Hotel de Normandie

"The room was very clean, but the whole place is very dated. Beds are very hard and standard size doubles . Noise from room above as floors creaky. It’s a bit of a rabbit warren inside. Swimming pool and sauna gloomy. Breakfast was ok. It’s got a coach party vibe to the place. Staff friendly. There’s a very good cafe on the sea front, 10 minutes walk, the Good Egg. Hotel is handy for beach and the bus goes from right outside. It’s a 15 minute walk from town."

"It’s a shame I’m having to resort to listing the issues on here, simply because the reception team on check out were so disinterested that I actually didn’t get to discuss even half the problems with this establishment, therefore knowing nothing was going to be passed onto management! 1. Check in - I wasn’t asked if we have been to Jersey before, (and judging by check out, the staff for whatever reason seem to think we are either local or regular visitors!?) and as it was our first time, we were unaware of how public parking works. Instead the lady on reception kept pushing about how I will have to leave my car key with them (which caused further issues listed below…). I wasn’t comfortable leaving my key or possibly having someone else drive my car, we were held hostage on this matter. 2. Dinner in the bar that night (Saturday 18th), whilst the team were trying their best to give good service, this was still not good when I found a hair in my dinner. The dish was taken away and a replacement offered which is good, however the receptionist on check out didn’t seem to be aware of this, and therefore it doesn’t look like it was reported to anyone. It wasn’t a great start to the week long stay. 3. My car gets scraped and hit by another vehicle whilst in the car park. I appreciate that there are signs saying the hotel does not take responsibility, however when the hotel does demand (yes demand!) you leave your car keys so that they can manage the parking, really they should accept some liability when parking has been left as what I can only describe as a pile up, leaving ample opportunity for accidents. This was mentioned twice to staff and both time it was completely ignored and glazed over. The owners should be appalled at the state of the parking as simply painting a grid does not mean you have a good car park. 4. The room - it was great on check in to be told we had been upgraded (presumably this was because I had contacted the hotel to advise that it was our anniversary), however if this was an upgrade I genuinely dread to see the state of the standard rooms. It was one of the “new skylight” rooms, which is really just style over substance. The skylight window didn’t open, and the air conditioning didn’t drop below 20 degrees, which left the room extremely hot and stuffy. The water pressure was so atrocious that a sneeze would have produced more fluid to wash with than the shower. Whilst the room looked lovely and was fitted with fancy mirrors, you can’t really call it an upgrade when it doesn’t deliver the basics of a hotel room. 5. The cleanliness - I appreciate the hotel is next to the ocean and sea life will always find a way in, however the shear amount of small shrimps which were hopping about in the public areas on the Tuesday (21st) morning was disgusting (staff didn’t seem to do anything about it) and especially worse when the corpses of these shrimps were still in the public areas until Friday afternoon which was the only time we had witnessed the public spaces being cleaned. We had noticed throughout our stay that glasses and water marks were left on tables outside the bar all day; clearly only being collected by the bar team when they opened at 5pm. The corridor outside of our room wasn’t cleaned during our entire stay, leaving a mixture of mud, sand and dead shrimp throughout. When I attempted to raise this with reception on check out, the man raised his voice slightly and asked if I had reported it previously if it bothered me. Quite frankly I am disgusted with this as it was pretty hard for anyone to miss the dead shrimp everywhere, but also judging by the general attitude I don’t believe anything would have been done or been recorded. 6. Bedroom cleanliness - whilst on the surface everything looked to be in order, it really fell apart throughout the week long stay. Considering we were there for 7 nights, it would be expected for the linens to be changed at least once during the stay. This was not the case, even when we had the “please service my room” sign out, the bed was simply made and towels re-folded - the floors were not cleaned though. Some drink was accidentally spilled on the sheets and duvet earlier in the week and the same stain was there when we checked out. At every hotel I have worked and stayed in, if linen isn’t going to be changed then a sign is not only in the room, but this is communicated on check in. Also, a mug which should have been cleaned, had simply been moved from the bathroom back to by the kettle with the same dried squash at the bottom. When we took this to reception on check out to raise the issue, he was very dismissive and kept repeating that he will tell the head housekeeper. No apology, but even worse no follow up questions to find out more, meaning the issue wasn’t going to be recorded or passed on. It looks like the housekeeping team try to get away with doing as little as possible, which doesn’t bode well for checked out rooms or even the upgrade we were supposedly in. 7. Attempt 2 at eating in the bar on Thursday 23rd - I ordered the chicken spaghetti, which on the menu is listed as only including the mozzarella, chicken, lemon sauce, Parmesan, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts. I politely requested for the pine nuts and tomatoes to be removed as I cannot eat them. This had to be communicated 3 times which didn’t fill me with much trust that it would be actioned. When the food arrived I was surprised that those 2 ingredients had in fact been removed, however the dish instead included 3 other ingredients not listed on the menu: chilli, spinach and very large pieces of garlic. I then spent over 30 minutes trying to remove these things from the food, as I also cannot eat garlic and chilli, so had I know these were included would have requested for them to be removed (but they were not listed on the menu, and at no point during any dining in the hotel were either of us asked