Le Regina

The receptionist later acknowledged what happened and waived the cancellation fee, and I appreciate that effort. Still, the way I was treated at Hôtel Régina left me angry and feeling degraded. This is my perception of the incident, of course. I felt the staff member was aggressive and rude, though he may see it differently. He’s entitled to his view, just as I am to mine. I’d booked and paid through Booking.com, then arrived a few hours before check-in and asked to leave my bags at reception. They agreed, so I went to lunch nearby. It was a heatwave and the restaurant was outside. After about 90 minutes, I returned and asked if I could wait in the air-conditioned reception until my room was ready. I rang the bell, got no answer, and could see someone inside. I waited and rang again, still with no reply, so I thought the bell might be broken. About ten minutes later, an elderly couple arrived and entered with their keycard. The door was open, so I stepped just inside to speak to someone. A man came to the door, greeted them, then asked me, “et vous, vous faites quoi ici?”. The whole exchange felt confrontational to me, like I was being kept out of a nightclub. I said I had a booking and only wanted to wait at reception. He replied, “Non, vous ne pouvez pas attendre ici”. He looked and sounded angry, with a slightly shaking voice, as if holding his temper back, and stood directly in my way. When I tried to speak again, he cut me off with “non, vous devez partir Monsieur, au revoir” and shut the door before I could respond. He gave no explanation or apology, just told me to leave. I found that shockingly rude, especially as I’d told him I was a client. It was 36 degrees outside, and the air-conditioned reception was empty. I couldn’t understand why a guest couldn’t wait there, or why he got angry when I asked. If there was a valid reason, he could have explained it and asked me to come back later. I wondered afterwards if the staff had noticed me outside and ignored me, hoping I’d go away. That seemed passive aggressive too. The incident made me so annoyed that I rarely feel that way. I returned later and cancelled the booking. The receptionist, to her credit, recognized the situation and did it without a fee. I don’t think that man should be working in hospitality if that’s how he speaks to future guests, or anyone. You can’t order people around, get confrontational, or take out whatever has bothered you that day on somebody else. I felt he shut me down angrily and treated my request as if I were asking for free money. It lacked basic respect and decency, in my opinion. I stayed at Hotel Aquarius instead, where the staff were warm and perfectly fine. So I don’t think this was about France, but a specific incident at Régina. Maybe the guy was having a bad day. If so, perhaps this review will be outweighed by other guests’ good experiences. I’m reporting what I saw, which I thought was completely unacceptable, and people can make of it what they will.