ibis budget Sète Centre 2성

Keep in mind that this hotel is budget and you will not be disappointed. My wife and I stayed here overnight before embarking on a canal boat cruise (see my other reviews) and were quite pleased with our experience. The hotel itself is very clean and well maintained. The staff were very helpful and friendly. My wife has been learning French in preparation for our trip and the staff was eager to assist and allow her to practice with them and correct her as necessary. The people in the south of France are very friendly towards Americans despite what you may have heard about Paris and the north country. The room was small but plenty of room for sleeping and washing up before the next leg of our trip. For a tall man (6 foot plus) the toilet was a bit cramped but serviceable. We opened the window to cool the room down and immediately noticed how much noise there was in the street. The window does an excellent job of blocking the noise and the room is generally quiet. This made sleeping easy! The location is a few blocks from the waterfront and amenities. Restaurants line the canals and waterfront. There are tours both on and off the water. Sete is known for water jousting which occurs on the weekends periodically. The breakfast is also more than we expected. There is a toaster for bread and waffles. Coffee of several varieties (Americano, espresso, etc), juices and water are available as well as cereals and fruits.

We arrived directly from another Ibis Budget, in Nîmes, where we had an excellent experience so couldn’t help making comparisons. I’m afraid that it didn’t compare favourably. The receptionist was efficient enough but when we asked for a map, she said there were none due to Covid. We’ve been staying at many Accor hotels over the last three months and that was the first time we’d heard that. We were told that checkout time was 11am, an hour earlier than the normal checkout time throughout Europe, but for us that was okay. The room, number 1, was, as requested, facing the carpark. In fact, it was on the ground floor and faced directly on to the carpark. Which meant, in the morning, we couldn’t open the blind while getting ready without people in the carpark looking in. It wasn’t big (but we expected that), was dark and was a little tired looking but was okay for a night. It was clean and the aircon worked well. The WiFi was pretty lousy and only improved after midnight after, I assume, most other guests were asleep. Breakfast was fine - a good continental range - and the orange juice was real. The last straw was when we asked upon leaving whether we could leave our luggage there for an hour and a half while we looked around town. Tersely, the receptionist said “There!” Upon looking, we found there were lockers around the corner that had to be locked with €2 coins. We’ve never come across that! Instead we decided to drag our bags around town. We found the staff not at all friendly and would not recommend this hotel.

The hotel is only a five minute walk from the centre of Sete, has a large car park and is quiet at night. Sete has so much going for it, with its canals and a very good choice of restaurants. Breakfast is the normal continental version, breads, croissants, cereals, ham, cheese, fruits etc.with a large choice of hot drinks and fruit drinks. We have stopped in this hotel 4 times and it is always a pleasure to return. Thoroughly recommended!

Julie, in reception, greeted us and made us feel at home. The hotel is perfectly situated to view all the sights of Sete. The rooms are quite spacious and very clean. Rooms at the back are very quiet and overlook the car park (60 plus cars) and further away, the port freight area. Breakfast was in a bright spacious area, also with outside seating. There was a choice of cereals, bread, croissants, cake, pan au chocolat. Drinks were provided by machines, coffee, hot chocolate, fresh orange and apple juices etc. This is the 4th time we have stayed here and it never disappoints!

Just spent 7 days at ibis budget.....I think this must be the friendliest most obliging hotel on the Mediterranean coast. Its clean VERY reasonably priced , I have visited this hotel several times now and it has never been less than perfect.