Some parts of previous reviews are correct. This hotel is indeed a picture of faded French splendour. The public areas are a pure time capsule - perfectly in tune traditional French furniture and furnishings, classic tiling on the floors and original features everywhere. The bedrooms also have traditional furnishings and are large with high ceilings. Which means that there is a feeling of space missing from all modern hotels.

Things have now obviously improved:
rudeness - didn't experience a single element of this. The staff didn't speak good (or any English), but they spoke in slow clear French so we could understand things.
dirty - absolutely not. All areas were spotlessly clean, as was bedlinen, towels etc.
cold water - again, absolutley not. Had more than enough hot water
rooms - all have excellent sound proofed double glazing, very good heating, easy to open windows if you needed ventilation etc.
breakfast - again, this was excellent and typically French. Good, fresh hot coffee with typical continental breakfast.

Also has a secure car park (7 Euro per night) - and yes this is locked from about 22:00 onwards. Which they make clear when you check-in. Just make sure you take what you want with you. They also make sure each of you have the code for the front door when the main hotel entrance has been closed. Security was a major consideration as we had a load of ski gear locked in the back of the vehicle.

Location is excellent - facing the river and only a few minutes walk into the main town. Cross to the other side of the river and there are a number of good restuarants as well. Our favourite is Tete De Lard (traditional basic French food).

Summary - great location, perfect for a stop over to the slopes or for a weekend visit. Faded French splendour. Will definitely stay there again without hesitation.

This is a beautiful old hotel with a great deal of history and well situated in a convenient part of Macon with free parking. On the other hand, it is, as other reviewers have mentioned, fallen on hard times.

The lobby is nicely maintained and there is an elevator, but the rooms themselves are rather shabby and in various states of repair, so of unequal quality. I had a room facing the courtyard. While it smelled strongly of perfume (or insecticide?), it was simple, relatively clean (except for the comforter), and quiet.

On the other hand, my colleague's room was infested with bedbugs, so I would be careful of making sure that they have proof from fumigators before staying there (two rooms were OK--facing courtyard on 2nd French floor--and the offending one was room 11, toward the front). I would hope they would have taken care of the problem by now.

Another important point: they lock the doors to the garage area at night and there is no one at the front desk after 10 or 11 pm (I can't remember which), so make sure you do not leave anything in the car since one cannot access it.

As with others, seemed like an ideal place to stop off on my way to Italy. Room smelt (probably insecticide). On return from restaurant, at about 11.00pm, found we had left kid's medicine in the car, but we were refused access to car park! If so worried that we might break into other cars, perhaps they could have escorted us. So disgusted, cancelled return stay. Emailed to confirm cancellation, but they refused to refund money (see booking conditions). Should have persued it, but just glad not to have to stay at that place ever again!

The negative reviews about this place are very polite in that it is a truly appauling hotel. On arrival the lady behind the desk was generally rude and surly (I do speak French and the attitude was apparent in both languages) and threw the keys at us. The building is very grand but totally delapidated and has not seen any decoration or modernistaion for at least 50 years. The rooms are basically crap with poor decoration, basic tired bed linen and just falling apart - a broken lighbulb was in its socket with the terminals poking out, the taps leaked more water than they dispensed and there were tiles missing and holes in the carpet. Cleanliness was not good either with tissues on the floor and a general grime eveywhere.
Breakfast is also a delight to behold - you pay essentially for a cup of coffee with limescale in it and some bread - lovely! I was very grateful to leave this tawdry fleapit and hope that no one else has the misfortune of ever staying here (better to sleep on a park bench - it is cleaner)