On New Year's Eve (31 Dec 2010), my wife, daughter and I checked into Hotel La Bateliere after our daughter's emergency appendectomy at Clinique St. Paul in Martinique. The hospital had contacted the hotel to arrange for a room for the three of us because we were not allowed to travel for a week. The hotel was completely booked with holiday travelers, but, after learning of our situation, arranged for us to move into an unoccupied room.

Complicating matters, French president Sarkozy was scheduled to come to the hotel one week later and his entourage had reserved every room in the hotel for later in the week. So, despite being 100% booked AND having the French president on his way, the hotel staff each day worked hard to keep our one little room free so that our daughter could complete her recovery.

The general manager is Fidel Montana who is my new standard for graciousness. He dined with us several times, including on the beach, arranged for cars, taught us how to give flowers as gifts to our nurses, translated for us in difficult situations, and, ultimately, offered us his apartment when finally the hotel ran out of rooms. The staff at this hotel was top notch, starting with the care and attention of Mr. Montana.

The property is a curious assortment of highs and lows. The location is remarkably beautiful, the public areas - lobby, dining areas, bar, pool, grounds - are very good, the beach is tiny, and the rooms need work. With the planned remodel of the hotel, the rooms will be fixed and, when that happens, this property will be the premier location in Fort du France.

Our departing flight from Martinique was canceled, so the airline put us up in this hotel about 1/2 hour from the airport. It was on the water, and was rated at 4 stars according to the sign out front, so I was hopeful. Sadly, I was disappointed. While it was barely adequate, this hotel had some real problems. Our biggest complaint was the mustiness coming out of the air conditioning system in our room. It was near the ceiling, and you could see the black mildew on the ceiling near the vent. The sheets seemed fine, but the towels smelled awful, so I just let myself "air dry" after my shower (mildew on the shower grout, too). It was a quiet but smelly room. The other people from the canceled flight reported similar mustiness in their rooms. The elevator was terrifying. It did sort of get you to your floor with lots of jolts, but when the door opened the elevator didn't line up very well with the floor. Finally, how could the food be this bad when you are essentially in France? Yuk. Poorly cooked salmon, minute rice and frozen green beans for dinner. Not even close to croissants for breakfast---looked more like crescent rolls. The other clientele looked like business travelers. Sorry for them. I cannot recommend this hotel to anyone.

I mean, the hotel is decent, the staff are helpful and the view of the sea are fantastic.

The hotel needs a serious upgrade, some paint and perhaps this will happen with the proposed purchase by the Radisson chain (at least as the huge banners in the lobby would have us to believe).

The good points: convenient to the University, has small artificial beach with bar, pool and restaurant. Our room (a deluxe) had a huge balcony. and we got our requested king size bed.

so-so points: bath tub and sink separate from toilet so you had to leave one room to wash hands. tub (maybe an insert) did not have a flat bottom. Internet access (included in price) had some outdated log-in package that warned me of an expired certificate, so at my earliest convenience I ran a virus checker.

bad points: elevator had problems reaching the lower level (restaurant) where I frequently had climb stairs, get on the elevator and ride down to manually pry open the door to let a wheel chair get on. A repair person was present one day, but did not fix the problem.

Would I return, probably, providing I got the same rate as I did for this trip.

I really like this hotel. Yes it is old and needs some refurbishment but the rooms are clean, the atmosphere is charming and the restaurant is very good. The staff are friendly and helpful. The hotel gift shop sells unique handicrafts and jewellery. The pool is lovely and the breakfast excellent. I have always enjoyed staying here - there is no other place for me in Martinique.