Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel

A lovely gem in the quieter part of French Riviera. The accommodation and amenities were great paired with top notch service by their staff, who were very helpful and attentive throughout our stay.

Feels like a fairly standard Four Seasons that would charge around $500-800 per night, but our room was $4800 - insane and not worth it at all. Don’t stay here - just skip this area and go to St Tropez instead, which has much better luxury hotels at (surprisingly) lower prices. So many issues. The pool area feels like a crowded resort since there’s nothing else to do on the property and only one pool - not the serene elegance you expect from a very expensive luxury hotel. A lot of kids screaming, feels like Disneyland. The pool is saltwater which is weird - every other luxury hotel I stayed at on the riviera has been a freshwater pool. And it is 29 degrees so doesn’t cool you down in the heat, needs to be a few degrees cooler. If I wanted salt water, I’d go in the ocean. Due to the weird layout of the hotel, the pool is very low next to the ocean, so you don’t have a good view of anything while lounging. There’s a funicular to take you up and down to the pool from the hotel, but it was BROKEN a few days before we arrived according to the staff. So you’ll have a 10 minute uphill hike back to the hotel to get sweaty after your pool time. I imagine this walk is prohibitive to old people, small children, or wheelchairs. The restaurant at the pool was shockingly average - tasted like you’d expect at an average cafe on the street in a town like Nice, not a fancy hotel. And the prices were ridiculous - $180 for lobster pasta and $85 for jumbo shrimp - neither of which tasted above average. I don’t really understand how this restaurant isn’t higher quality given that the pool is basically the only attraction at the hotel. We had lunch each day last week at the pool at La Reserve in St Tropez and it was an experience every time, incredibly delicious. This four seasons pool restaurant was just average and disappointing. I think the hotel must have a problem with people hiking the coastal trail coming up to use the pool without permission. We were accosted by 4 different staff demanding to know our room number and name (first and last). Felt very weird and uncomfortable and made me worried about leaving my cellphone on my pool chair while swimming if the staff was that concerned about strangers wandering around. The worst violation for me was that our room was not ready until 4pm. Check-in time is 3pm, and I booked thru Chase, so we should have had early check-in at 2pm or even 1pm. Instead, our room was delivered an hour late. At $4800 per night, we are paying $200 per hour (more really with a 3pm check in and noon check-out). If the hotel cannot deliver the room at the agreed time, it should repay the guest proportionally. Basically having the room ready for check-in time is the only actual responsibility of a hotel if you think about it - that is their most fundamental contractual obligation to the customer. Can they just deliver the room at 6pm if they feel like it? 9pm? No, of course not - there is a red line at the stated check-in time. These

Exceeded our very high expectations. One of the very best hotel stays ever. Extremely personalised service. Beautiful room with a stunning view of the gardens and sea. Breakfast under the pines - amazing. A great selection. Extremely clean room with lovely toiletries. Dinner an unforgettable treat. Immaculate grounds with so many plant varieties. Sea water pool just a totally beautiful place to be. Staff across the board outstanding - clearly an excellent training system in place. Friendly and perfectly professional. Bedding request honoured (unlike a supposedly 5 star hotel in Bad Ragaz we stayed at earlier). Will definitely return to this place of absolute perfection. I did the walk to St Jean Cap Ferrat but it was very hard to drag myself out the gate. Just love this place.