Room type: Junior Suite King

Setting: La Réserve is located in the Geneva suburb of Bellevue, 15-30 minutes by car to Geneva downtown depending on traffic. There is a large garden, with an outdoor pool , and outdoor restaurant, and a children’s play area with a huge tree house. There is also a lake view from the upper floor, but quite obscured by trees. La Réserve bills itself as an urban resort, and as such is unique in Geneva. We booked it as we wanted an outdoor pool (which none of the usual suspects such as FS, MO, … have).
The building is a two-story structure from 1969, fully refurbished in 2003, with interior design done by Jacques Garcia. There are 102 rooms – some of them have recently had a soft renovation. Public areas are very atmospheric. Jacques Garcia has chosen a safari theme, with dark wood and rich velvet fabrics. The one part of the design we did not like was the extremely dark hallways – it is meant to be that way, but it doesn’t work.
The hotel is owned and managed by Michel Reybier hospitality (also managing the La Réserve hotels in Paris and at the Côte d’Azur, and with an ownership interest in further Swiss luxury hotels).
The location has its downsides, frankly. If you look at it on Google maps, you will see La Réserve is right in the flight path of Geneva airport. Also, there is a relatively busy train line passing by at the back of the hotel. Towards the front, the hotel is separated from the lake by a busy road. There is a pedestrian tunnel passing under the road in order to reach the lake shore. However, the area at the lake shore is essentially a boat dock only – there are no loungers, no service.
I found the noise was OK during the day, but sitting on our terrace in the evening was a bit less enjoyable with the intermittent sound of starting planes.

Room: We were underwhelmed with our Junior Suite. It was an upgrade, and it was part of the renovated rooms, so we did not complain. What we did not like was the view. The website says Junior Suites have a lake view or a garden view. We received the latter, which in our case meant a view of the graveled roof of the garage, and some tennis courts, with the train passing by in the background. Also, the room felt small. There was a sofabed, which was converted into a bed for our child. Consequently, there was no seating in the room except small armchairs. We would have prepared to keep the sofa, and have a rollaway bed, but there would not have been enough space. There was a terrace with two loungers, but given the lack of view and noise from the planes, it did not get much use. The bathroom was fine, with double sinks and separate shower. The minibar was complimentary, and there was also a Nespresso machine.
In terms of room selection, I would a book a room category with a guaranteed lake view, preferably in the upper floor of the main building, and preferably a suite.

Food: Breakfast is a buffet. The quality was excellent – some of the best fruit I have ever had on a hotel buffet, very carefully selected. Also very nice pastries and egg dishes.
There are three on site restaurants, a French one (Le Loti, where also breakfast is served), a Chinese one (Tse Fung), and an outdoor restaurant (Le Lodge). We only tried the last one, and were happy with the food. The focus is on freshly grilled fish and meat dishes. The fish was very fresh. We also liked the casual atmosphere – they go for a Mediterranean beach club vibe.
There is also pool service, but prices are excessive. A fruit salad (again – excellent quality fruit) is CHF 62. The same fruit salad as dessert in the restaurant is CHF 25. They sell it as a sharing platter, that’s how they justify the price markup, but quantity was roughly the same, so the price is just ridiculous.

Pool/Spa: There is a decently sized outdoor pool with ample loungers. There is also a spa, but we didn’t visit it, so no comment.
Service: Service was uneven. The concierge got us the restaurant reservations we wanted in Geneva, the valet was friendly and efficient, service in the restaurants and around the pool was good. Front desk and especially housekeeping was a mess.
It started with a slightly bungled check-in experience. We had called ahead to request an early check-in, which they would not guarantee (fine). When we arrived at 12:30, they promised to have our room ready by 2 PM the latest, though (official check-in time is 3 PM). We had lunch in the hotel restaurant. When we returned at 2:15, the room was not ready. So they gave us a tour of the spa (which we were not really interested in, but OK to kill the time). After the tour was finished, the room was still not ready. When we finally could enter the room, after waiting another 15 minutes in the lobby, there was no welcome note or amenity, they brought it later. Not a big issue, but could have been handled better overall.
Second day, we returned to the room at 4:30 after spending the day touring Geneva, and the room had not been serviced. When I called to complain, they offered to send someone right away, which I declined since we wanted to use the room. I asked them to send housekeeping later, specifying a time when we would be out. Still, they sent someone immediately, who was very insistent to do service, and who I had to literally fend off.
Third day, they didn’t do turndown. We gave up and put our young daughter to bed. They finally came after 10 PM knocking loudly on the door nearly waking up my daughter.
I am not sure whether this was bad luck (based on just one stay), but the issue seemed to be systematic. I don’t expect housekeeping to wait in front of my room in order to rush in when I have left. But come on – the evening they missed turndown, we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant between 7-9 PM. That should be more than enough time to do turndown, and it should be obvious that guests with young children don’t want turndown after 10 PM.
Our daughter got a nice stuffed elephant as a welcome amenity. We got – a few apples. After the housekeeping issues they brought as plate of petit fours, at least.
A highlight though was the complimentary shuttle boat to Geneva, running once per hour. It is a traditional Venetian wooden boat. The ride takes ~20 minutes (which may actually be faster than taking the car, depending on traffic), and is quite scenic, with views of Montblanc.

Overall: We enjoyed our stay despite the negatives. The hotel seems to be a fixture on the local social scene, with most visitors to the restaurant and the pool being locals, judging from the number plates in the car park. This gave a sense of place and provided for some people watching. I am not sure if I will return though. If you want to be in Geneva and want an outdoor pool, this is it – otherwise, there are more attractive options in terms of room product, and with more consistent service.