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As part of our commitment to you, our walking holiday public and clientele, we have selected what we consider to be the best and most appropriate accommodation options for each of our French hiking tours and trekking vacations. They are nearly always hotels but, depending on the hiking tour, we may have found an alternative that offers you a better mix of comfort, convenience, facilities, independence and location. Either way, rest assured that we have visited the premises, met the owners and staff and in many cases both eaten and slept there ourselves.
‘Roughing it’, even for one night, is something you will never do when on an Enlightened Traveller hiking vacation - although we may have done it ourselves as part of our selection process! The vast array of French accommodations offer can be incredibly confusing – how do you choose between a 2-star hotel, a 3-star bastide or mas or a 4-star chambre d’hotes or residence? Do two stars mean a better rating than the equivalent number of 'ears of corn' (used by Gites de France) or 'fireplaces' (used by another marketing group)? We all know British hotels that have a higher or lower official rating than they deserve, and wonder why that may be. In France, a rating is generally re-assessed once every five years, when our experience tells us that ownership can change hands three times in that period. We know of cases where the Office de Tourisme charges to promote chambres d’hotes that they have never visited.   Hotels in France are classified into six categories. This classification, expressed in a star rating, is said to correspondent to ‘norms of comfort’, whilst not constituting a label of quality. In other words, it’s a pretty meaningless system that is at best a guide and at worst an opportunity for complacency. If the authorities devised a real and objective quality system, those deemed to be ‘low quality’ would never get business and in turn sue the authorities. As anyone who has studied and implemented quality systems will tell you (and the author of this text has undergone recent ISO 9001 training), it’s a question of establishing your own quality norms and systems and then meeting them. Nothing objective there, then. Experience teaches you that good accommodation depends on the right blend of material features and service, and the latter is down to people – people and staff that you have never met. The hotel classification is as follows:
  Finally here, and quite significantly, it costs money and resources (bureaucracy) to have a rating for your hotel in France. Some owners of very nice accommodation simply cannot see the justification for it and so refuse to pay it. And if they are providing an excellent product, and getting repeat business from satisfied clients, why should they bother with officialdom? Many do not. So the moral is: unclasssified does not equate to poor accommodation and, in some cases, equates to much-sought-after lodgings. One of the nicest hotels we know and work with is 2-star. The proprietor was offered a 3-star rating if he employed someone else who spoke a third language. He declined, as the costs of employing people in France would have meant putting up his prices, something which may have adversely affected his regular clientele. Pictures don’t tell the full story and neither do hotel owners. We can all find some accommodation on the internet that looks and sounds okay, but you never know until you have visited it or stayed there; and then it can be too late - your holiday or special occasion ruined due to poor service, uncomfortable rooms, unfriendly staff or an inadequate location. All our accommodation has been selected with great care and offers an authentic French experience. All are family-owned and run by people who care as much about their businesses as we do about ours. They all come with our own personal recommendation; many have an outdoor swimming pool - subject to availability. Wherever you stay, you are assured of a warm welcome, in appealing surroundings, and with all mod cons and a few more traditional ones thrown in. You will not find hotel chains within our range.   If you are on a 7-night Walking Languedoc programme, you are likely to stay in three or four hotels. We delight in introducing you to as diverse a range of cultural and geographical settings as is possible within the parameters of a particular programme. When the standard is predictably high, there is simply so much to do, so many different experiences to have, that there is never a sentiment of “I was just getting comfortable…”, but instead a desire to check out the next stage of your learning curve. Whether its by car, taxi, train, 'inclusive transport' or Shank's Pony, you will have at your fingertips everything you need to move from one place to another as seamlessly as possible. Finally here, food; which shows you that French is the writer's second nationality, because matters of the stomach would never be left till last by any true, self-respecting Frenchman or woman...such as my wife! That being the case, our policy is to include essential meals with your programme. This means breakfast only for our half-day tours - i.e., hiking or rambling tours - and all meals only for our walking and trekking tours, where you are walking for the best part of the day and so would prefer not to have to do so in search of both lunch and dinner! We do not package up something that will tie you down and restrict your freedom of choice - if there is a choice, that is. The only exception to this is our range of French cuisine courses, where the raison d’etre for the choice of venue is the quality of the food – not to be missed! Return to Home Page |