La Vieille Auberge — Restaurant in Le Puy-en-Velay

I read the reviews of this hotel on Tripadvisor, and was amused that a 2019 review said almost exactly what I wanted to write some 5 years later (except that i could not comment on the bar).... In essence, the hotel is in a good location in a pretty village and has nice views across a small valley to an old church, but it is old, run-down and not nearly as good as its peers for meals or service.||We arrived as snow belted down, but some 6 of us were told to wait outside until 3pm. I understand that hotels have hours, but telling your guests to stand outside as it snowed? Really? Once we were allowed inside, our room was clean but dark. It had a small bathroom but a double basin, and the wifi worked only when the door was open. The biggest issue was the bed. It was supposedly a "double", but the mattress that hung over the bed-frame by a few inches, so in practice it was not a double bed at all. That was a first in our years of travelling. One of us slept on the couch!||Dinner was rustic. The potato soup seemed to have been made on the ratio or 1 potato per gallon of liquid, but the rest of the meal was not that bad. Breakfast was sparse and simple, to the point of being canned or tinned. ||In our three weeks or so of hiking this was a low-point, but it was tolerable. Having said that, if better were available, I'd be...

I read the reviews of this hotel on Tripadvisor, and was amused that a 2019 review said almost exactly what I wanted to write some 5 years later (except that i could not comment on the bar).... In essence, the hotel is in a good location in a pretty village and has nice views across a small valley to an old church, but it is old, run-down and not nearly as good as its peers for meals or service.||We arrived as snow belted down, but some 6 of us were told to wait outside until 3pm. I understand that hotels have hours, but telling your guests to stand outside as it snowed? Really? Once we were allowed inside, our room was clean but dark. It had a small bathroom but a double basin, and the wifi worked only when the door was open. The biggest issue was the bed. It was supposedly a "double", but the mattress that hung over the bed-frame by a few inches, so in practice it was not a double bed at all. That was a first in our years of travelling. One of us slept on the couch!||Dinner was rustic. The potato soup seemed to have been made on the ratio or 1 potato per gallon of liquid, but the rest of the meal was not that bad. Breakfast was sparse and simple, to the point of being canned or tinned. ||In our three weeks or so of hiking this was a low-point, but it was tolerable. Having said that, if better were available, I'd be...

This hotel is in a great location, pretty village and beautiful views from the bedrooms but it is rather decaying and the level of service is poor. Our bedroom was old fashioned but spotlessly clean and perfectly comfortable. However this was the best bit of the experience- overall the place felt rather neglected, the demi pension menu was OK but not great and the quality of the breakfast quite poor. The wifi signal was too weak to work in the bedroom. It was impossible to get a drink at the bar in the early evening as it was full of local people who seemed to be friends of the bar staff. The hotel probably survives because there aren't many alternative places to stay and it's OK but could...