Review of LA CHENEAUDIÈRE - Hôtel Spa - Relais & Châteaux - Restaurant étoilé 5*

We stayed here for 3 nights as part of a French driving tour. We stayed in three 5 star Spa hotels all with Michelin Star restaurants (this one, Royal Champagne and Hostellerie Levernois). This one was not in the same league as the other two and I struggle to see it as 5 star. First, the positives: it’s a lovely location, the food is excellent at both restaurants and the free lunch buffet is amazing. We also enjoyed a wine tasting with Anouk who was excellent and very knowledgeable. The spa is huge and has features I’ve never seen before and we had great massages and enjoyed the flotarium. Now for the disappointments: The hotel is really all about the spa and a huge number of daily spa visitors dominate the hotel making it feel overcrowded and not very special. We paid a lot of money to stay in a Villa Suite (Baptiste) and it was horrible. Very dark with hardly any windows and black wood decor. The so called Mountain View terrace was basically in the car park with zero privacy and only one sun bed. We avoided spending any time in the room. The service in general was also poor. This was mainly because hardly anyone could speak English and therefore wouldn’t interact. Fair enough, we’re in France. But the same Relais and Chateaux 5 star hotel at Levernois had almost all staff fluent in English. I would say if you’re not fluent in French don’t stay here. The check in was also dreadful. We had to queue for 30 mins with no welcome. The hotel needs redesigning. They’ve clearly spent lots of money on the grand extension at the front only to use it as a car port for 3 cars! It could be a beautiful mountain view bar and terrace. We won’t return unfortunately but definitely will to Royal Champagne and Levernois.