Hello people. I'm sorry if this has been posted before, I couldn't find it. And apologies if this sounds like a rant. :(
I'm still fuming about Hotel La Sauldraie in Salbris in le centre de la France, a Logis de France hotel. We changed our route to travel north on the A20 last Friday, to avoid possible snow problems in the Clermont Ferrand and Lyon areas. I rang on Friday morning to book and Madame told me there would be a room for OH and myself and our dog Teddy, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
The welcome, or lack of, apart, we were showed to a room in a separate block that is kept for people with mobility problems and people with pets. Madame told us that Teddy couldn't go on the bed [he's indulged, I know] but also that if he barked at all, he was to go in the car. After 7 hours in the car, he did bark a bit as we were moving our stuff and Monsieur, the chef came out to say he heard Teddy barking in the room. Again, he said 's'il aboit, il va dans la voiture'. The temperature was hovering around 0 degrees at the time.
After a brief discussion, we decided that we couldn't risk eating in the restaurant with Teddy in case he made a noise, or leaving him in the room in case he barked. We went to another Logis de France which is just down the road, explained the problem and they said there was absolutely no problem. We went back to La Sauldraie and said it was best if we left, very sorry and for the first time in either of our lives, left a hotel within an hour of checking in.
We still can't believe that they wanted our dog to sleep in the car in freezing temperatures and the few dog owners we've talked to about it wouldn't do that either. I would like to warn other dog owners and wonder if there are any sites where I can post to let people know, if you guys can let me know please.
I've already let Logis de France know via their website because the only other time I've had cause to complain about a hotel, they took it very seriously. I'm told that if 5 serious complaints from different people are received in a year, the heavy squad descend on the hotel. It seems to us that La Sauldraie would be better saying they don't accept pets rather than letting people book and taking this attitude when they arrive at the hotel.
Rant over, thank you if you got to the end.