A creaking once-grand hotel that fell on hard times and has now been given a bohemian reincarnation, Hotel Heritage is full of charm. Located on the main pedestrianised street of sleepy Cognac, the owners are charming. The hotel’s street front bar and courtyard restaurant are probably the best in town, and very good value. Rooms and long hallways are painted flamboyant bright pink, green and red and decked out with eclectic furnishings, knick knacks and neat bathrooms. Good French style breakfast is served in the old dining room with high ceilings and French doors. A great base for a weekend exploring the cognac houses.

Hotel Heritage is comfortable, with jauntily decorated rooms and a lovely outdoor garden restaurant. The lobby is chic, the owners are laidback and friendly, and the rest of the staff will serve you vanilla tea or alcohol in such a relaxed fashion that it is hard not to feel somewhat elegant, even with three under fives.
The outdoor garden restaurant is great for drinks at night, and an entertaining place for kids for lunch (who can float leaves and other "boats" in the fountain) The food is standard, but made above average by the fact you can watch the chefs, who are a cheery bunch, as they cook in the outdoor kitchen. So reality entertainment laid on.
Downsides are: no lifts; the rubbish trucks who come by very early on Wednesday mornings; and the breakfast. The breakfast is so simple it is boring. Croissants, jam, cafe noir (or tea if you like but you have to boil your own) and yoghurts. Somehow, I had expected so much more out of these flair-full hospitable folk.

the hotel heritage (careful! it used to be called hotel d'orléans, which is what its parking space is still labeled!) is beautifully decorated. the lobby, restaurant, bar and courtyard restaurants are really restful. the rooms are a little plainer, but still nice. it's a beautiful old building: if you're expecting chrome modern bathrooms, of course you will be disappointed. there was a faint whiff of damp towels in the room, but otherwise it was lovely, and very competitively priced.
the staff were nice enough, but not jumping over to help you with anything. the told us we could park in the courtyard, then took it back and had us park in the town. I suppose we could have booked parking in advance, maybe that would have helped.
the menu for the restaurant looked innovative and exciting, but we ate elsewhere. however, a nightcap at the hotel showed us that they have an excellent cognac menu!
the location is superb, right in the middle of town, with ten minutes walk to most of the major cognac distilleries.

We called in for a leisurely lunch during a sight seeing visit to Cognac. How disapppointing! After a 30 minute wait the first of our party of eight was served. It was to be an hour before the last of us had our meal.
The serving staff wanted only to blame the kitchen - there was no desire to own the problem, just a shrug of the shoulders and lame excuses about the equipment being out of order (although people at adjoining tables were being served identical meals).
If you are looking for a meal there are far better - and friendlier - establishments in Cognac.