ibis budget Chateaudun

Our ferry crossing was changed, so I had to cancel two rooms just hours before check-in. The hotel showed no sympathy and charged the full price. Arrogant company, avoid them. Low cost and low quality, you’d be better off sleeping in your car.

The location was fine, with a supermarket and restaurants nearby, and the price was good. The room and bathroom were clean and okay, and the bed was comfortable. The TV showed the same black screen whether it was on or off. I told them, but they didn’t fix it during my short stay.

We’d had good stays at Ibis Budget before, but this was easily the worst. I booked and paid a non-refundable rate through the official All.com website, then checked in through the official app. The confirmation email, app and website all said check-in was at 15:00. When we arrived at 15:30, the hotel was shut until 17:00. At least 15 other guests were also waiting outside after getting the same wrong information. The self-service computer was useless, and calling the paid phone number got us nowhere. After 17:00, reception said I had to pay again for another room, even though I’d checked in on the app and had proof of payment in the app, email and bank statement. The manager was called, spoke extremely rudely, threatened us with “pay or leave,” then hung up when asked to look into it. The receptionist was polite and seemed to be caught up in Accor’s mismanagement. Eventually she put us in an old, dirty room marked “out of order,” which I reluctantly accepted after a long journey. I ended up with painful bites on my back, later confirmed to be bedbugs. I have photos. I was still sent an invoice for the room after all that. This was beyond unacceptable.

The TV didn’t work, and they seemed to know it: we were told not to try too much in case we were charged, and a sign said reception couldn’t help. The rooms and bedsheets were dirty, the bathroom was rusty, and the towels didn’t look very clean. The hotel is old, but that doesn’t explain all of this. I’ve stayed at many Ibis hotels and they’re usually quite good, even if standards vary. This one is by far the worst. Even a F1 would be much better.