Baumanière Les Baux de Provence

We loved Baumaniere. We had visited 5 or 6 times - on a couple of occasions for 10 days at a time. Staying in the very best suites. Eaten in Cairo D'Or and L'Oustau. Several times. Loved the goats and the gardens and generally it was synonymous with my family over the years. Last year we stayed in the most expensive suite for 7 nights. On our final night we had a crisis. There was a rainstorm the day before and on our last full day my daughter (15) was swimming in the pool. I had noticed the pool was full of worms - huge ones. Some alive, some dead. Lots of worm poop in the pool. Presumably because of the heavy rain. That night my daughter became very unwell. She was vomiting and in the middle of the night she collapsed and had a seizure on the floor. Terrified, we called reception who told us there was no doctor available and we would have to take her to hospital in Arles if we wanted help. We decided to keep her in the room and sponge her down, gave her paracetamol to lower her temp. and let her sleep (she was so limp with exhaustion and fever). By morning she was a bit improved but wiped out, still being sick and white as a sheet. Reception didn't call us to see if we were ok. There was no care. No-one visited to see us. They knew she was very sick, that she had fainted and was very unwell. We packed up as we were checking out and carefully put our girl in the car and took her to the pharmacy in Mausanne. The pharmacist was amazing - kind, attentive and sooo helpful. She said it was most likely to have been the dirty pool water that had given my daughter a bacterial infection (it was only her who was affected and we had all eaten the same food). We then drove to the next hotel an hour away where we booked in for another 7 days - the staff there cared for my daughter like she was their own child. called to check on us, Made her special medicinal tea and offered to get a Doctor to help. The contrast was immense. We felt safe. We loved Baumaniere. But there was no care. Three stars may mean superficial care in the dining room. But real attention is when you care about a sick cild staying with you and her distraught and terrified parents in the middle of the night. We cant go back, even though we loved you. That makes me sad.

Restaurant very poor value. Main course of lamb quite expensive, and starvation-sized portion. Noise from loud talking on grounds went well past midnight.

The staff and property were superb! C'est magnifigue! Over our five night stay we never encountered any issues. Our room was spacious, the grounds beautiful and the staff very gracious.

Baumaniere is a very beautiful hotel, our room was very clean and comfortable. Beautiful gardens and three good swimming pools (though we only used 2). There is a free shuttle service to Les Baux de Provence and nearby restaurants and a paid service to further destinations using the hotel transport. The staff were very helpful and knowledgeable . My only negative point is there was little to no mobile recption in the building we stayed I and the WiFi was intermittent and poor when available - great if you want to get away from everything but not if you needed to do some work!

So first of all, the staff are great! The service once you get it is professional. The problem is the hotel is simply average. I have been blessed to stay in some great hotels across the world and this isn’t once of them. Firstly the rooms are spread out and ours was in the distant campus were the main restaurant is. About a kilometre drive from the main hotel campus where the spa and other facilities are. The room we had was bland. A fridge with no food and two bottles of juice and some water. A Tv that had a mind of its own and decent bed my wife liked, I didn’t and terrible pillows. The room is an oddity because it requires a wrought iron staircase adjacent to one wall upon which is the coffee machine about 8ft off the floor leading a door to terrace. That door was left open by the maid and another guest wandered into our room as I was showering. We ate at cabro d’Or - great food and wonderful service. The food is good but it’s just not worth it to stay. I don’t know how the star system works but this is lucky to get 5 deserves a 4