Le Grand Hôtel Cabourg-MGallery

One night stay in this beautiful hotel in great location next to the sea.

Nice long weekend with the family, extremely well located on the beach front walk, spacious rooms and very friendly staff. We had a really excellent dinner in the Balbeck restaurant, including great service. However, both breakfast and the beach-front lunch restaurant were not worthy of a 5-star hotel. Possibly due to the fact that the Accor group, who operates the hotel, is more focused on optimising purchase costs with its business hotels than on catering for the needs of guests accustomed to hotels of this standing. Examples: at breakfast the fruit choice was modest, the yogurts disgusting and scrambled eggs arrived late and cold with a hard layer on top, so visibly after a wait on their way out of kitchen. And at the beach-front restaurant the lobster Caesar salad was barely canteen-worthy (minced lettuce from a bag, sauce scarce and also pre-produced) but still priced at EUR 38.

In general very nice hotel - located at the beach Missed a bit fitness center and the breakfast is a bit expensive for the variety of choice Rooms great - large and with very good beds

We stayed her for 3 nights. I can’t believe the average 4star+ rating on Tripadvisor. Don’t be fooled. This once must have been a chique Grand Hotel. I realize every critique has to be seen in the right context. But when you charge 600+ a night, you set a certain expectation. And, at the Grand Hotel in Cabourg they fail to meet that. In all fairness. The staff is great. Friendly and helpful. At check out, when I was asked about our experience, I did express some of my disappointment. So was, I overheard, the person standing next to me….. When I left the lobby I was approached by a guest representative who wanted to know more about my complaints. I spent a few minutes explaining but other than an apology I got 5000 Accor courtesy points. That is roughly the equivalent of 10 euros. Sorry, this is making things worse! I had a similar experience when checking in. As I seem to have reached Gold status at Accorr, I got a voucher for 2 drinks at the bar. Nice touch. But when I tried to use them I was told that the “signature” cocktail, a Negroni worth a lousy 12 ir 14 euro’s or so, couldn’t be ordered with the voucher. I could get a glass of campari instead (priced a bit less, was it 10 euro? So only a few euros less)….. This is typical. It’s typical for Accor. They try to play loyalty marketing, but they miserably fail in executing it. Then again, we’re in France. Quality (of service) here follows different rules. Coffee capsules don’t get replenished. The bags for the linnen service don’t get returned after the first use, etc To me the whole idea about loyalty marketing is to reward clients. To make them feel good. But if you don’t understand how it works and you create more frustration than tender love and care, then in my humble opinion, you better should stay away from it all. Back to the hotel experience… Old. We can appreciate authenticity. But this hotel is just old. Does not have the grand 5star feel. Badly maintained. One example: The white curtains in the bar. More black (dirty) than they are white. Old. The room. While big. It just felt really old. Outdated. Dirty carpet. Overall very low quality standards. Bathroom, black tiles, creme tiles in the shower with super white silicone sealing. Feels like it was done by a do it yourself amateur. Airco, not sure there was one ….anyway, it was way too hot, so we opened the front window. Sea side. The whole night until 6am we had kids doing a “nuit blanche” in front of the hotel, right under our room. Noisy, with a portable speaker set. Constantly shouting, chanting and singing. Nobody who did anything about it. Restaurant. Also too hot again. When I got the bill presented my 135 euro bottle of wine was charged at 185. “Sorry, computer problem”. I can go on. I must sound like a spoiled brat, whining about first world problems. But… It’s what I told the guest representative. When you pay close to 2000 euro for 3 nights, you just expect something else. And I feel entitled to complain when I did not experience one but a whole slew of failures . Every price sets a certain expectation. Telling me that your pricing is aligned with other hotels of “this standard” in the area is the wrong answer. Sorry. K

Exceptional service in a special hotel.