We booked a room at this place, although it's expensive, as all the other top-rated hotels in Epernay were full. It's an old building that was apparently empty for several years, and is being renovated by new owners into a hotel, with a restaurant due to open in October. At present there are only three rooms, though the owner says there are also five apartments let separately. Our room was overstuffed with Victorian imitation-Louis XVI furniture covered in gold leaf, with no space left to open suitcases or move around. Yet the attached ensuite was enormous, with not just a toilet but both a hammam (a shower with a steam attachment) and a sauna too. The renovation paid no heed to usability. For example, there was no extractor fan; the hammam filled up with steam so quickly that visibility dropped to zero and we had to open the exterior window. The suitcase holder in the alcove provided for the purpose was too small for our one standard-size suitcase; the owner suggested we put it on one of the two tables (which was no good for sitting at, as the "matching" chair fit under it snugly with no space for human legs). The light switches and power sockets were in all the wrong places, and the wifi didn't work. When we complained about the room having too much furniture, the owner suggested we move to a bigger room in the hotel, the room with the circular bed about which the French-language reviews all rave, but wanted an extra 200 Euros for that (I could have got it cheaper online). The owner seemed anxious to please, but as with Basil Fawlty, we kept getting surprises. He offered to give us a lift to our restaurant and then later said he'd charge 10 Euros for that (we walked). He then came to the restaurant to offer us a free lift back. Finally as we were leaving he charged us another 48 Euros for two breakfasts, pointing at some small print in French on his phone. The breakfast was not worth that, being a lukewarm omelette, a couple of pieces of flabby bacon, and tepid coffee. We'd said nothing, assuming it was included. This is in every conceivable way how not to run a hotel. We start off feeling sorry for them but came to the conclusion that they need to get a professional hotel manager in or they're likely to lose their money.
Terjemahkan