Domaine de Biar

"Every year we choose a hotel for the night halfway from the Alps to Barcelona to break up nine hours of driving. We chose Biar because you could park the car, eat in their Michelin restaurant, and stay in a beautiful room for the night. We booked a massage, a restaurant reservation, and a suite. A few days before we emailed to confirm. No answer. The night before, we received an email that the restaurant was closed on Monday, and our reservation could not be honored. The restaurant is half the size of the hotel. It allowed me to make a reservation. And the day before, long past when you could cancel or regroup, you are finally told? Another client checking in was equally dumbstruck. It's dark, I've been driving for five hours, I don't want to get back in the car and there's nothing to eat but what we had in the car. The next day, the manager is vowing to speak to the staff about this. As if he had no idea that they do this to keep a booking even when they can't offer the restaurant. This is not hospitality. It is a deliberate miscue. You can't behave that way and expect anything else but frustration and disappointment. And we had it."

"I booked 4 nights stay with this hotel 6 months in advance after reading the recommendation on Michelin Guide and The Telegraph. This stay was meant to be the highlight of my trip flying from Singapore to Barcelona and driving here. What a huge disappointment. I have never stayed in anywhere without hot water for guest in winter! The positives are - the ground is beautiful and the manager(Ben for us) was very helpful. We asked for a yoga mat and he even brought his wife’s mat to lend it to us the next day. We were very grateful and so the 2 stars here go entirely to him alone. Unfortunately, apart from that, I had a very scary experience with this hotel I would not come back. How would you like to stay in a hotel for 4 night only with icy cold water for shower? Out of the 4 nights, we did not have hot water for the first 3 nights. It was icy cold water coming out from the tap. We were told there’s a problem they are looking into but couldn’t fixed. Everytime we followed up, we were told there will be some “commercial adjustments” (which I understood to be compensation) with the impression that hot water will come soon. The commercial adjustment turns out to be just a comp dinner of our first night of 89€ (that’s about 6% of what we paid). I got sick on the 3rd night shivering and having cold sweat in my sleep from the icy cold shower on the first night we arrived. Naturally, we couldn’t use the bath tub. The comments as written by others about the lack of cleanliness by the house keeping turns out to be quite true. While at first glance the room looked nice, we noticed cobwebs on windows, gunk in the water kettle, watermarks on glasses, etc. The room also needs some serious maintenance upkeep. Throughout the whole stay, the water taps at the tub was loose and the safe was out of commission, despite repeatedly informing the hotel about these defects. The most important thing was still the unavailability of hot water that ruined my holiday because I had plans to do so many things that I had to cancel because I didn’t want to get dirty and not be able to shower. So we ended up just stayed in the room or just engaged in minimal activities, far short of all the plans we originally had. By the last day when the warm water came back, I had developed pneumonia and couldn’t do anything. It was disappointing the hotel owner did not provide alternative solution with hot water situation as this is a basic element of a hotel. We observed that the sale of this property on Google that evening dropped to 41% less than usual. They should have given us the option and arrange for us to move to another hotel that has hot water even if they have to cover the cost. Not having a solution and expecting the guest to “live with it” is unacceptable no matter how nice looking your property is. The compensation of a meal does not nearly qualify as a proper damage recovery. Which part of a guest telling you he caught pneumonia from your failure to provide proper hot water is not important? Whilst I understand making money is important to run a place like this. There should be some proper human decency to put the health and safety of your guest first - especially according to the staff has previously informed the owner multiple times. I think my next emails would be to Michelin Guide and Telegraph editorial dept to get them to reevaluate their assessment so as not to mislead readers. Suffice to say, I left the property feeling sick in more than one way."

"Great stay. Quiet location right outside of the city. The grounds and chateau were scenic. Upon arrival, the hotel upgraded our room to the best suite after hearing it was our honeymoon. Food at the restaurant was amazing as well. Staff were helpful and very nice as well. Only thing that’s still a mystery is both our headphones going missing but anything could have happened."