Hotel Golden Tulip - Lyon - France

Hotel Golden Tulip is a 4* hotel in Lyon (Saint-Priest) located in the business quarter of Lyon at about a 20 min. drive from the city centre of Lyon.
The hotel is surrounded by 2 beautifull lakes & seem to be in the middle of a green area.

Rooms:
The rooms are spacious and looking pretty new.
There was a double bed provided (180*200cm) which was really soft.
Also the 2 different pillows per person were of a really good quality.
There is a small workdesk, a big mirror with light & a large wardrobe.
Unfortunatelly the room has a carpet & no safe.
There are plenty of powerpoints in the room.
No room have a balcony, but no matter where you are you'll always have a nice view on one of the lakes & the green surroundings.

Bathroom:
The bathroom is of a normal size with a walk-in shower (which is spacious).
The shower is of good quality, but due to 'eco'-showerhead the pressor wasn't very high.
No amenities are provided, except for liquid soap in a despenser.
The toilet is in the bathroom & a hair dryer is also provided (didn't test this one...).
There are 2 big & 2 small towels provided which are very good quality. They were pretty new.

Breakfast:
Breakfast is served as a buffet in the restaurant.
There is a wide choice of cold & hot plates (even waffles & pancakes).
They servce fresh orange juice & have an expresso machine for coffee & hot chocolat milk.
Also Nutella is provided, together with other marmelades.

Bar:
The bar is located next to the reception & had a live band playing on that evening.
There is also the chance to sit on the terrace, overlooking the lake & the green surroundings.

Restaurant:
The restaurant is also overlooking the lake & the green area.
Into my opinion the dishes are pretty expensive. I just took a spaghetti bolognaise, which cost me 18EUR. I'd have expected a big plate, but only a small one was served with a little bit of Parmesan.
I asked for an extra portion, and this was not a problem.
There is fresh breads & even a 'amuse' served.
note: you can also have diner on the terrace of the restaurant.

Positive:
- spacious rooms with good quality beds
- large offer for breakfast

Negative:
- carpets in the room

NOTE: the hotel also has a fitness space.

General conclusion:
The Golden Tulip hotel Lyon is a good 4* hotel for business trips. As the distance to Lyon is a bit far, I'd not advice it for pleasure trips to Lyon. The hotel is good price/ quality.
If you're statying here, I'd advice to get into the beautifull city centre of Lyon on the evening.
I'd rate this hotel 8/10 for a 4* hotel for the nice rooms & cleanliness.

Hotel Matelote 3* - Antwerp - Belgium

This 3* hotel Matelote is situated at 100m from the main square of Antwerp. This is really one of the most centrally located hotels in town. Most of the hotelrooms are overlooking the courtyard of the hotel, as hotel Matelote is located in a small street. We stayed 1 night in this hotel without having breakfast.

Rooms:
We booked the smallest and cheapest roomtype for 90eur excl taxes. The matrasses are of a good quality and so where the pillows (2 p.p.). The room was not that small as we expected. It was clean and overlooking the courtyard. There is a free small safe in the wardrobe and enough space to put your luggage.

Bathroom: 
The bathroom is small with a walk in shower with a strong water pressure. The sink was directly next to the toilet, so not that spacious when you know the toilet was in the corner. But all facilities are there: 2 big-/2medium-/2handtowels Individual bottels of Liquid soap/ shampoo & body lotion of a good quality. A small But strong hairdryer (I assume not strong enough for women with long hair).

Positive: 
• Great location
• Modern hotel with all facilities needed for a 3* hotel

Negative: 
• Check-out at 11 am, need to pay 10eur xtra for check out at noon
• Bathroom had no windows which caused a lot of humidity on the walls (you could really see the dots on the walls)

General:
 I would rate this 3* hotel Matelote 7,5/10 for it's great location and good quality of the beds. But check-out at 11 am is really early for a hotel -definitely for people like us who book a room to be able to go out and sleep long the next day. So I was disappointed a check-out at noon was charged with a supplement.

