Les Paillotes — Restaurant in Rochefort

Here's my experience this past week. I made an online reservation for three nights at this "hotel" (actually individual rooms in a long building facing the road, each with their own entrance, no central check-in, a bit like a motel), tried several times to ring to confirm my arrival time, each time got the answering machine and no one rang back. Having missed the ferry I'd planned to take to the island, I rang and left yet another message updating arrival time, then took the next ferry an hour later. Arriving at the Logis, there was no sign of anyone - the restaurant/bar under the same management was shut tight and no indication of how to get into the room. After waiting about for a while, since there didn't seem anything else to do, a van came by, I flagged down the driver and explained the situation; he said that the owners' parents lived in the house across the way and might help. Banged on their door, finally madame came out, I explained the situation, she said "Oh, he's very busy, he probably didn't listen to his messages" (!) but fortunately she had a set of room keys and let me in. By that time, as I discovered, the only grocery on the island had shut for the day, all the restaurants were shut because it was a Monday, so I eventually went to bed hungry. The promised wifi connection wasn't in evidence. Next morning the restaurant was open for breakfast, I went in and introduced myself, no one seemed at all concerned and certainly not remotely apologetic about the situation. I was told by one staff person that the wifi would be back up that morning, later on by another that it had been out for ten days and no one knew when it would be fixed, and by yet another that it was out all over the island (which turned out not to be true at all). Again no apologies, and the bar staff simply kept repeating in response to every question that I absolutely could not use the bar wifi (which I'd never asked to do). They all seemed to be amazed that someone would want internet access at all - when I came in for breakfast on the second day the bar staff greeted me with "Bonjour, madame Wifi!" My impression throughout my stay was that I was quite unwelcome, an inconvenience. On the third morning I was told that I couldn't have breakfast out on the patio as they were getting it ready for a group event later in the day - this at 9 a.m., when they could perfectly well have cleared away one breakfast setting in five minutes after I left. The whole stay left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. ||The room itself was very small, just big enough for the bed and a chest of drawers, bathroom also very small. The shared outdoor seating area which could have been very comfortable looked as if it hadn't been tended or even cleaned for years - weeds coming up through the gravel, construction debris lying around, dilapidated outdoor furniture thickly covered with pollen and leaves and essentially unusable. ||The Ile d'Aix is a beautiful peaceful place, and I plan to visit again, but frankly I'd rather sleep on the beach than go back to the Logis...

Here's my experience this past week. I made an online reservation for three nights at this "hotel" (actually individual rooms in a long building facing the road, each with their own entrance, no central check-in, a bit like a motel), tried several times to ring to confirm my arrival time, each time got the answering machine and no one rang back. Having missed the ferry I'd planned to take to the island, I rang and left yet another message updating arrival time, then took the next ferry an hour later. Arriving at the Logis, there was no sign of anyone - the restaurant/bar under the same management was shut tight and no indication of how to get into the room. After waiting about for a while, since there didn't seem anything else to do, a van came by, I flagged down the driver and explained the situation; he said that the owners' parents lived in the house across the way and might help. Banged on their door, finally madame came out, I explained the situation, she said "Oh, he's very busy, he probably didn't listen to his messages" (!) but fortunately she had a set of room keys and let me in. By that time, as I discovered, the only grocery on the island had shut for the day, all the restaurants were shut because it was a Monday, so I eventually went to bed hungry. The promised wifi connection wasn't in evidence. Next morning the restaurant was open for breakfast, I went in and introduced myself, no one seemed at all concerned and certainly not remotely apologetic about the situation. I was told by one staff person that the wifi would be back up that morning, later on by another that it had been out for ten days and no one knew when it would be fixed, and by yet another that it was out all over the island (which turned out not to be true at all). Again no apologies, and the bar staff simply kept repeating in response to every question that I absolutely could not use the bar wifi (which I'd never asked to do). They all seemed to be amazed that someone would want internet access at all - when I came in for breakfast on the second day the bar staff greeted me with "Bonjour, madame Wifi!" My impression throughout my stay was that I was quite unwelcome, an inconvenience. On the third morning I was told that I couldn't have breakfast out on the patio as they were getting it ready for a group event later in the day - this at 9 a.m., when they could perfectly well have cleared away one breakfast setting in five minutes after I left. The whole stay left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. ||The room itself was very small, just big enough for the bed and a chest of drawers, bathroom also very small. The shared outdoor seating area which could have been very comfortable looked as if it hadn't been tended or even cleaned for years - weeds coming up through the gravel, construction debris lying around, dilapidated outdoor furniture thickly covered with pollen and leaves and essentially unusable. ||The Ile d'Aix is a beautiful peaceful place, and I plan to visit again, but frankly I'd rather sleep on the beach than go back to the Logis...

