As the Olympics take over Paris, the hospitality scene is expanding in the city — and beyond — with a handful of new hotel openings worth bookmarking for a visit once the crowds have died down. Le Grand Hôtel Cayré opened in the Seventh Arrondissement earlier this month with 123 rooms, all with handcrafted wooden beds and mustard yellow velvet chairs, some with balconies and views of the Sacre Coeur or Eiffel Tower. In Carry-le-Rouet, a seaside village outside of Marseille, L’Hôtel Bleu’s design follows its name with 44 harbor-view rooms decorated in shades of blue. The property’s restaurant offers three seafood-heavy, Mediterranean-inspired tasting menus, while a private cinema room can be reserved when the weather calls for some indoor time. Further east toward Cannes, in the commune of Mougins, Hôtel Le Mas Candille was recently redesigned by the architect and decorator Hugo Toro, whose hand-painted patterns appear on the curtains and carpets in the 46 rooms. Its Glow House spa has four treatment rooms, each with its own terrace, and a private swimming pool overlooking Provence. In Nice’s old town, Hôtel du Couvent opened last month within a 17th-century convent surrounded by two-and-a-half acres of gardens. The former nuns’ herbal shop has been revived and now offers personalized remedies, some made from herbs grown on the property. There’s also a bathing area with pools of varying temperatures inspired by the nearby Roman baths.
Help! We Had to Sleep in the Hotel’s Breakfast Room. We Would Like a $215 Refund.
18.07.2024 - 10:21 / nytimes.com
Last September, my husband and I flew to New York City and headed to the Ridge Hotel on the Lower East Side to spend a few days before a cruise. Since the Ridge had “contactless check-in,” we had received two codes to get in the front entrance and our room. When we arrived after midnight, we had no problems getting into the hotel with the first code. But we couldn’t get into our room with the second code. There were no staff on duty, so we called the hotel’s number. But the woman who answered could not help and subsequent calls went to voice mail. I also sent messages through the Booking.com app, the online travel agency with which we made the reservation, but the staff there couldn’t solve the issue. So we spent the night in the hotel’s breakfast room, where the restroom also required a code that we did not have. The next morning, the hotel staff sent an apologetic message with the right code, and promised us a refund for that night, about $215. But we never got the money, even though the hotel insists they returned it to Booking. Can you help?
Any hotel rate under $300 a night in a fun Manhattan neighborhood would normally count as a bargain in these inflationary times. But paying that much to sleep fitfully in the breakfast room with no access to a bathroom and (I’m guessing) no 24-hour waffle maker? That’s totally unacceptable. You and your husband are obviously due a refund, and you’re generous not to ask for more. Is everyone in Boise this nice?
I got in touch with the owners of the Ridge Hotel and the communications team at Booking, and quickly figured out what happened: The hotel had sent your money back to Booking, but Booking didn’t realize it was there and thus didn’t pass it along to you.
Both organizations gently blamed the other for the communications breakdown. I have no idea who’s right, but the important thing is that Booking has now refunded you, along with a $150 credit — enough to get you a night’s stay in a pretty nice hotel in many parts of the world.
But why couldn’t the hotel help you that night? And are we really entering an era of reception-desk-free hotels with minimal services that mirrors what travelers are getting used to when they book short-term rentals?
Samantha Gladstein oversees the day-to-day operations of the 44-room Ridge for her family’s company, the CS Hospitality Group, which owns Ridge and five other hotels and hostels in New York and Florida. She told me that your late night call would have been routed to Miami, where the group has a hotel and a hostel. The person on duty that night no longer works for the company, Ms. Gladstein said, so she could not ask her for details. “I am assuming they didn’t know what to do,” she said, “and I apologize for that.”
Savannah vs Charleston: which Southern city should you visit?
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