SOWELL HÔTELS LE BEACH — Hotel in Lisieux

I will preface this review by saying that based purely on location alone and the quality of the breakfast, I would probably come back to this hotel if I really wanted my kids to have the pool. The Mercure hotel is just as close to the boardwalk but it doesn't have a pool. With my small children, the pool and the location was important.

However, I rate the hotel with 2 stars (and that's generous) because I had ants in my room for the whole stay. From the minute I got to the room they were on the coffee table, the nightstand and the bed and eventually in all the snacks I had brought for my two small children (a necessity). When I informed the front desk, I found the response to be totally lacking in sympathy with the staff member unapologetically explaining that it was a normal phenomenon with the damp weather but that they would treat the room. I was informed no other room could be offered because the hotel was fully booked. There was nothing to do but accept the solution but honestly, it was how the conversation was handled that really bothered me. The hotel was expensive for our two-night stay and it claims to be 4 stars. Other than the ants, our room was clean but a little tired looking. I spent the rest of the trip putting my babies formula, snacks and anything with food, even the coffee cups in the room into plastic bags, in the bath when it was not being used and on high shelves. Reassuring my 4 year old that she could sleep in the bed although we did find ants in there which freaked her out. Not the 4 star experience.

When I checked out, I informed the same staff member that there continued to be a problem with ants even after the treatment. Honestly, just so they could investigate a bigger problem. Again, I got an explanation that it was normal and perhaps I had attracted them in with my childrens snacks. No "Sorry about this" or "I wish we had another room for you" or "Let us comp your breakfast". Nothing. It was as if she would have been perfectly OK at check in handing the keys over while saying "Just so you're aware, you'll be sharing your double standard with a colony of ants". I had to ask her to just give me the space to say it and to listen rather than dismiss me. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

If I were at a lower rated hotel or a campground, I may have understood the ants or the service. As I say, if I were to go back to Trouville looking for a pool and a great location with small children and I had no other choice, I would risk it again but otherwise, I would be working really really hard to find a...

I have never been to a hotel (let alone a 4 stars hotel) where we had to make our own bed and clean after ourselves. We did not get replacement towels (for a 2 nights stay over) just had to use the same damp towels from the first day we arrived and at the end of the stay we even had to empty our bins!! We arrived fairly late to find out that no linen were on the mattresses, no duvet covers on the duvet and pillow cases on our pillows! Incredibly we had to make to whole bed ourselves including making the bunk beds for the kids! We definitely paid way too for this stay and the lack of basic hotelier service was shocking...it is a youth hostel service at the price of a 4 stars! For sure I would never go back and certainly won't recommend it to anyone!

Je ne suis jamais allée dans un hôtel (pour ne pas parler d'un hôtel a 4 étoiles) où nous avons dû faire notre propre lit et nettoyer après nous-mêmes. Nous n'avons pas eu de serviettes de rechange (pour un séjour de 2 nuits), nous avons dû utiliser les mêmes serviettes humides et à la fin du séjour, nous avons même dû vider nos poubelles !! Nous sommes arrivés assez tard pour découvrir qu'il n'y avait pas de draps sur les matelas, pas de housse de couette et les taies d'oreillers sur les lits! Incroyablement, nous avons dû nous faire tous les lits quand nous sommes arrives a 1h30 du matin, en particulier les lits superposés pour les enfants qui etaient tres fatigues! Nous avons payé beaucoup trop cher pour ce séjour et le minimum service hôtelier qui aurait du nous etre procurer était inexistant ... c'est un service 'auberge de jeunesse' au prix d'un 4 étoiles! Bien sûr, je n'y retournerai jamais et je ne le...

When we arrived the hotel staff gave us useless instructions as to where the car park was- we ended up driving around Trouville for half an hour searching for the car park when it was right next to the hotel doors. We finally arrived to our room (305) which stank of drains in particular the loo and shower which is utterly vile. We asked the hotel to come and fix it but they only fixed the loo but not the shower therefore for the duration of my stay I didn’t use the shower. The loo was also very dirty and the sanitary bin was full and clearly hadn’t been changed in weeks which was disgusting. Overall, the cleanliness of the hotel was appalling. The breakfast was completely overpriced for what it was as some of the juice machines weren’t working on consecutive days and the croissants were stale; which is unacceptable as it is in France. The bed was extremely uncomfortable and low down and quite frankly between my family and I we had around 20 hours of sleep between the 3 of us. It was extremely noisy at night, there was a lot of noise coming from the kitchens and the pool generator which was highly disruptive when trying to sleep. Furthermore, the staff had no charm whatsoever and we’re not very helpful. In conclusion, I will not be returning...