Chateau des Ducs de Joyeuse, BW Signature Collection

To start with I would like to say that we have been coming here for 15 years and before it became a Corporate business it was outstanding, you were made to feel so welcome. It was so lovely and all staff were very attentive then. We always looked forward to the experience of dining in the fabulous courtyard, it had such ambiance. How it changed this year. We arrived after having driven 2 hours up from the coast to be greeted with "Dinner is off tonight, you will have to go elsewhere" and were given a couple of choices , some meant driving again. We were told it was because their fridges had broken. ( we did end up going to a fabulous local restaurant where our custom was appreciated) The female staff member then took us the wrong way to our room and it was extremely hot by then. We booked bed and breakfast last year to stay at the Chateau and we booked a table for dinner in January this year. We went to the bar area to have a drink, another place where there used to be oodles of ambiance, to eventually be told by the maître d' "I'll get someone to serve you" why he couldn't, I don't know, as he had just served someone else? A young lad came out, who didn't speak French and had trouble getting our drinks, the maître d' had to show him how to do it. We noticed later in the evening that 2 a large tables were being set for Dinner for some other guests. When checking out we were asked if our stay was good and I explained that it was not and asked why we were told we could not have the dinner experience but others could. We were told by the manager it was because they had booked half board. Is room, breakfast and dinner not half board? We had this booked a good 6 months prior to our visit. I'm just so disappointed that this piece of our annual homage to Couiza has been spoiled as we will not go back again to the Chateau. So sad.

We had high expectations for this hotel and all fell short by far since we booked on recommendation of a trusted source. Unfortunately neither of us knew that the property sold thus management changed shortly before we arrived. Disaster. Chaotic, awkward arrival-not welcoming at all and confusion when we asked for help with our bags. When we got to our room the a/c was not on and it was an oven. They tried to get it going but didn’t know how it worked. Finally after trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep my husband climbed up on a chair and got it working. Not a great first impression. Dinners-very limited menu clearly designed for groups, nothing special at all and somewhat odd to tell the truth. Servers were awkward and barely trained, breakfast staff in the morning were headed by a scowling woman and the same awkward servers from the evenings. We got the impression they were afraid of the scowling boss. Cannot recommend this hotel.

We were lucky to spend 16 days at this beautiful chateau in Couiza, a renaissance castle from the 16th century at the foot of the Pyrenees. The restaurant did not stop surprising us with new gorgeous dishes every day served with the best of service. Cozy and clean room with air condition, nice pool and outdoor retreat area. The hosts Isabelle and Vincent together with the staff made our stay a memorable one, and we will for sure return to this lovely place.