We booked a 5* spa hotel as a special weekend break to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary. However, upon arrival we were disappointed to see that our room was far from 5*. We were informed by the reception staff that there were no alternative rooms available. We have previously stayed in many other 5* hotels around the world and in Europe, and it is clear to say that the hotel does not meet the same standard as other 5* hotels.

I have summarised the main issues below:

- Room very run down, the bathroom and terrace had pealing paint and the balcony door would not shut or lock properly.
- We booked a restaurant table from the bar, and were informed that we could sit on the terrace by the hedge bordering the pool.
- We pre-ordered our meal from the menu whilst at the bar terrace.
- We mentioned to the waiter that we would like eat at around 8pm, when no-one came to inform us that our dinner was ready by 8.20 pm we mentioned to the waiters we were ready to eat.
- We were taken to our table and canapes arrived which we started to eat whilst looking at the wine menu.
- The waiter seemed surprised we had pre ordered our food and asked us which waiter we had ordered with.
- The waiter then went off and came back and mentioned we had ordered from the bistro menu and that we were sat in the Gastronomic restaurant.
- We were then informed we would have to be moved to the bistro terrace around to corner.
- The waiter picked up our canapes in front of the other diners and we were moved to the terrace around the corner.
- This was a very embarrassing moment for both of us, given that the restaurant was not very full and that the waiters had allowed us to sit in the wrong place, this is not the service we would expect from a 5* spa hotel.
- The new terrace was no where near as nice, and if we had known that we would have to sit there we would not have booked a table.
- We ordered the “ Oeufs Cocote” for a starter, when this arrived the dish contained Foie Gras which my wife does not eat. There was no mention on the menu that the dish contained Foie Gras and therefore she was unable to eat her starter.
- On mentioning this to the waiter he mentioned that she was not the first person to complain about that during the evening.
- At no point was an alternative starter offered and we were still charged for 2 courses although my wife was only able to eat 1 course, again very very disappointing as this was supposed to be a special meal for our 21st wedding anniversary.
- Whilst sitting at the table the arm on my wife’s chair broke, this is dangerous and a child or elderly person could have fallen or hurt themselves.
- Upon mentioning the above failings in the restaurant 2 staff members apologised but no action was ever taken to rectify the issues.


Whist pointing out the short comings of our break, it is important to also point out some of the positives points which were:

- We found the staff very welcoming.
- We were showed around the hotel and facilities on arrival.
- Champagne and rose petals were placed in our room for our anniversary.

We stayed at this beautiful place with our child in jully 2011. French common sense everywhere! Excellent 5 stars boutique hotel in a residential area. Superior interior and exterior design. LED big flat screen tv. Good sized bathroom, very stylish. Intimate place. Very clean rooms and public areas. Very helpfull room cleaning staff. Bistrot restaurant and gourmet restaurant, michelin star. More polite and helpfull reception desk staff. They speak English. We booked a junour suite by DERTOUR operator. We asked before by e-mail for a quiet junior suite, and they upgrade for free in a deluxe suite double, pool view, with terrace. Good sized suite, in L shape: one part sitting area plus one part bedroom, after the corner. They gave my child a Wii Console and many games for free. Direct international telephone number in suite. Very confortable bed. Excellent food and fruits sellection at breakfast. Good sized swimming pool, really 5 stars one. Not a crowded pool. Free parking places. Free wireless, excellent signal.
One of the best 5 stars we stayed. A little bit expensive (normally at 5 stars), but very good value for money.
Very good place for explore PROVENCE. Must see St. Remy, Baux, Gordes, Lacoste, Fontaine de Vaucluse, Avignon, Apt, Valensole with lavanda fields, Bonnieux, Pont du Gard, Arles, Rousillon, etc. Take care: you can eat at lunch at dinner time only, in Provence !!
Our score for the hotel: 9,5

The welcome service was fantastic. The porter fetched our luggage from the car and we seamlessly were checked in - an upgrade to a suite was even complimentary. The pool was beautiful and relaxing - didn't feel pretentious at all. The room seemed outdated even though it was obvious it had been updated - hard to explain but just didn't feel like 5star room. The hotel had a spa, but had inconsistent hours (closed the day we checked in) and therefore made it difficult to plan any treatments in my visit. The breakfast was completely overpriced for what was offered - this was really a surprise given dinner in the restaurant was quite exquisite. All in all, probably a good choice for the area, but was not worth 5 star rates.

took the euro star and tgv down to avignon and booked to stay 3 nights at the valrugues hotel..
we were shown to our room and on entering the room our first impressions were of how small it was and how it looked nothing like the website pictures.
we were also greeted by a rancid smell of urine coming from the toilet which over powered the whole room..
we also noted that the paint was pealing off of the bathroom wall.
so i immediately went back down to the reception and asked for a room change due to the smell and was informed by the receptionist that we could only be moved for one night as the hotel was fully booked from tomorrow and would have to return to our original urine smelling room.
so obviously i took this as "this room is not suitable for our other guests but it"s perfectly acceptable for you"..
so pretty astonished by this response i complained but to no avail but they did send up a cleaner with a bottle of bleach(very nice of them)..
another note is that for a 5* hotel there were no tea or coffee making facilities in the room and on the 35 international tv channels there was only 1 english channel but they managed to put a kazakstan,thai,cuban,brazilian channel on there,so this place must be truly international..

overall a very poor hotel and nowhere near a 4* let alone a 5*..