Bed & Breakfast l'Orangerie

My husband and I stayed for 5 days at L'Orangerie at the end of June 2022. Erik and Jeanette are amazing hosts and they made us feel welcome from the start. They were full of great recommendations and Erik called ahead and got us reservations at a few restaurants. People in the community clearly love them as well, as we were greeted warmly when reservations were made by them. The house is beautiful. The breakfast and coffee are served with a smile and were delicious. They have a great little honor bar that's stocked with wine and beer to enjoy by the pool. Or, when the weather is foul, in the hot tub. :) We were able to walk down to the city (it's like a 25 min walk, if I recall correctly) and it's a great launching spot for day trips to loads of interesting sites in the area -- old city of Lagrasse; day trip to Collioure and drive down the coast into Spain, and loads of great wineries to explore. Highly recommend!

pros: 1. what a beautiful pool and design work done. the house is amazing. 2. the hosts speak multiple languages 3. the bathrooms and beds were comfortable and rooms well done. cons: 1. this hotel says some rooms have a/c and on many websites it says a/c. It does not or not in our room - that is misleading to not be very clear about it. we would not have stayed here for the price without a/c. the house gets incredibly hot. No screens and loud motorcycles plus squeky floors made sleep tough. yes a heatwave but it is six degrees colder in here than outside we're dripping in sweat. Not comfortable for summer until after 11. 2. it is located in a tough spot to get to based on google maps and there is no where to walk within 30 minutes despite some of the reviews saying that you can- 30 minutes to get somewhere walking - and we love to walk - isnt a city in walking distance - by the time you get there you'll have walked miles. 3. the wifi is not good and we asked before coming if it was good and they reiterated it was good. I needed it for my work. 4. this place does not seem to want to have. not kids. we could tell we made a mistake with two young kids under 5 coming here based on our treatment. they should say adult only. Maybe we missed that rule. 5. our greeting was not good despite these other reviews. in fact it was almost inhospitable and unkind. later we saw them greet others and it was what we thought we would have gotten as a welcome. we clearly caught them at a bad time despite telling them we would be a little early - in america, you cant check in until your check in time but you can come in when you get in and usually leave your bags, sit in the grounds, get comfortable, go the bathroom check wifi, but no we were basically told to leave and come back. We were 50 minutes early. It was 104 degrees with two kids and we were sent packing and told to go to a nearby park or something. we found some shade then hung in the car... once checking in it was repeatedly mentioned to us that we were early .... again by 55 minutes. we didnt expect to go to our rooms but we certainly didnt expect to be almost lectured or met with annoyance or what seemed like anger. once checking in we relaxed for a bit, tried to get on the bad internet, and then went to the pool. Going back to not for kids our 4 y/o kid was told to not sit on a chair that to us looked like outdoor furuniture because the host said it was to be used for dining the next day - it would dry in this 104 degree heat with breakfast probably 15 hours from when my barely wet daughter sat on it - - again - clearly not meant for kids or to get comfortable or not too comfortable. I don’t think the comment would have been made to other guests or another adult. maybe unhappy to have us or americans aren’t their favorite guests or us having kids annoyed them or really it was just bad time. i dont know but other guests came and were given a fantastically different show iit was almost humoro

pros: 1. beautiful pool and yard. the house is nice. 2. the bathrooms and beds were comfortable and rooms well done. cons: 1. this hotel says some rooms have a/c. i think only one room has it not the lobby or other rooms. it is misleading to not be very clear about it. we would not have stayed here for the price without a/c. the house gets incredibly hot. No screens, loud motorcycles outside (it's in a weird location) plus squeky floors made sleep tough. Not comfortable for summer until after 11. 2. it is located in a weird spot. there is no where to walk within 30 minutes despite some of the reviews saying that you can- 3. the wifi is not good. we asked before coming if it was good and they reiterated it was good. I needed it for my work. we raised with the owner and he said it 'worked fine for him'. he was downstairs maybe that was where the modem was. quite dismissive. 4. they dont seem to want to host kids. we had two kids under 5. they should say adult only. Maybe we missed that rule. 5. our greeting was bad despite other reviews. it was inhospitable and unkind. dont make them annoyed. we clearly caught them at a bad time despite telling them we would be a little early. We were 70 minutes early. It was 104 degrees with two kids and sent packing and told to 'go to a nearby park or something'. not use the restroom or enjoy lobby, check bad wifi. So we found some shade then hung in the car... once checking in it was repeatedly mentioned to us that we were early .... by 70 minutes. we didnt expect to go to our rooms but we certainly didnt expect to be almost lectured or met with annoyance or what seemed like anger. once checking in we relaxed for a bit, tried to get on the bad internet, and then went to the pool. Going back to not for kids our 4 y/o kid was told to not sit on a chair that to us looked like outdoor furuniture because the host said it was to be used for dining the next day - it would dry in this 104 degree heat with breakfast probably 15 hours from when my barely wet daughter sat on it - - again - clearly not meant for kids or to get comfortable or not too comfortable. I don’t think the comment would have been made to other guests. we saw another guest check in and they were given a fantastically different show. how well they were greated better than us - like a switch flipped and they turned the real or the fake on. i dont know. but again, i think we caught them at a bad time or they were really mad about the 70 minute early arrival. the other guests had a nice Mercedes and were adults...that well i saw a harsh post from hosts at a brit about brits so maybe similar for americans? maybe they just didnt like us. that being said, nice to be nice it's a b&B... - it was 104 degrees and we just drove hours to get here thinking it would be a peaceful sanctuary after a long flight and commute. it was turned out hot and unwelcome. 6. when he showed us the family room he mentioned annoyed that we booked for 3 adults not 2 adults

The house is beautiful and clean. The rooms are tastefully decorated. The bathroom is great. However, I was a bit disappointed when it came to the hospitality aspect of our stay.( I only write this review after we finished our one month trip in France and were able to compare the hospitality we received everywhere else. ) We arrived at L'orangerie during a crazy heat wave. It was 107 degrees F. We ended up arriving 1 hour prior to official check-in time. And I know, we were early, but we had a 2 and a 4 year old and we took a toll road that was quicker than the original road we were going to take. When we arrived, rather than be told we could stay in any downstairs common area or even outside until our room was ready, we were just told to come back in an hour. It was the rules that check-in was at a certain time. So we tried to go for a walk then ended up waiting in our car because it had AC. To me this wasn't enough to damper my stay, I just figured they were rigid with rules. That night it was 96 degrees F in our room and my poor 2 year old couldn't handle it. So the next day I told them we had to leave to find somewhere with AC. They said they understood but would have to charge us the full price for all of the three nights. They said that that was "the rules". I do understand and I know it is their business and they need to make their livelihood, but the whole interaction was very cold. Just a warning for anyone else who may need flexibility and/ or accommodation...that you may not get it here.