. Theoule offers limited entertainment options and the hotel itself had none (more on this later too). The beach was fine with lovely golden sand, but again more on this later.

The bad: This hotel disappointed us on so many levels. Below please find some of the notes we took during our stay. Overall, we cannot recommend this hotel and were left waiting to leave and go home.

Check in is from 4pm: we arrived at the hotel at 3pm... not early by any standard, but apparently too early for the "Chateau de Theoule". Luckily they could free up a room within 10-15min, but so much for a 5 star welcome. We asked the concierge for recommendations. They were some good ones (e.g. local hikes), but when asking for boat excursions he failed to share with us the regular shuttles to Lerins Islands, and offered us day yachts for €4,500... The beach is not free for resident, who only benefit from a 20% discount. Unacceptable when the room cost €900 per night (and the beach €60-90 depending on selected row). Beach food was poor in quality, with slow service. No tap water offered. Staff lacks experience of a 5* hotel overall. Rooftop was closed during our stay due to “staffing issues” - in the middle of summer? Shame. Wifi required daily (re)login, annoying No service at pool - you need to call someone via phone. No music either. and the best part: no cocktails served before 3pm... and the rosé was atrocious. Potted plants around the pool were dead, adding to the "charm" of our pool-side experience. Outbuilding: our room was part of the extension, which also includes their Michelin restaurant. First, the building was not staffed at all, so there was no welcome nor safety. Second, despite staying for 4 nights we could not eat once at the restaurant, which was apparently fully booked (there was space - our bedroom was overlooking it). Huge amount of mosquitos in room. We couldn't leave the door of our terrace open, or use it in any way. They need to look into this, as other reviews have indicated a similar issue. No regular evening turndown, and the daytime one was missed twice. WIndy rooms, we could hear the draft from below the front door. No atmosphere in the hotel whatsoever in the evening. On our last nigth, the eletric system had an apparent fault and garden lights were blinking for several hours. This didn't seem to trigger any reaction...