Hotéis Relais & Chateaux em Aix-en-Provence

Is this the worst hotel I’ve stayed at? No. Was it good? Also no. Let me start with the positives. The property is gorgeously landscaped. You feel like you’re in a private oasis. The pool is very nice, but during peak summer hours the chairs are scarce. The breakfast buffet was fine. Restaurant staff were friendly enough. And on to the bad. I can’t believe this is a 5-star hotel. It’s overpriced and the rooms feel dated. The front desk employees were the least friendly we encountered during our 2+ week excursion in France. One evening we requested in advance that a taxi be called to take us into town. The gentleman at the desk said no problem. When we came back down to the lobby an hour later, a different woman was at the desk and said she had no record of our reservation and instead of offering to immediately call a taxi, sort of argued with us and continued to insist no such reservation existed. We were given the odd 2-story room…the bedroom was upstairs and the bathroom was down a narrow and steep flight of stairs. Overall it was annoying having to trek bath and forth. The room was also unbearably hot despite the ACs being on. We kept the window’s curtains closed during the day, but this didn’t seem to help. After a day of sightseeing, we came back to our room to find housekeeping had opened the curtain and turned off both AC units. It was absolutely miserable. The bed was uncomfortable, lumpy in areas. On the final night, we finally asked for a fan which they did provide. We had quite the unsettling experience when our hotel door was unlocked and 2 hotel employees appeared inside our door at nearly 11pm. I was dead asleep with earplugs in when they turned on the lights, we kind of just stared at each other and they finally closed the door. Completely bizarre. Finally, the location is subpar. While it’s only a 15-20 walk to the center of Aix, you really miss out on the charm of the town. Bottom line, I would never stay here again.