Domaine de la Commanderie de Ballan

From the moment the gates open it’s absolutely wow ! Checked in by Leah who kindly escorted us to our accommodation on the golf buggy which was an experience itself. The amenities in our accommodation, fantastic, clean, spacious a real sense of home. The pool area is stunning again with lots of extras for children. Next morning a beautiful breakfast basket delivered to our door. The whole experience, and atmosphere is 10/10, would highly recommend and can’t wait to visit again.

We stayed for one night as a family of 4 along with another family we were travelling with. I start with the positives: 1. Beautiful building and grounds. 2. Nice pool area. 3. Comfortable rooms with good air con. Unfortunately however there are a number of things which let the hotel down and means we would not stay again or recommend to other travellers. The negatives were: 1. Terrible service. The women we dealt with on the front desk were quite rude and looked annoyed anytime we asked a question or needed help. If you try calling or emailing the hotel in advance or after the stay they are completely unresponsive, ignoring emails and never answering the phone. 2. Food. There is no restaurant or proper food options available. For breakfast they charge 28 Euros per person for a small basket of bread, eggs, croissants and meat/cheese. The croissants were stale. The website suggests there is food which can be ordered for lunch/dinner but when we arrived we were told this wasn't an option and we'd have to go out to eat. 3. 200 EURO hold on credit card not returned. When checking in they took a 200 euro hold on our credit card. Not sure why this is needed as there is no mini bar, no ability to order room service or charge things to the room and we had to pay for our breakfast when we checked in. We were told the hold would be reversed the afternoon of checkout but 5 days later it's still not be done. The same has happened with our friends who also stayed. I've tried contacting the hotel but they ignore all emails so I now have the hassle of having to contact my bank to remove the charge on the credit card. After staying at the hotel I looked at a few reviews online (should have checked before the stay) and there are similar themes from other travellers. You will also note that when travellers post a negative review or a complaint online the hotel management are very rude and aggressive in response. There is never a polite apology or recognition that someone has received bad service. On this basis I would suggest avoiding staying at this hotel.

Beautiful place and friendly staff!