Vichy - The Energy Corridor, Houston

Facilities lovely. All very clean. Room fantastic. They have thought of almost everything. Breakfast fantastic. There are negatives though. Service at breakfast not great. During the day if you sit in the garden a few meters from the bar area they won’t serve you drinks which seems a bit petty. Reception and cleaning staff all fantastic. No umbrellas in pool area which is on the roof so no shade at all which makes the pool pretty unusable and no staff either so no towels or drinks available. Very secure parking opposite hotel. Aircon in the room is centrally controlled although there is a thermostat in the room it won’t cool as much as you like so the thermostat is pretty pointless as you can’t control it to what you want. For the money not bad but expected a little more regarding service. Not sure what type of clientele the hotel is targeting but not having somewhere to lay down, read a book and have a drink was a big issue for us.

This was a lovely hotel let down by a couple of snags. The hotel is modern, clean, stylish. The rooms are spacious and nicely furnished and not your normal boxy shape. The swimming pool was a great disappointment. It is curved and shallows dramatically at one end, the combination of which makes it almost impossible to swim in. So it is a wallowing pool rather than a swimming pool. And then I was looking forward to using the gym, before breakfast being my preferred time, so was disappointed to find it didn't open till 9am which was too late as we needed to be on the road. I don't expect the gym to be open 24h but I can't be alone in wanting a workout first thing so maybe 7am or possibly 8am but 9am seems too late to me.

We have stayed twice before at this grand hotel, which overlooks the park alongside the river Allier. Good position, quiet and with a nice garden and roof pool. Rooms on the 6th floor overlooking the park are excellent, large and well-equipped. Staff helpful and a good valet parking system. This visit the restaurant was not so good. Understaffed so service slow and rather chaotic, with head waiter running around like a man posessed. Menu a bit strange, but food good. A nice place for an overnight or longer stay in this most attractive city.

Compared to the 2 previous nights spent in a troglodyte hotel, these two nights were quite heavenly and we revelled in the comfort and luxury. The rooms are spacious and quiet (certainly on the park side). We did not indulge in the spa facilities so can’t comment on these. But location is wonderful, a stone’s throw from superb riverside walks through parks, and from the upmarket thermal baths precinct. The hotel has its own garage, and we found it a little irksome that we were not allowed to put the car in there or take it out again ourselves: this has to be done by the hotel valet, who of course has to be tipped on each occasion. We also skipped breakfasts at the hotel because we don’t eat much at breakfast and the idea of spending €30 each for not much did not entice us at all. We breakfasted at a Paul bakery about 6 minutes away on foot, and enjoyed the coffees and pastries far more for less than a third of the price. Bar food available as an alternative to the restaurant.

I had a great massage, thanks to our masseuses Damien and Evelyn for their time. An automatic 20% gratuity though for an already expensive massage is unacceptable. Never mentioned in the website prior to booking (unless I missed it) and was only mentioned on a small card at the front desk. That's not how you do business, this is not a restaurant, adding 20% gratuity to a spa day makes absolutely no sense. If you want to add the charge then make it clear before booking or add it to the original price.In addition, our massage lasted 53 mins, we paid for 1 hour. We arrived at 8:30, didn't start till about 9:10 and ended right at 10:00. For these prices, y'all have to do better.