Le Grenier A Sel

We had great difficulty finding our way to the car park and after trying for over an hour, the wonderful receptionist walked back to our car with my husband and directed us through the old city. Superb service. The bedroom was beautiful - large, immaculately clean and so comfortable. Super bed. Huge bathroom with fluffy towels and separate loo. The garden terrace was a fantastic place to escape our evening meal. Some delicious tastes. Highly recommend this hotel for a stopover. Thank you to the lovely staff - especially the receptionist who helped us.

Good place to have dinner in downtown because in Montlucon you can not find a lot of good restaurants options. The service was very nice, the staff is kind. The food, well...its ok, is acceptable. The wine selection is great.

I have booked a room at the "Le Grenier a Sel" via their own website. Since I am driving all the way from Switzerland, i.e. about 7 hours, on a Friday afternoon, I have mentioned in my reservation that we are going to arrive late, most likely around midnight, maybe 1 AM. The website warns clearly that starting from June you MUST also book a table with the hotel for every day of your stay. It is still May and, although I do not have to, and although I do not appreciate when things are presented to me as compulsory, I also ask for a lunch booking, since we are travelling to meet with friends who live in Montlucon. The next day I receive nice messages of confirmation from all the hotels in France where we are going to stay during our 9 days vacation, except for "Le Grenier a Sel", where a short message tells me "We are sorry, we do not have a night watchman, since you arrive after 23:00 we have canceled your booking". Short and to the point! Not the slightest effort is wasted to try to find a solution: maybe you could try to arrive earlier, maybe we could leave the key for you somewhere (the way it happened for me several times in Switzerland), maybe... Nothing! "We have canceled your booking!". I try to offer an amicable solution: my friend in Montlucon can come at a reasonable time of the day to check in for me and pick my key (I will get it from him when we arrive). I am happy to send him copies of my reservation and IDs. I am even happy to pay for the room in advance, if needed. After a while I get the following answer: "Suite à votre mail , il est difficile d’ expliquer pour rentrer à l’hôtel .Cordialement", i.e. (losely) "It is difficult to explain how to get to the hotel". :-) :-) :-) You can't even be upset with them! It is that unprofessional.