about allergies and dietaries!!!). I managed about 2 mouthfuls of food before having to stop as the garlic was ingrained in the dish and I was already having a reaction to it. The member of staff - a young lad with a ponytail - failed to do any kind of check back on the food, and despite being able to see the massive pile of things taken out of the dish, tried to run away when he got our attention. I made him aware of the situation which he very flippantly said that next time to make sure I tell the staff I can’t eat garlic if I order the same dish. 3 more times I had to try and explain that it was not listed on the menu and we were not asked about dietaries (I don’t think he would have understood even if we had listed them out). He told me that it was on the menu and then we saw him wander off to check. He then disappeared for another 30 minutes whilst we sat waiting for the plates to be collected. This was finally done by another waitress, who shockingly upon seeing a napkin full of half a meal, and then the plate also barely touched didn’t comment, ask if there was a problem or anything. The waiter finally came back later on to tell me he would pass this onto management to make sure all ingredients are listed going forward and then attempted to back away. This isn’t good enough. No solution or anything was offered and even when I made him aware that I was feeling sick/unwell, he ignored those comments and failed to offer even an apology (a repeating trend in this hotel!). It then took numerous attempts to get the bill and each time it was incorrect. I left the bar on the verge of tears. The rest of the evening and following day was spent being very poorly due to this issue. 8. Parking - during the evening on Friday 24th I received a call from reception demanding to know why I didn’t have a parking slip in my car window (in the receptionists words “to grant me parking”). I tried to explain numerous times that I didn’t know what she meant and was never given anything to display in my car. I had handed my keys in every day, and the receptionists had by that morning become familiar with the room number. Given that they knew it was me they needed to call, and would have seen I was in room 122, I don’t understand the point of the slip, or of reception insisting I go to rectify the situation, even when I explained we were out of the hotel. I in fact spotted this slip which is a glorified post-it note still taped to the reception desk on check out the following morning. It was a wasted phone call, for a stupid practice and was yet again the team accusing me of not being correct and then not offering any kind of apology - especially when I mentioned that my car had also been hit in the car park. 9. Check out - what an experience. I have worked in hotels for over 15 years and stayed in all kinds of establishments from low budget hostels to 5 star hotels, and that was the worst check out experience I have ever received. The young man needs to be taught what customer service is!! I went down with the dirty mug to initiate the complaint, so him to refuse to look at either of us, spend far too long inspecting the mug in an attempt to prove me wrong and then dismissively saying he will tell the housekeeping team. Every other point that I attempted to raise, especially around cleanliness, was ignored and not recorded by him. I raised the issue from the bar on the Thursday evening as I do not believe the bill that had been slid under the door (which woke us up at 4.30am!) was fair considering the issues we had experienced. I was very rudely asked why I had not reported it. I advised that I had, and half the bar would have heard me talking about the problem and feeling unwell. I was told there would be some kind of investigation and I would receive an email about this. This is not good enough. I asked to speak to a manager but was told there is no one in. After a lot of back and forth with the receptionist not even asking how I was feeling after repeatedly saying the meal issue made me unwell, or as per the rest of the team, not offering any apology, the meals were taken off for 1 of the nights but not the other as he wasn’t authorised to do so. But considering he didn’t take any notes and was too dismissive to actually listen to any of the other complaints, I do not believe there will be an investigation or a refund of the £22 I was still forced to pay. The best this employee could offer me was credit on my next stay; as if we are local to Jersey.. an island.. no where near the address listed on my profile. Not only is it ridiculous, and if he had bothered to listen would understand that I wouldn’t come back to the same venue, he instead looked shocked when I said Jersey isn’t a place we regularly travel to!? It appears that the hotel is heavily cost cutting to the point that the bar is not even open during the day; this would track with the public area also not being cleaned throughout the week. I appreciate it is hard times for a lot of hospitality, but if your cut backs affect guest experience then it is the wrong decision to make. Overall the hotel may look well decorated, but with a team that cannot deliver basic service, issues with food (and potentially dangerous for those with dietaries) and not being up to standard or cleanliness, I would strongly advise to look elsewhere to stay. I couldn’t be paid to stay at this hotel again; especially as we stayed for our anniversary and left feeling so deflated that our entire trip has been ruined. I look forward to the rude/sarky response from the hotel that I have seen on other reviews. And before anyone at the hotel tries to counter with these things should have been reported, numerous attempts were made but the staff simply do not care."

"I booked a one week stay at this hotel. The location was ideal. Next to Havre des Pas & a 15 minute walk into the city centre. The staff at reception were fabulous, friendly, efficient & organised. Zarah, Lerica & Jeric were always quick to react & accommodate guests' requests. The room was comfortable, very quiet & very clean. The restaurant staff was wonderful. A big thank you to Rodney, Joseph, Myca & Gab who were all smiles & efficiency during breakfast. The buffet breakfast with full English breakfast was fantastic. Large choice between a continental & English breakfast. Dishes at the table were cleared quickly. Will definitely stay here again."