Hilton Nubian Resort Marsa Alam Egypt

This 5* Hilton Nubian resort is located in Marsa Alam at a 30 min. drive from the AirPort of Marsa Alam.

The hotel is really situated in the middle of the dessert (so you need a taxi or bus to go to the closest village or to start an excursion). Luxor it at a 6 hour drive from the hotel and to make a boattrip, you need a 2h transfer to the next port (as port Ghalib only had limited excursion).

This hotel complex is spread over a wide area close to the beach and exists of different 1 or 2-floor buildings. You have the chose between rooms with garden/pool or sea view.

HINT: as the resort is not directly at the beach (there is a big pile of sand/stones between the complex & the sea), i'd advice to take a room with poolview (as seaview is not what you expect from it).

The garden of this complex is well maintained with flowers & green (which is not evident with this sandy underground)

The lighting of the resort is really nice

Rooms:

The standard rooms are very large and wel equiped. There is a double bed of 180cm*200cm with a very good mattress and 2 good pillows per person. There is a lot of lights to create your own atmosphere. A free safe & iron are provided in the room.

The minibar is empty but can be filled puin request (not included in the normal all inclusive)

We booked a standard room with pool view

View from our room/ terrace

Bathroom:

We had a bathroom with walk-in shower (there is also with bath). The toilet is in the bathroom. As always in all Hilton hotels there is liquid soap/ shampoo/ hair conditioner/ body lotion/ soap bar.

2 big/ 2 small & 1 floor towel is provided.

They're not very soft, but we're in egypt 😃.

Restaurant:

This was into my opinion the biggest disappointment in this hotel (next to the attitude of the staff in general).

The restaurant is a big area with a lot of noise, so therefor we preferred to have diner on the terrace.

As we're 'only' going for diner at 7.30pm, we were like always the 2nd shift. So tables have been occupied already and not cleaned nor prepared for the next guests. So every single day we had to find a waiter to bring us cutlery & glasses (as there was no dedicated waiter for the terrace 😔). After that we asked for drinks, which takes about 15min to get a glass of wine (which mostly has the lips on it from a former guest) and a soda... every time again (except for the last 2 days when we found a waiter which we tipped to get our drinks..). 

If you asked for a second drink, they take your glass & refil it... remember you're in a 5* resort...

Same story during breakfast (till the last day) when we got or coffee when the breakfast was already eaten. And we were always going for bkf at 10am (only 20 other guests did the same, so it was really calm). 

In the morning there are plenty of birds on the terrace waiting for you to leave and eat the rest of your plate. This can't be avoided from the hotel, but they can make sure seats are cleaned from the bird shit. You can not lean on your chair or you're covered with it. I reported this, but nothing was done about it...

General info: do not go to the buffet about 15 min before closing hour (we did once during lunch at 1.45, and when we arrived the head waiter told us: 'you have 5 min.'... and exactly at 2.02pm they started to close down the whole buffet (this was faster taken away then if they serve you a drink ).

We complained about this on the 2nd day to the guest relations (which is a very friendly dutch girl) and she felt really sorry and would report this. The only thing that changed for me was the fact they did no longer ignore us and wanted to help. But they all knew those were the guys that complained. 2 waiters even came to us to tell us if we had complains, we should tell them directly and not to their chef... 

but service was as slow/ seats & tables were not clean...

Buffet - can't really be evaluated as a buffet:

The starters buffet exists of 1 fish dish/ 1 meat dish & 90% vegatables. The main course is in fact 2 different dishes spread over a buffet, so can not really be called a buffet. The dessert buffet is different kind of cakes & pies (which was the widest of all).

I have to say the variety of the food was disappointing, as it was every day chicken in a different preparation and only every 3 days some fish. There is every day rice/potatoes en mostly french fries or pasta. 

Except on Saturday evening! Should the variety of the buffets and the different kind of fish preperarions be like Saturday evening, this would have been a dream. 

This was really good! Lot's of choise with fish on the bbq/... so we know they can offer the quality & variety which we expect from a 5* Hilton Resort.

