Hotel Le Galion

The rooms and bathrooms are on the small side, but the beds are really comfortable and you don't need to spend much time in the room anyway. Rooms on the second floor have sea views. The location is excellent, and the service was warm, friendly, and helpful. Superb.

The food was a bright spot for me. I enjoyed my birthday meal, the chef is good, prices are very reasonable, and they make great coffee too. The menu overall is competitively priced and worth a try. Still, the hotel needs much better management. My safe wasn't working, and the manager told me he knew about it but hadn't had it fixed because it was inconvenient. I had to leave my passport and money in the office safe, which was nerve wracking since I had no control over them. They offered another room after three days, but by then I couldn't be bothered to move. I had to ask for a discount at checkout, and there was no apology or compensation for the hassle. He didn't even offer me a glass of wine on my birthday. Good customer service should come naturally, and I shouldn't have to ask for it. Cleaning was hit and miss, too. Once I came in to find a cleaner lying across my bed on her phone. She left without cleaning the bathroom or picking up the wet towels. I told the manager, but when I came back the bathroom was still as she'd left it. A manager should take charge when something like that happens. The location is fabulous, right at the end of the harbour, away from the noise of the main passageway. The rooms and shower rooms have tasteful, minimalist French chic decor. On arrival there was a bottle of water and tea and coffee making stuff. The table and chairs in the room felt unnecessary, a small fridge would have been much more useful. There's no air con. You can rent good quality bikes directly for 17 euros a day, and they also charge for the underground parking. Cristobell and the other two women at reception are lovely, kind, friendly, and do their best to help. The pool is a little cold but gets cleaned every day. It's busy at peak times, and they could fit at least six more loungers by taking away the fence at the top of the pool, where the space isn't used. I wouldn't recommend a ground floor room for safety. People walking by go right under the windows, and there's no protection. The rooms could be climbed into in seconds. Although Ile de Re is generally safe, I didn't feel safe sleeping with the window open. There's a latch, but a thief could just flip it up. With no air con, it was a catch 22. Reception doesn't overlook those rooms, so they'd be easy to get into. With the right management this could be a good hotel, but right now it feels like management is letting it down.

The hotel is nice, and getting BBC on the TV was a pleasant surprise since that's unusual. It could also help guests use less plastic by adding a station to refill water bottles.

This is our favourite hotel in St Martin. We like the superior rooms on the first and second floors, with views of the park and sea. The setting is quiet, yet the shops and restaurants are very close. The pool is clean and covered overnight to keep the heat in. The service was excellent, and everyone was very patient with our extremely poor French.