Campanile Hotel Senlis, Senlis

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Average
Standard of Service	Average
Cleanliness	Good
Quality of Facilities	Average
Family Friendly	Good

Advantages:	Good location close to motorway
Disadvantages:	Variable food quality

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

For our recent holiday to Jard Sur Mer in the Loire Valley it was decided that we would break up the journey with an overnight stop rather than trying to cover the ten hour part of the French leg in a single day and as some of the group would have already endured a four and a half hour drive just to get to the Channel Tunnel we decided to stop somewhere just north of Paris which meant that the next day an early start would missing the worst of the Parisian traffic.

Our main requirement was to find a hotel close to the A1 so that we did not have a big detour and the Campanile at Senlis was ideally located as I was just off exit 8 of the A1 and was easy to find even if the directions lifted from the website did not see to be totally accurate it was quite easy to spot as it is located close to a large Renault garage which also has petrol pumps in case you need to fuel up.

The hotel is also located close to Parc Asterix for those interested in visiting this theme park which apparently is well worth checking out according to my 13 year son who visited the park on a recent school trip earlier this year.

This was my first stay in a Campanile and immediately it bought back memories of a cross between a Travel Lode in the UK and the kind of motel found in America where you can drive your car and park it right outside the door of your room. The only difference is that the Campanile is located on three floors so the parking bit only applies if your room is on the ground floor but you know what I mean. I liked this fact though as we all had cars loaded up with two weeks worth of camping gear so it was slightly more comforting to know that your car was parked within ear shot in case of break in and also the fact that the front gates were locked at night was an extra comfort.

Booking and Reception

A friend handled the bookings direct with the hotel and this was apparently an easy process completed by e-mail. Our room rate for a family room was £65 and this included breakfast for the three of us. Fortunately my friend had kept the e-mail confirming this as when it came to check out they tried to charge us an additional 8 euro each for breakfast as that is not normally included in the room rate so it is important to check beforehand what you are getting for your money.

Check in is from 15.00 hours however we arrived an hour earlier and our room was available to us. Reception is small and is really part of the bar / restaurant and whilst the person who served us was very polite my lack of French and their lack of English did cause a bit of confusion as the booking was not in my name. In fact the lack of an English speaking staff in the hotel did make ordering food difficult and it was lucky that a couple of people in our group were reasonable French linguists.

The Rooms

Our room was clean and a reasonable size however it was supposed to be a family room so it was a bit worrying to only see a double bed and a single bed that was wheeled out from beneath the double bed. Once this was in position it effectively blocked the access to the bathroom meaning a late night trip to the toilet involved you walking over whoever was in that bed.

The general state of decoration of the room was a bit shabby, on the plus side it was very clean however there was a small hole in the bathroom wall which looked like the result of a towel rail being removed and no plaster being used to fill in the hole and the walls were covered with quite rough aertex which you did not want to rub bare skin against and not really ideal when small children are in the room.

There was plenty of storage space and the bed itself was very comfortable however there were only three pillows in the room and these had all seen better days however this was not a major issue as we had our own pillows in the car which we used.

The bathroom was very spacious however this space was not well used as the room had the smallest bath I have ever tried to bath in, I'm not that tall and I was hunched up in it with no chance of stretching out. On the plus side the shower was super powerful and there was a constant supply of hot water which was very welcome after a long days drive in hot weather.

The Food

Getting the best deal was a process of trial and error as we stayed in the hotel on both the outward and return part of the journey and I was happy with the four meals we had three times out of four. The restaurant itself was not large and was split into two areas and there was an outside terrace on which you could enjoy a drink. We had pre-booked a table for twelve on both occasions and this was always set up ready for us.

The breakfast was very good with a large buffet to choose from which had a good variety of food to choose from, lots of fresh fruit, cereals, bread, meats, cheese, yoghurts and pastries as well as four kinds of croissant. It was help yourself and you could make as many trips as you liked and the buffet was constantly replenished.

For dinner there was also a cold starter buffet which had an excellent choice as well with lots of salads, fish dishes and meats and again you could make as many visits as you wanted to. There was a reasonable choice of main course and there were always two options on a set menu that looked good value at 13 euro for the starter buffet and a main course. This was what we had the first night and to be honest the main course was very disappointing with small portions and rather poor quality food (I had the steak) which would have left you hungry if you had not stocked up on the cold buffet.

On the return journey we ordered from the main menu which when combined with the buffet bought the meal price on average to about 20 euro however the quality of the meals was much better and the choice was a lot more inclusive of different tastes although like many restaurants in France vegetarians were poorly catered for.

Service was ok although again the lack of anyone able to speak English made ordering slow and one meal was forgotten on the second night which was not a surprise as we had to give our order three times as the young waiter got very confused and incredibly sweaty as nerves got the better of him.

Other Comments

On the plus side the hotel was pretty quiet and I enjoyed a peaceful night sleep on both occasions and the convenience of the location is a big plus point.

One thing I did not like was the fact that they allowed dogs in the hotel and even in the restaurant. In particular given that people in France do not understand the concept of cleaning up after their muts there was some dog crap around the place which is not acceptable.

Would I recommend the hotel? Well yes based upon the fact that it is conveniently located, the rooms are clean and it represents reasonable value with a good breakfast buffet. I would not recommend it for any stay longer than one night as it has a lack of facilities and the rooms could be better.

I would certainly look at alternatives if needing a similar stop over in the future however I would go back if there were no other alternatives.

Thanks for reading and rating my review.