Starters buffet

Main course buffet

Desert buffet 

Animation:

This resort has it's own animation time with 5 very friendly & professional people. The kids club has it's own playground and the team is trying really hard during the day to make it a real holiday with several activities in the different areas (beach/ swimming pool). Als the eveningactivities are nice when they make it (sometimes an external group comes to dance or sing). Lord of the dance is really a very nice show where they have created a nice choreographie).

So nothing but Positive about the animation team!

Positive:

- very nice hotelcomplex when it comes to facilities (except for the restaurant)

- Nice/big & clean rooms equiped with all facilities

- very friendly & professional animation team

- very good sunbeds with comfortable matrasses/ windscreens provided/ 2 heated pools

- 1 poolbar provided drinks in bottles (not the tabs as in the rest of the hotels). There real coca-cola/ Fanta/ Sprite & Pepsi max are served.

Negative:

- the attitude of the staff members in general. You need to tip them first every time again if you want something from them.

- variety of the buffet is disappointing. .

- cleanliness in restaurant (cutlery not always clean/ seats on the terrace never cleaned (bird shit everywhere)/ tables not cleaned after first shift)

- all inclusive formule is into my opinion not all inclusive, as you only have a selection of 6 cocktails. If you want f.ex a mojito, you need to pay extra (even with local alcohol). Bottles of water & wine only provided during lunch & diner (not included in bars). No sparkling water available in the whole resort.

General conclusion:

I'd rate this 5* Hilton Nubian Resort a 6/10 based on the Negative experience we had. There is so much more to make from this resort of the staff would be more friendly & the cleanliness is taken on a higher level. Also the food is something that needs improvement.

We've been in an other 5* hotel in Egupt last year & the food quality/ food variety/ service was of a real 5* level!

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Hotel la Laguna - Lucciana -Corsica

I've visited this 3* hotel La Laguna in Lucciano. The hotel is located directly at the beach, which is Well known for it's kite surfing. 

The hotel was renovated in 2011 and they keep on renovating year after year (upcoming winter 2016 the pooltiles Will be renewed)

The hotel looks really new and modern.

Rooms:

All rooms have a balcony and most of them are overlooking the garden and the beach (only for the rooms on the first floor). The rooms on the ground floor are pretexten with stores, which also makes the room 100% dark. All rooms have airco.

There are twin beds & double beds (180*200cm). The twin beds can be zipped together as 1 big double bed.

There is free WiFi all over the hotel.

There are triple rooms up to 5 persons (mezzanine avec 3 single beds)

The standard rooms are large rooms, very clean, but basic furniture. But perfect for a 3* accommodation.

The hotel has 2 suits which both have a big terrace, one of them with jacuzzi.

HINT: there is a curtain at the end of the terrace to enquete your privacy.

Bathroom:

All bathrooms are different, but rather small. They all have a shower with rainshower. There is 1 portion of liquid soap provided, tissues, 1big & 1 small towel. The hairdryer in the room is of a good quality.

The toilet is in the bathroom.

Pool:

Pooltowels are provided free of charge, as well the seats @ the pool can be used for free.

There is a poolbar which is opened during high season.

Restaurant:

The restaurant is in a seperate building and has a large terrace. You can enjoy halfboard or eat a la carte. 

Also the buffet breakfast is served in this restaurant. There is a wide selection of products on the buffet as well fresh orange juice & Nespresso coffee.

The breakfast is always included in the roomprice.

Bar:

Positive:

- very friendly staff members

- modern & good looking hotel

- nice swimming pool overlooking the beach

- large terrace to enjoy breakfast & diner 

- fresh orange juice & nespresso = finishing touch for the breakfast

- large rooms & possibility for family rooms up to 5 person

- free WiFi & parking space

Negative:

- rooms are not in line with the rest of the hotel. 

General feedback:

This hotel gives me rather a 4* hotel impression when I look to the common facilities. But as the rooms are more basic, I would say this hotel is a very good 3*+.

