We stayed at the Chateau Laborde for two nights in July.
The hotel is based around an 19thC country house. Extended and renovated you can stay in the house or the annex, which is cheaper than the main house. In the gardens there are a number of buildings including a covered pool, the restaurant, a suite of conference rooms and a facilities room for Disco/Parties etc. The business plan clearly aims to attract the conference and wedding trade. As a hotel it falls short of the 3* to which it aspires.

The new build is well designed if a bit basic in it’s finish, it has good access for the disabled, a lift and a good sized breakfast room with some odd furniture and weird lighting. Our bedroom opened out onto a concrete courtyard with a wide French UPVC window for separate access, the shower / toilet room was a ‘wet room’. The furniture and beds were new pine type, the floors ‘wood effect laminate’, no shutters but thick curtains. Designed for a quick mop out each morning there were no carpets anywhere. Plumbing noise was good but the internal doors were so thin every sound from the corridor came into the bedroom. You could hear every word, every door bang. Towels 3* hard but that is normal.

The pool was closed till 17.30 and quickly filled with children; we did not bother to use it.
The concierge bounced us into a ‘weekend break’ demi pension saving 10 euro. A mistake as the menu was only one choice and once we saw Cordes we would have liked to have eaten there, it may have been more expensive but it is a very romantic location.
The restaurant seems to be run as a separate business. You pay them for your wine etc. With only one choice it was an uninspiring meal in a very nice location (we were able to eat in the garden). A delightful waitress, sweetened the pill considerably.

1st Courgette Tarte ( a bland pancake of julienne courgette and eggs )
2nd A small thin steak with cheese sauce, roast veg and steamed pots.
3rd Two of the thinnest slices of cheese I have ever seen. ( no choice)
4th Crème Brule.

The menu was designed to use cheap ingredients with very tight ‘portion control’. This is ‘catering’ not ‘cuisine’ and reflected the organisations ‘corporate agenda’.

Breakfast, served in the breakfast room (decorated with ghastly ‘sugar sculptures’). Madame hovered, and dished out your ‘one’croissant, Coffee from a big Thermos with a push top, Cereals, French bread sliced into 1cm slices, cheap jams in sachets, cheap yoghurt, Cheap Orange Juice. Pink stuff like Spam and Kraft Cheese slices. Just like a school meal or a corporate conference. Not the worst I have had, but pretty close….

In summary; a feeling that we were part of the corporate agenda tainted the overall experience. The ‘business plan’ was clear and whilst the staff were very smiley and nice the actual ‘product’ had been pared down to the minimum.

As a Hotel they do not deserve the 3* Logis. They may well do OK as a corporate centre but I would look carefully at the detail and the menu’s. In the end I can see they will use the Chateau Laborde for School Trips, the school staff will stay in the house and the kids have the annex. The catering reminded me of so may school visits and he characterless bedrooms will easily covert into multi occupancy dorms.

Sorry Chateau Laborde….you need to think again if you are to be a 3* Hotel.