After lugging our bags up a narrow staircase, we arrived to a tiny, Spartan room and the noises of the street outside. Strange ambiance. How this place could be mentioned in the Michelin Guide is a mystery.

I had booked this hotel for 2 nights to visit Beziers and surrounding areas, got cheap flights! It's a bit hard to find Rue de Metz, but it's very convenient for town centre and especially close to bus depot for going to coastal towns. Also there's a free bus which does a circuit ot the central area. The proprietor was very welcoming and friendly, gave me an umbrella for the 2 wet mornings,very unlucky with the weather! Room basic but comfortable, I was on top floor which would be a problem for anyone with heavy luggage, narrow stairs, no lift. Plenty of towels,all in all satisfied for the price.

How this property made it into the 2008 Michelin Red Guide remains a mystery. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon with considerable luggage to find the place closed up tight. Had to stroll around in the cold and keep checking back for hours, having gotten no response from a doorbell.

Finally the owner appeared and opened up -- a long Sunday lunch with mama perhaps? -- explaining that I should have known to call him and that the doorbell hadn't worked in years.

OK, "Southern charm and Northern efficiency" I told myself -- always be flexible lest you break off, especially when travelling. Take a nice warm bath to recover from schlepping your luggage around in the cold while waiting for a supposedly 24h/7d property to become functional.

That was when I found the plug to the bathtub. It was broken and repaired with electrical tape. A new one would cost what, maybe a Euro? I'll spare you the details of what the trailing black tape had collected over its life span as a "temporary" repair, but suffice it to say that was the dealbreaker with mom and pop and their hotel.

Stay here only if you can't find better.

Good value for money 2 star hotel. NB no elevator. Well run, honest, clean, no frills hotel, conveniently located near town centre. Some rooms are still being redecorated. The additional charge for (8 Euros per night) secure off-street parking is a bonus in a town with parking shortages. We were able to spend a second night there as someone had not turned up. We will return later this year.

We asked the owner for recommendations of typical local food and were not disappointed. The restaurants we went to served fresh local produce with regional wines. We asked the restaurant to recommend local wines to go with our choice of food and always paid less that the wines we would have chosen.

Other guests were nice to talk to at breakfast time.

The locks on the Canal du Midi are worth a visit (World Heritage site). Wonderful flower market on Fridays. VG selection of spices in the covered market (Les Halles).