The Originals Boutique, Hôtel Victoria

You can hear the next room quite clearly, and mornings seemed especially noisy. Some of that was guests leaving or heading to breakfast, banging doors and talking loudly outside the rooms. Still, it’s a great hotel in a lovely French seaside resort. It’s well run and the welcome is warm. The rooms are clean and tidy, and the bed was comfortable with good pillows.

About 15 minutes south of La Rochelle, the region’s main town, this town sits among popular summer spots, with St Martin de Re island to the north. Châtelaillon -Plage is the casino village beside a gently rippling, shallow beach.

The hotel is stylish, and the rooms have air conditioning, the essentials and enough space. Breakfast is good, and you can have it on the terrace. The seafront is a five-minute walk away, with some nice places to eat nearby. Parking gets tight at certain times of day, though that’s true of the whole town.

The bed was large and very comfortable, the sheets were clean, and the air conditioning worked well at night. The decor is charming and carefully put together, though some things, like the sofa and bathroom fittings, felt a bit cheap up close. There’s a lovely patio and a cozy reading room, and the location near the train station and beach is excellent. The owners’ inflexible approach to breakfast and the patio made it hard to relax. On our first morning, we asked to have just a coffee on the patio because we weren’t hungry and don’t drink juice. We eventually got a small cup of filtered coffee, but the owner made a point of taking our room number and seemed reluctant to offer a refill. The next morning, expecting another awkward exchange, we brought our own coffee and sat quietly on the empty patio. The same owner told us we couldn’t use the space without buying breakfast from the hotel. We politely said we understood and wouldn’t do it again, and asked to finish our coffee in peace. She kept pressing us to leave. Her husband joined in and called us “typical Americans”, which felt xenophobic and inappropriate. When we explained that saying “you French” in the same situation would be unfair and offensive, they didn’t seem to get why. It was deeply uncomfortable and showed little open-mindedness or professionalism. At checkout, they charged us for five coffees, apparently treating each refill as a separate espresso or café allongé. When we tried to explain the difference, the young man at reception, possibly their son, didn’t seem to understand and wouldn’t budge. After we posted the review, the owners said they’d done nothing wrong. We were paying guests, not people off the street, so comparing us to diners bringing their own wine to a restaurant makes no sense and shows a lack of perspective. None of their little cups of filtered coffee was free, either. They counted every one as an expresso. If you want basic respect and a peaceful holiday, I’d avoid this place. We also heard other guests in the hallways and rooms above us. The shower leaked every time we used it and wasn’t very clean. The bathroom lighting was dim, and the light above the mirror didn’t work. The hotel has potential, but the management’s rigid, unwelcoming manner got in the way of enjoying the stay. We wouldn’t return unless their attitude toward guests changes.