Mercure Les 3 Iles Chatelaillon Plage

We stayed at the hotel for five nights in July. After we had been picked up from the train station by a very nice employee, we were welcomed in German by a delightful young lady and shown the room. The junior suite we stayed in consisted of two levels, the upper level the sleeping area with a bed and below the sofa, which was always folded out for the children by a staff member in the evening. The sleeping comfort in the bed was good. The air conditioning didn't really cool upstairs, but it cooled very well downstairs. The children grumbled a bit about the bed and of course - the shared blanket was also unusual. The breakfast was a bit more extensive and better than at the MGallery we were at before in Paris, but very similar. Once again, the tea was served in pots (no samovar), and we still had to wait quite a while for the egg dishes. But the staff were very eager to help, even when it was very busy. Some things should be reconsidered there nonetheless. Getting salt and pepper shakers was always a task; they were constantly gone. The water (still) in that small bottle at the buffet was also almost always empty. Why not put out a few 1/2 liter carafes with a lemon slice that you can simply take? They are making life difficult for themselves here. It had to be refilled constantly. The pool - there was some cheating on the website here. So the outdoor area (in the open air) is small, really very small. One is used to everything looking better in photos, but there is no outdoor pool there, only an outdoor whirlpool that you can swim into from the inside. In the indoor area, there is a pool about 15 meters long and about 4 meters wide for swimmers; a second part, which is equipped with jets and bubbles, is just as large, but only for adults! Children under 16 are not allowed in this area, and this is also monitored by the two lifeguards on duty. Likewise, children are not allowed in the steam room (right next to the pool, to be used in swimwear), where the water hose for cleaning the seats was not working. In front of it, there are two showers and an ice fountain. Everything is rather small, but quite nicely done. In addition, there is a spa with beauty treatments, which we did not make use of, however. As a hotel guest, you can also visit the "Thalassa Spa" at the Hotel Ibis (across the street); the bathrobe is practically the admission ticket. The pools there are filled with seawater. Children under 16 are only allowed there in the morning until 9 a.m. and in the evening from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. When we booked, it was said that the hotel was only about 10 minutes away from Chateaillon and the beach. That is true, of course, but 10 minutes to the BEGINNING of the beach. If you want to go further in, or go shopping, or eat something in town, etc., then you are already walking 20 minutes from the hotel. There is a bus (line 20 from YELO), which, however, runs very rarely. I think that was not entirely correct information; I actually inquired beforehand about what it is like at the hotel without a car. It was okay, but if I had known that, we might have organized ourselves differently. What we were also not aware of was that the beach is indeed very child- and family-friendly, yes, but very strongly subject to the tides. Low tide here is really low tide; the water is gone and it is just mud and shells etc. You have to go by the tides when swimming in the sea; that can sometimes be an odd time. The beach is nice, with fine sand and shells; you cannot rent umbrellas or lounge chairs etc. in the area where we were. If you walk from the hotel in the other direction (not toward Chateaillon), you come to a slightly closer beach, but there are really a lot of shells there and they are often pointed and sharp etc., not suitable for children without water shoes. The beach there is not as nice. Overall, we enjoyed our stay. What we liked best was the really very nice and attentive service. The staff members are all top-notch!! The fact that the circumstances (tides, distance to the beach, etc.) were not so ideal only slightly dampened our vacation. What I did find, however, to be an absolute outrage was a party that took place in the hotel garden (from the Gaya restaurant?) right in front of our balcony, and it was so loud that the bass shook our room - it was really very loud until about 10:20 PM, and after that there was no more music, but there was the hubbub of voices. No one informed us about this party (these parties are probably held there more often), and a place that advertises peace and seclusion simply cannot do that. That does not go together. I am sitting on the balcony in the evening with a drink and watching the sun go down, but I do not want to be in the middle of a loud party. Our children are grown, but there were also smaller children there and older people; I can imagine that these guests were not amused either. We were not prepared for it at all and found it extremely disturbing. Staff 5 points, hotel amenities etc. 4, implementation of many things 3 points, and this party brings the overall rating down. That is not okay!

Second stay at this wonderful hotel. Still just as delighted, we will be back!! Well-maintained infrastructure (even if it is starting to show its age a bit), very high-level 5-star service, and a breakfast that is still just as magical. The only downside, the burger at the brasserie is no longer as good as it used to be..

The staff are really lovely, very helpful and friendly. The indoor pool is very nice, a great variety of good water massage jets. It's a nice space. I have a couple of small issues which made the place underwhelming for me. There isn't really a bar to speak of and not many places to sit, like in a lounge reading a book. The outside has very little shade so anything outside was a complete no no for me as it was scorchio! Also, the pictures on the website give an impression of an outdoor pool but there isn't one. The indoor pool has a small section that extends outside but it's basically just a large jacuzzi out there, not a pool. I felt that was a bit misleading. If you plan to use it as a base to explore from and just sleep there it would be fine, but if you want to chill at the hotel for a few days, you might find the facilities lacking. I did anyway.