Domain de Manville

As I wasn´t "allwed" to change hotels from day to day I had to find a centrally located hotel. In the end I decided to give Domain de Manville in Les Baux a chance as it was rated as an excellent luxury-option for excample by DavidO. When I decided on the dates and was shortly before booking a nice surprise "arrived". They introduced a 6 for 4 promotion which saved me nearly 1000,00 €. No reason to complain. I booked a Junior Suite as I couldn´t find a real difference to the "higher" suites. Also a Junior Suite with Terrace was around 85 € more per night and again I didn´t saw a reason. In the end the 6 nights came around 1.600,00 € with Virtuoso (Breakfast, upgrade if available, 85,00 € credit), I also joined the SLH-program as a Loved-member.

We arrived at the hotel and entered the lobby. The building is an old domain which was nicely transformed to a hotel. We were greated very friendly, at the desk was also the owners-dog Liberty present (an adoreable but shy Bernese mountain dog).

Outside view:

Front-desk

Lobby:

Nice little touches:

Courtyard:

We were upgraded to a Junior Suite with Terrace. I first was confused about some details in the suite and thought they used some wired layout. Later I found out it was a disabled-room, which was not to my liking. I would have preferred a "normal" Junior Suite, have to update my preferences.

Way to the suite:

Entrance:

The Junior Suite was mor like a full suite with separated living- and bedroom. It was nicely furnished and really well done. The minibar was free (2 water, 2 coke, 2 sprite, 1 toblerone, 1 chips).

Living room:

The wardrobe had very few brackets (at least not enough for me), the second toilet no sink. The bathroom was not very practical with the open shower and toilet, you always showered the whole half bathroom. Seems not to be a problem in the "normal" suites. What the bathroom lacked was good lightning, the shaving mirror was not illuminated. There was no good place for make up (not my problem). On the first morning we had also problems with the water-pressure, but they were solved after our complain.

Way to the bedroom with second toilet, wardrobe and bathroom:

The bedroom:

The terrace was quite small and open, so I don´t see much use. It may be a nice feature, but I wouldn´t pay much for it.

View from the terrace:

Over all a nice room.

The hotel has a well known golf-course, but I don´t play golf.....

The hotel has an outdoor pool and an indoor pool.

The outdoor pool is nicely done, but was very cold during my stay. I didn´t use it.

The SPA is well-done and offers an Whirlpool and pool. I couldn´t do too many pictures as some other people were in the area. The water-temperature was quite warm and pleasant.

The hotel offers also a small fitness-area.

The hotel offers a breakfast-buffet for 30,00 € per person.

Breakfast is served at the condervatory which is a nice room:

The buffet was the same all 6 days. They didn´t offer freshly squeezed juices, therefor the bakery products were excellent. For 30,00 € per person nevertheless relative weak:

The service was great in greating and say goodbye guests, but otherwise weak. Even after they mentioned that I didn´t speak Frensh they talked always Frensh to me, which isn´t professional. Also they were often slow and didn´t seem too happy if we ordered items from the small menu.

Over all a breakfast with some great items, but also with some weakness. Especially the service could b improoved.

The hotels has 2 restaurants, La Table and The Bistrot. The Bistrot is only open for dinner when La Table is closed. The menu of La Table didn´t look too appealing to me and it was more expensive than michelin-starred restaurants around. So I decided against it.

On the first evening we tried The Bistrot. They offered a 2 course menu at 37,00 € and a 3-corse menu at 45,00 €. As we didn´t like one of the appetizers we opted for the 2-course. First course was the fish of the day (cod) with vegetables. While my fish wasn´t perfectly done, my companies one was good. The vegetables were well done. Over all a good dish.

The desert could be choosen from a vitrine, we opted for 2 "half" portions. the cakes were really good (but not my pictures, sorry).

After our Lunch at Le Petit nice we looked for a bite in the evening. We went to the bar and asked for the menu. The guy told us there is no menu, but he could do our favourite cocktail. Never experienced something like that. Only dish they offerd were a cheese plate, a meat-plate or salmon. Due the lack of alternatives we choosed the cheese-plate and salmon (both 22,00 € each and same as they offered at breakfast). While the bar itself is well done, the soft-product is very weak. Significantly we were the only guests.

I didn´t get much aware of service at this property. While check-in ans check-out were friendly and efficient, service at breakfast was mostly weak. On the forth day they blocked many parking spaces for an event. But if this is the price:

no thanks!

It lasted 2 days since the spaces were occupied, therefor if you used the wrong way you had to climb the barrier.....

Domain de Manville is a well-done property with a good hard-product. Soft-product is unfortunately not complete on 5-star level. Nevertheless I can recommend the hotel, it´s a solid option.