Arrivée vers 12h: personne à l' accueil; nous sommes retournés par 3 fois après de multiples appels sans réponse; nous avons dû frapper à une chambre pour demander où il fallait s' adresser pour récupérer les clés: il a fallu retourner au bar situé à un bon kilomètre du logis avec les valises; nous avons enfin trouvé le propriétaire à peine aimable et qui ne s'est pas excusé pour avoir notre chambre à 14h…|la chambre n'était pas super propre : il ne fallait pas regarder sous le lit … nous sommes partis en balade et vers 18h, nous sommes repassés au bar- restaurant pour demander une bonne adresse de restaurant : surprise ! pas de resto d'ouvert le samedi soir à cette période; seul le restaurant du propriétaire des logis est ouvert à cette période le midi. Nous n'avions rien à manger et le propriétaire s'est payé le culot de nous dire qu' il nous avait prévenu par mail mais nous n' avions jamais rien reçu: il nous a quand même dit qu' il allait nous préparer un plateau repas pour 20h: et nouvelle surprise… le plateau se composait d'un morceau de pâté de boîte, de fromage , de pain , d'un petit morceau de gâteau avec de la crème anglaise (de brique) et d'une bouteille de vin bas de gamme: on se demande bien ce qu' il propose à ses clients le midi dans son resto. il nous a facturé le tout :20€ du vol par rapport à la qualité du repas.|et cela ne s'arrête pas là: Le soir , nous avons voulu regardé la télé : seuls 3 programmes fonctionnaient et nous avons voulu prendre une douche qui était froide et le lendemain , même chose. Le matin pour aller prendre le petit déj, il a fallu retourné au bar à environ 1 km du logement: les tables étaient à peine nettoyées , pas de croissant et du pain de la veille avec un gros chien qui vient mettre son nez sur vous pour avoir à manger.De plus, j' ai eu le malheur d' avoir envie d'aller aux toilettes : cela est tellement bien indiqué que je me suis retrouvé derrière les cuisines et je vous passe les détails de ce que j' ai pu voir; cela m' a coupé l' envie; je pense qu'un petit contrôle d' hygiène mettrait fin à son activité malhonnête.|Nous leur avons dit que nous n' avions pas d'eau chaude et nous n' étions pas les seuls: ils nous ont raconté que le chauffe eau avait sauté durant la nuit et quand fin de matinée , début d'après midi, il y aurait de l' eau chaude... nous sommes retournés en début d'après midi et toujours de l' eau froide.|Quand nous sommes allés régler , nous avons expliqué tous nos désagréments mais aucun geste commercial et même pas une excuse, nous avons payé plein pot.|Nous avons été dans une petite supérette qui est ouverte le matin en saison d' hiver: nous avons discuté avec la propriétaire qui était très sympathique et nous avons appris que le patron du bar avait le monopole sur l'île ( 2 restos, un bar et une quinzaine de locations) et qu 'il ne se privait pas de profiter des touristes.|Nous avons été très déçus et je recommande à tous les sites comme tripadvisor de rayer cette adresse de leur liste ou d'envoyer le service d' hygiene avant de le soumettre...