Le Grand Pavillon Chantilly — Hotel in Senlis

Don’t be deceived by the beautiful pictures online - this place is absolutely awful. My wife and I are well seasoned travelers. We are easy going and don’t mind a few hiccups here and there. It actually takes quite a lot to get us frustrated but this hotel managed to accomplish that and much more. I’ll mention just a few of the many problems we encountered.||We paid $240 Euro for brunch for 4 people. It took 35 minutes to be acknowledged by anyone at the table despite the fact that it wasn’t very busy. It was a lovely day but almost 80 degrees and we were quite thirsty. Attempts to flag down waitstaff (almost never around) were completely ignored. My wife eventually had to take a bottle of table water from behind the bar so we could drink something. Once the waiter finally came to the table, we ordered drinks and he never brought them. Our entree took 75 minutes to arrive and we had to ask for it 3 times. It was luke warm at best. A complete bust.||The thermostats in the rooms are apparently just for looks. We had 2 rooms and both showed the temp as 25 degrees Celsius (over 75 degrees Fahrenheit). If you tried to turn them down to get cooler air, it would show your desired temp for 10 minutes, then revert back to the off position. Both rooms did this. We asked for someone to come to the room and fix the problem, were told someone would be sent and of course they never came. We went back to the desk 2 hours later, asked again, were told “of course someone will come” and, of course, they never did. I think they know the thermostats are just for looks, probably get the complaint all the time, and simply don’t do anything about it. As a result, we were horribly uncomfortable in the room.||We tried to take a brief rest in the room around 4pm but housekeeping was somehow still cleaning rooms and slamming doors, talking loudly to one another, rolling loud carts around, etc. The concrete and glass structure of all the buildings mean sound carries and you can hear every little thing from down the hallway. The result is lots of noise and little rest.||We tried to go to the indoor pool which was unusable when we were at the hotel due to the large volume of rooms/guests on the property and very small size of the facility.||We were traveling with my mother in law who is handicapped and can only walk short distances. The hotel has a couple of golf carts and we asked if they could pick up my mother in law and bring her to the bar where we were going to spend some time visiting. “Oh yes, of course. We will be right there” they said. My mother in law stood outside her building over a half hour and nobody ever came. The route by golf cart is less than 2 minutes. ||The walking paths all around the property are made of white stones/gravel. Anytime the wind blows, it kicks up big dust clouds. You should see all the guests trying to drag their luggage over the dirt to their rooms, all the while getting blasted with dust. By the time you get to your room, your luggage looks like it has been rolling in dirt. It’s just bizarre. No thanks!||I could go on but I will stop there. In short, you’ve been warned. Do NOT...

Our room 504 was not clean (mold in the shower, insects in the room) and a terrible smell was swamping the place. There were no clear indication of how the in-room system worked and the phone was off thorough our stay (even though we made very clear at the desk the first morning that there was an issue needing fixing... we spent 45 minutes trying to contact the in-room dining both from the phone in the room and our cell-phones and had no answer at all, no excuses either!). We went for dinner at the Craft restaurant on our first night and it was the most laughable dinner we had in years! We waited at least ten minutes at the entrance of the restaurant before anyone aknowledged us, even though we were right across at least three different staff members doing god knows what behind the bar. When a woman relunctantly placed us, she made very clear they were understaffed and that our experience wouldn't be quite enjoyable. Without any explanation from her or anyone else, my wife and I figured out that the starters were to be picked up at a buffet. The food actually looked "ok", but the biggest surprise was coming back to our designated table... where another couple had been installed by another member of staff! No one from the restaurant came to the rescue and we had to deal ourselves with that not so comic situation. A complete joke, that actually turned really bad when we got told of by the staff member who installed us for "being to fussy" about the restaurant service! We should have known it was just a self with lower quality food that in any other "Flunch" restaurant!!!||Breakfast the first day of our stay was not an option, as we wanted it in room but never managed to reach the hotel, whether it was on the hotel's phone or calling from our personal cells. It seems this hotel is fed up with helping their customers... or just answering their main line!||Breakfast on our second day was taken at the restaurant Craft, where staff was barely nicer than during our first dinner and food quality absolutely disapointing.||Upon departure, we let the guest relation person doing our check-out know about our experience, only to have him reply: "oh yes, I know, it really depends on who's there that night in the restaurant... I'll offer this morning's breakfast" ! Clearly did not come to him as a surprise that we were very disapointed with our stay.||I would not recommend to my worst ennemy to stay in that god...

Staying at this hotel was stressful and frustrating. Arrived after dark and the lay out is such that it is not possible for taxis to drop guests at reception but there is also no clear entrance and no signage. Arriving involves a lot of walking about in the dark with your luggage. In what is essentially a big park. There is no map given with your key. The various building and annexes have names and reception staff assume you know the layout. Poor lighting across the estate and no signs or directions. No offer of accompanying you to the room, explaining the layout or the concept or helping with luggage. Or in fact helping in any way at all. |The room itself is spacious and modern. Everyone complains about the puzzle that is operating hotel lighting but this hotel is next level. It’s dim and muted at any setting. The bathroom has no shelf. At all. Nowhere to put any toiletries. The hotel’s own tissue box is balanced on a wooden frame as there isn’t a flat surface in the (very big ) room. The very limited room service menu is available on the TV though there is no indication of that. Room phone was broken. Service was surly. On asking how long a Caesar salad would take I was told ‘I don’t know’. I do. Too long. After a 50 minute wait I called again. The person answering told me to hold on and never came back to the phone! 1 hour and twenty minutes later my food arrived. No condiments. It was dire. Who puts tomatoes in a Caesar salad? |At check out the one member of staff on reception just disappeared. |I was so happy to leave. |There are positives. Reception smells great. The Bircher muesli at breakfast was excellent. |Otherwise this is one of the most badly serviced and thought through hotels I have ever encountered. No customer service...