Le Couvent Royal

I’d give it six stars for the location and the historic church setting. It’s a beautiful, relaxed hotel with lovely architecture beside Saint Magdalene church, in a friendly neighborhood. The rooms are well kept and have three-star facilities, but the front desk service was average and needs improvement. The hotel restaurant was closed, though there are tasty pizzerias all around. Don’t miss a drink at Le Malherbe Bar in the small town! :)

We found a fantastic market in the Square right outside the door as we left on Wednesday morning. The hotel itself is a renovated ancient convent, and we had a restful night in a completely updated, very comfortable room. Wi-Fi was the fastest I’ve come across in a hotel in France, there was plenty of hot water, and reception spoke English. It cost only 68 euros, was picturesque and comfortable, and parking was easy, though paid and not expensive. We’ll definitely return.

We’d booked this hotel nine months ahead for our honeymoon, but when we arrived we were told our room had been given to a whole wedding party at the last minute. We’d spoken with management about a week before the trip and had confirmation in hand. They said they’d emailed us about the cancellation, but we’d been travelling around Europe for about two weeks with an unreliable new SIM and couldn’t see that last-minute message. Since it was sent only three days before arrival, it seems the wedding was booked late and our room was handed over. They put us in another hotel 15 minutes away. Luckily we had a rental car, but what if we’d taken the bus? We were expected to return to their hotel the next morning, after checkout at the other place but before check-in here. We had an important celebration at 9am, half an hour away, so moving hotels again would have made us late for the very reason we’d come to town. We stayed at the second hotel at our own expense, minus a “gesture” of about 17€. It was nice of them, I guess, but we felt we shouldn’t have had to pay anything extra. What we’d already paid went to the new hotel and then some, so at least they didn’t make money off us. It was a horrible disappointment. Be warned, you may find your booking given away even though you thought you had a room.

My wife and I enjoy visiting monasteries on our travels, like le Thoronet and Ste Honorat on this trip, so staying in a former monastery was a unique chance we hadn’t expected. The service was great, and we liked the town too.