Novotel Orleans Chemins de Sologne Demeures de Campagne

This was our second stay in two weeks. The poor food standard in the restaurant had not improved - even a cheeseburger arrived cold!. The seats in the restaurant had all been cleaned during the day and the soft furnished ones were all damp. We had to move and sit at the breakfast bar on high stools. On the plus side, the staff are pleasant and the Aperol Spritz is magnificent

Everything is at ground level in this hotel but this does mean a long walk to your room and if you were a lone traveller opening a window at night might make you feel uncomfortable. Reception was a bit confused at checkin of our group and some rooms were not available which given that we arrived after 3pm was odd. The hotel has obviously had a face lift and was not unattractive but they really needed to strip off the artex on the ceilings and walls first as the result is a bit downmarket especially in the rooms. Some pictures had been placed in the corridors but there run out halfway down and they really didnt go with the rest of the decor. The room was nice but a bit dark although fine for a night. The toilet and bathrooms did not get modernised, other than the basin and good lighting over the mirror, and were clean and functional although the grouting on the floor looked like it had never been cleaned. The bed and pillows were comfortable, the bedside table lights worked well and the room was quiet so we slept well. Breakfast was quite nice, the orange juice, yogurt and fruits were fine and there is a kettle in the room. The set menu for dinner was ok but what was served differed from what was on the menu we saw which was odd. As I was ill staff kindly did me a mushroom omelette with vanilla ice cream to follow which was most welcome, although it did need chasing up to get delivered. Overall fine for a night but given its out of town location you will need to eat here.

All the people wear swimsuits and are barefoot at the reception, I felt almost like being at a beach. Flip flops and shorts at dinner are the usual attire. You are requested to keep the cutlery used for the starter for the main course. It is not acceptable to be decently dressed for dinner among barefoot companies.