I paid La Bastide Euro 180 on May 28, 2009 (using my Royal Bank of Canada VISA card) in order to guarantee our reservation at this hotel for four (4) nights from September 13 to 17, 2009. The stated rate for this hotel room was Euro 110 per night.

We arrived at La Bastide around 5:30 pm on September 13, 2009 but the hotel office was closed and no management was onsite. There was a sign posted on the front door indicating our room number (#12). We went up to the room which was unlocked; the key was inside. First, my wife had to clean the toilet before she could use it. To prepare for dinner, my wife decided to take a shower at which point she found a ball of hair (not hers) in the soap dish and residual hair in the shower. During her shower, water leaked onto the floor which she subsequently dried with some paper towel only to see that the floor was dirty, covered with hair, and had obviously not been cleaned. The carpet in the room was dirty, worn and pulled away from the dirty walls. The room was obviously not up to typically high French standards!

On the way out to dinner, we observed someone in the hotel office. I went in to discuss the state of the room. I was told that the room was clean and that the carpet had been newly installed the previous week. This was clearly not the case. However, the manager made NO effort to even look at the room. She basically said that this is a two-star hotel and that is what you get.

After dinner around midnight, my wife went to bed and within a couple of minutes found cockroaches (cafards) in the bed. I was at the desk working on the computer and I found another cockroach on the desk. At this point, my wife was prepared to sleep in the car but there was no way that my wife was going to sleep with cockroaches, nor would I. Of course, there was nobody in the office which had been closed for the night.

I tried to call for information only to find that the phone in the room had been shut off for the night. So, I utilized my computer, which I had equipped with Skype, to locate another hotel in the area which fortunately had a room available. We, therefore, packed up and left La Bastide shortly after midnight.

The next day, we returned to La Bastide around 1:00 pm to discuss this matter with the manager. Again, the office was closed. There was a large, barking dog protecting the premises but no humans anywhere. We returned later around 4:30 pm. Finally, the office was open. The manager said that cockroaches are normal in this part of France and they simply come into the room. Again she insisted that the room was clean and that she trusted her staff. She basically accused us of lying and “sneaking out” in the middle of the night.

UPDATE as of Jan. 14, 2009

Shortly after this unfortunate encounter, I phoned the Royal Bank of Canada (from the new clean hotel) and was advised that an additional VISA charge was pending on my account in the amount of Euro 267.20. La Bastide had the effrontery to charge my VISA card for the remaining amount for the full four-day reservation. I challenged this VISA charge and, after approximately two months of discussion, I have been informed that the charge is valid and cannot be reversed. So, I guess that I am stuck with it.

To further add insult to injury, I contacted Logis de France….not once but three times. Logis is the hotel chain to which La Bastide belongs. During my first telephone call to their Paris HQ, I was told to send any complaints by e-mail and was given the e-mail address. I received NO response. After a couple of weeks, I sent a more detailed description to Logis at their “contact us” e-mail address as per their website. Again, NO response…… not even a drop dead acknowledgement. You can draw your own conclusions regarding their customer service policy.

My wife and I are not strangers to France. We have been traveling there for over 30 years. We always travel on our own …. by train, by car, by bus, by metro. I speak French and we thoroughly enjoy the sights, sounds, food, wine, ambiance and culture of the country. Over the years, we have stayed in four-star hotels on the Riviera, chateaux in the middle of forests, rented apartments in Paris, and even stayed in a French brothel (this was by accident). Never have we experienced such disgusting hotel conditions and such bad service as we did at La Bastide. Even the brothel was better than La Bastide.

I will admit that La Bastide is very well located in a delightful small town close to Nice with great access to many interesting sights and a great view. However, you would be absolutely foolish to stay at La Bastide unless you like dirt, cockroaches and exceptionally bad service.

The best home-made " French Toast" I've ever had in my Life!!!!...
(and it's not on the menu)

If you know anything about french culture then you probably know that as an american visiting the south of france ,you'll probably miss the good ole' american breakfast of eggs ,pancakes ,sausages, biscuits & grits.

Instead their "petit déjeuner" offers an abundance of the traditional french breads ;croissants ,pain au chocolat,pain aux raisins, the famous baquette, coffee/tea,orange juice and jams. "et basta!"

That's why i was so pleasantly surprised when the chef Alex Lamand ( a young badass transplanted from paris) and his lovely wife ,Annie, gracefully placed a plate of sumptuous french toast between me and my wife; unannounced just like mom used to do.
...and you should have seen the presentation!....
a small boule of vanilla icecream on one side and home-made whip cream on the other...with the smell of fresh cinnamon steaming up my nose and ofcourse the creative swirly designs of chocolate circumferencing the plate, topped it all off .
I thought i was back home. umh! umh! umh!

... this delicious delight came just as we (my wife Lamia & I) were finishing up our two eggs sunny side up(her idea) in addition to the "petit déjeuner" .

Picture us relaxing in the morning sun on the terrace over looking the hills & valley close by where ,incidently, Alex tells me his herbs are picked daily from the bio-garden.

The turqouise pool is in view on the second garden-level below the terrace in the foreground of that lovely pictureque mountain view.
we eating under the oversized palm tree listening to "bird songs" while the wind freshens the moring air with her breeze....and iam in heaven.

the night before we dinned so well by candle-lite with such "pampering" & service that i almost forgot that i was "only dreaming" that i was king.

The resturant/hotel has a private feeling about it...a sought of "best kept secret" ambience and Annie, told us she had 15/20 terrance reservations for dinner later on that night.

The chef personally presented his menu dressed in his Whites while his wife conversed & served us like royality. and again the presentation was remarkable.

Our room was in this romantic cottage on the terrace near the dinning area equiped with a flat screen tv with cable ,a sexy bath room with a roomy shower and plenty of soft fluffy towels.

And The Bed?..oh hell yeah! ...was just right for !*#@?!! "tapping that ??? and sleeping!

Needless to say, my wife won't forget that night and neither wil i. lol!(...know what iam saying?)

Oh yeah i almost forget, they had a playful golden retreiver who wore these little booties to quiet his steps on the floor as not to wake the clients in the morning. Friendly & beautiful dog; made me miss mine even more.

We were lucky to find ourselves in such a lovely quaint hotel because we were on tour and our tour-production and the local promoter booked us here. The concert was held in the town village-garden of La Colle Sur Loup (06). Again the word is "Romantique."

I can't say enough about how our romance was rekindled here in the south of france thanks to Chef Alex & Annie Lamand and their petit paradise with a Big Big heart.

If You ever get the chance to visit the area ,don't miss the chance to eat the best "French Toast" on the planet & a "Service" that will make it hard to leave at :

La Bastide Gourmande
660, route de Cagnes.
06480 LA COLLE SUR LOUP

Tél: +33 (0)4.93.22.62.42
Fax: +33 (0)4.93.22.47.98
E-mail: labastidegourmande@wanadoo.fr

by
R.B. Suber