Centre-Biarritz - Biarritz, France 

This hotel is one of the worst I have ever stayed at. I arrived at 10pm and there was no one at reception. I had to wait for 15 minutes for the receptionist to finish eating his dinner with his girlfriend (he told me gleefully when he eventually arrived) to check in. He did not even tell me there would be a delay when I rang therefore I had no idea what was happening. There was a confusion with the booking as I booked a double for just me but the booking said it was for 2 people. He eventually agreed to charge me for a double for one perosn. He then told me that the internet is normally 3 euros a day but 'just for me' he wouldnt charge - that is despite the fact that the booking info on booking.com says free internet accees. Then the room. It is a box. There is a small double bed which takes up the entire room almost. There is about 6 inches on either side and about 2 feet in front. The bathroom is more like a cubard and the shower cubical is tiny. They have not even bothered to put a shower hook so you have to hold it. There is a curtain which comes in on top of you to give the illusion of an even smaller space. The walls are like paper and one night I could hear every word of my neighbours' convestaion and the next moring I was woken by the sound of my other neighbour peeing. Lovely. The light in the hall is on a timer that goes off after about 3 seconds but at least that way you cant see the peppledash wallpaper in the dark. What clinched the deal as the worst hotel I had ever stayed in was on the second night when I got back from a lovely day out on the beach, I was confronted [yes confronted] by the same receptionist who was obviously very angry about something but I could not understand why in his English and my French. He called someone who then explained to me that when I checked in I would only stay one night despite paying for 3. Actulaly what happened is that I asked if I only stayed for one night would that be ok and the receptionist said yes that would be fine but I would still be charged for 3 nights! He thought I was leaving after one night and it seems that it why he eventually agreed to reduce the rate to the double single price. It was a misunderstanding, but he was rude and even a bit agrressive. When I said this was a rotten hotel he said 'there is the door'. I know that revews will always differ on hotels but how anyone has given this hotel a good review is beyond me. It seems from another review and my experience that being shouted at is now standard. The hotels in Biarritz are not cheap but do not be fooled into booking this hotel. Its put a bad end to an amazing 2 weeks in France. To be as fair as I can, the positives are that the hotel is very central, there is free internet access and the water is hot and a good pressure.

We stayed in this hotel for a week and were generally satisfied with the basic accomodation and staff helpfulness. However, we noticed after a couple of days a damp patch by the door to the bathroom, which we assumed as the cleaner had just been, was due to spillages from a bucket or something. This continued for the next couple of days, but not wanting to make a huge fuss, we mopped up the excess water with a towel each day. We started to think perhaps the shower was leaking, but as the cleaner had been in each day and the patch was rather obvious, we assumed staff were aware. However, on our last day as we were ready to leave the manageress called us over, saying that there was a problem with the room. She appeared very angry and raised her voice at us, saying that there was a stain on the floor caused by us spilling a fizzy drink that day (even though she later admitted that the cleaner had informed her of the wet floor days ago) and tried to charge us 80 Euros cleaning costs, withholding our luggage until we had paid!!!!! obviously we had done nothing of the sort, only tried to be helpful and clean the mess that had been left each day. The lady shouted at us for continually for about half an hour, refusing to listen to our explanations, and proceeded to march us up the room to continue this, raising her voice at us in a very embarrasing manner as if we were schoolchildren!! (we are a responsible professional married couple in our late 20s/early 30s!). I felt this was a very humiliating experience, especially as we had done absolutely nothing wrong, only tried to be flexible and helpful. I can understand a misunderstanding but felt it could have been dealt with much more basic politeness, and spolied the end of our holiday. I would certainly not recommend this hotel to other travellers, especially as there is an abundance of other reasonably priced and convenient accomodation in Biarritz and I would hate others to go through the same experience as we did.