If I need to rate this hotel, I would give 8/10 for the luxury of the facilities & it's great location at the beach. It would have been 9/10 for a 3* hotel if the rooms were in line with the rest and if the price was a bit less.

Attention: this rating is purely based on my visit, I was not able to enjoy the food quality.

Campanile restaurant - Corte - Corsica

I'm not used to write reviews about restaurants, except if they're worth writing for.

This restaurant is really worth visiting. It is located on a very Nice square in Cortes with a heated terrace.

They serve food of a very high quality & a delicious taste.

My first impression was not that Positive, but when the starter arrived I know why this place was so crowded.

I had the foie gras with figs which was a very nice plate, followed by the porc which was marinated for 24hours (I really don't like porc normally, but this was very soft & juicy). 

As a dessert I had the hot Apple pie which was served with a fresh bowl of vanilla & a hazelnutcreme inside the pie - DELICIOUS!!!

Really the best restaurant until now on the island.

I would rate this restaurant 8,5/10 for the way they cook. 

Eguisheim city - Alsace - France

The village of Eguisheim was elected in 2013 as most beautifull village of France. It als has the label 'ville Fleuri' which means all streets & houses are decorated with flowers. 

The city centre is set up in cirkels and was build in the Medieval. 

There is several restaurants & small shops with local products. Really worth a visit!

Hostellerie du Pape - Eguisheim - Alsace - France

The 3* hotel Hostellerie du Pape is located at the entrance of Eguisheim.

Eguisheim was elected in 2013 as the most beautifull village of France. And it is really worth a visit! And this all year round, in spring & summer you'll find flowers on all windows & during Christmas all is enlighted, amazing!

The Hostellerie du Pape is a former wine farm which has now 47 charmant rooms.

It has a big parking space in the back of the hotel.

Hostellerie du Pape on the left

Big terrace surrounded by the hotelrooms

Rooms:

We stayed in a standard double room with 2 seperate beds (190 * 80). 

Most of the rooms have double beds (190*160) and there are family rooms with 3 real beds & an extra bed which can be adres on request (only for children).

The rooms do have a desk, minibar(empty), small wardrobe & flatscreen. There is a wooden floor in the rooms! 

There is free WiFi in the room - which is a little slow for short movies on FB or wathever. But works well for text & images.

Standard room

Family room

Bathroom:

The bathrooms are rather small with bath or shower (depends on the room). We had a room with bath which is ment as shower too, but as there is no real pinpoint provided, you have to hold the thing in your hands (consequence: all is wet afterwords). There is no thermostatic fauset, so it takes a while to have the right temperature.

Next to the bath there is a sink with hairdryer (poor quality), so ladies take your own!

Liquid soap is provided in a dispenser, as well shoe shine & xtra soap. Also tissues provided + 1 big and 1 small towel per person (unfortunately no foot mat, cause it would have helped...)

Most of the rooms have a seperate toilet.

HINT: if you only take showers, ask for a room with shower.

Breakfast:

The breakfast is served as a buffet and is really extensive cfr the French standards. There is really a wide selection of everything and even more then 5 different kind of pies. There is also Nutella & a sparkling wine (unfortunately not cremant d'Alsace, which is a missed chance). 

Diner:

We stayed in halfboard and enjoyed the 3-course menu. The food is of a very good quality & served really nicely on your plate.

The wine menu is wide and they offer you several bottles of wine from Eguisheim wine farmers at a reasonable price.

Advantages:

- ideal location at 100m from the main square of Eguisheim.

- free parking space

- very large breakfast buffet

- high quality food served in a gastronomical way

- Charming rooms

Disadvantages:

- bath with poor shower facilities

- poor quality of hairdryer (but it is already a plus for a 3* hotel)

Conclusion:

I would rate the Hostellerie du Pape 8/10 for a 3* hotel. The hotel is clean, staff is friendly & food is of a very high quality. So when you look for a gastronomic hotel in the Alsace region, this is a great adress. Especially with it's great location in Eguisheim! I would rather advice this for couples as there are no real kids facilities.