Hôtel Lavaux — Hotel in Bourg-en-Lavaux

The hotel view is gorgeous. And although it's on the motorway, the soundproofing (when the window is shut) is incredible and you can't hear any of the cars. There's also a lovely rooftop terrace and 24hr reception.

However, when we checked in, I noticed the air-conditioning in our room wasn't working. This was during the weekend, where it was mid to late 20s (celsius) and so it felt quite hot. When I explained to the front desk receptionist that our air-conditioning didn't work, he said that the air-conditioner had broken down for a few rooms.

He explained it happened a few weeks ago and that it was too expensive to repair (I believe he said it was the sum of roughly 20,000 Swiss Franks - but at this point I asked why that was my problem?). I explained that if they'd known about this for so long, why didn't they message us or upgrade us to a room with air-conditioning?

He shrugged and said he had a room without a lake view, or to open our windows. I checked the hotel's website online and saw they had an upgrade, lake-view room, but he said he couldn't do anything. I asked if we'd get a discount since we paid for a view. His response? "I don't know. Ask my manager." "Where is your manager?" I asked. "Not here," he replied. He then gave me a card with an email and a phone number. "If I phone this number," I continued, "who will pick up?" "No one," he replied. "It goes to reception." "So, it goes back to you? But you can't help." "Exactly."

Yes I know, quite bizarre. To be honest, he was quite friendly and apologetic, and I know it's not his fault. We were told to open our window and wait till tomorrow for the manager. We had an awful sleep as the sound of trucks, motorbikes and cars blasted into the hot room all night. I remember waking up after a truck barrelled past the Motel (yes, more of a Motel than a 4 Star Hotel) and the room literally boomed.

In the morning, I went down to speak to the manager (I had messaged him last night). The manager was so indignant and unhelpful it was quite funny. It went like this:

"Hi there, I complained about our room not having air-conditioning yesterday. I noticed there's an upgrade and we had an awful sleep. Since we paid for a room with air-conditioning, could we please get upgraded?" "There is no room available," he told me. "Oh, but there was yesterday?" "I can show you my screen," he shrugged. "Someone booked it last night."

Great.

"Do you have an alternative room with air-conditioning?" "We have a non-lake view room," He replied. "But we paid for a lake-view. Could we get a discount?" "Ask Hotels.com," he said. "I can't do anything." "So you have a few rooms, which you know don't have working air-conditioning, and you're not giving us a discount or apology?"

You know what he did? You guessed it! He shrugged. Great.

"Can we checkout early?" I asked. "Ask the place you booked through," he nonchalantly mentioned. "Okay, but they'll just ask you, won't they?" "Yes."

We checked out. We didn't get a discount for the first night but we got our money back for the night we didn't spend. Don't stay here. It's a risk and there are so many nice places to stay with helpful and friendly staff. As I mentioned, this is a motel that somehow got 4 stars. The view is amazing and the vineyards around are gorgeous.

The motel does stick out and is quite jarring against the beautiful backdrop (if you look towards the mountains and not the lake). So do yourself a favour, shrug it off,...

Stayed here on business for one weeks. The best part of the hotel is the view across Lake Geneva and the mountains. My room had a balcony and to be able to sit there in the evenings after work with a drink just looking at the view made my stay just perfect. |and while I initially received an upgrade for an additional 300 CHF, my overall experience was far from satisfactory. On Friday, October 4th, 2024, while attending a class at the university, I received a call from Brian, the Reception Manager, asking why I had not vacated my room, despite my confirmed stay until Saturday, October 5th, 2024. This was quite surprising, as no one had informed me of any room change or issue. When I inquired who had communicated this to me, he did not answer my question and instead accused me of being disrespectful, which I found inappropriate given that I have been a hotelier for over 20 years and was surrounded by fellow professionals at the time.||Brian insisted that I give permission to have my belongings removed and stored at reception until my return. Given my limited time between classes, I agreed and requested that my luggage be moved to my newly allocated room. However, upon returning to the hotel that evening, Brian was unavailable, and I spoke with Mathew, another staff member, who was completely unaware of the situation. I asked Mathew to accompany me to the new room, where we discovered that my belongings had been hastily dumped into my bags.||To add to the discomfort, after settling into the new room and drawing the curtains, I discovered two spiders, which Mathew had to come and remove.||Additionally, I found the breakfast offering very limited. On several days, I encountered dirty cutlery, and some of the glasses had an unpleasant smell. I assume this was due to limited staff, as the hotel seemed quite busy. However, these details made for a less-than-pleasant dining experience.||Throughout my stay, no apology was offered for the confusion or the poor handling of my belongings. Despite paying for my full stay, this experience has left me deeply dissatisfied, and unfortunately, I can no longer recommend this hotel. This was my last visit, and I hope the hotel takes steps to improve its guest service, look into the attitude of the management , communication, and attention to detail...

Stayed here on business for two weeks. The best part of the hotel is the view across Lake Geneva and the mountains. My room had a balcony and to be able to sit there in the evenings after work with a drink just looking at the view made my stay just perfect.|It is located opposite the railway so you do get a bit of noise from passing trains and traffic but when the sliding doors are closed you can’t hear a thing. The room was large and well maintained although it did not have any cupboards or drawers for my clothes. Just a few shelves behind the bed and to the side of the minibar. Having a kettle with tea and coffee was a definite bonus because in my travels I usually only find this in UK hotels.|The breakfast was ok but the scrambled egg wasn’t the best I’ve had. There was only fresh fruit on a few days. They seemed to run out of it quite often. I saw jam for the bread but no butter or margarine.|The main restaurant is independent of the hotel so you can’t book a table at reception. This wasn’t a problem as for my stay it wasn’t always that busy. The food was absolutely amazing. Open from 6pm which is a bonus as I like to eat early. But it closes on Sunday.|Parking is a mixture of covered and open spaces. I was able to get a space every day but mainly because I got back from my work at around 5pm each day. I noticed later in the evening the spaces were getting quite full but not every day. And they are free.|I was able to explore the area as I stayed the weekend. It’s very charming and there are a few benches facing the view. I found a cafe and a pizza place which were about a twenty minute walk from the hotel. I used the cafe on Sunday evening as the hotel restaurant is closed on Sundays.|Overall this was a great place to stay I would definitely be coming back when I am working nearby again in the future. All the staff did an excellent job and as I have said already the view was spectacular and to have it first thing in the morning and last thing at night was the...