Hôtel Vatel

Beautiful stay in this hotel Very friendly staff and extremely helpful I don not speak any French and they very quickly spoke and explained all to me in English. On arrival , I had check online one prior to arrival from email instruction from this hotel 24 hrs before I arrived so our room was ready and we picked up key from lovely young man at reception. (sorry didn't get his name) He advised us to leave our luggage at reception while he showed us , personally , in the elevator to our room. He brought up our luggage himself straight away. The room was very spacious, beautiful bathroom with walk in shower and separate toilet, very comfortable bed and room. Mini bar with complimentary water which was welcomed gladly as temperatures reached 36 degrees while we were there. Spotlessly clean. Hotel on the corner of street and tram stop just on main street around the corner. Very good location as along the River Garonne with many cafes and places to eat in the evening and trams every 5 mins. Trams are spotless, no litter, no graffiti, no butt ends.....really impressed with tram system

Excellent hotel great location. Customer service was excellent. The staff couldn't do enough for us. Great room. Very clean with lovely decor. Management and staff are really first class. Very convenient for all of Bordeaux. Reasonable costs.Thank you

The location was nearly perfect - close enough to the old town without being in the center of all the bustle. The staff was very warm and welcoming. The recommendations we were given for nearby restaurants and places to visit were spot-on. The room was clean and the bathroom spacious. The breakfast was in a beautiful space although the food was a typical european breakfast buffet and not outstanding. But who goes to a hotel for the breakfast, anyway? Highly recommended.

We stayed in the deluxe room for several days prior to starting a river cruise. Vatel is just across the boulevard from cruise ship dock and the metro tram line B stop is practically at the door for easy transportation to anything worthwhile in Bordeaux. The hotel and its restaurant is part of a hospitality business school so staff is young but very eager to serve. The deluxe room (114) is huge with king bed. It has private entrance reached thru the dining room and patio and up a flight of outdoor steps. The dining room was open only for breakfast and lunch when we were there so getting to our room was not a problem. Management was very responsive to minor plumbing issue we encountered. Breakfast was a typical continental but very good.

The hotel is clean, functional and the staff, many of whom are being trained as it is connected to a hospitality school, were helpful and pleasant. We ate there the night we got in, and although the food was plated beautifully, and overall it was tasty, some of the elements didn't seem to hang together well (white asparagus-very good-with a burrata ice cream, pork with a peppercorn coating and a lobster tail on top in the shell). Emma, our server was delightful, and made the whole experience positive. It is about a 25 minute walk along the river to town center. Pretty, but a bit far after dinner, although the tram can cut that time in half. Town center has a lot of cafes and places for a drink and there are a few close to the hotel. They recommended Le M as a restaurant on a different night, and we concur. It was outstanding. It is degustation only, not ala carte, although there are some choices to select in the courses. Five courses for 48 euro-well worth it! It isn't elegant or fancy, but rooms are comfortably sized, service is good, and definitely worth a look. The only minor negative is the distance from town center where much of the history, action and restaurants are, and the area, while safe, doesn't have much charm. Last comment: use Uber to get to Gare St. Jean. It should have been about 15-20 euro, but we took a taxi to use up some euro before returning home and ended up going the long way around (didn't know it at the time) and spent 36 euro.

Hotel Vatel is a modern hotel a few tram stops from the city center. The rooms were very spacious and the bathrooms lovely. Plus, there was a full size elevator!! Our main purpose for visiting Bordeaux was to do a wine tour, so we did not do too much exploring in the city. I think there were probably things around the hotel that we did not have time to investigate. We were there two nights and both nights we took the tram to the city center for dinner. The breakfast at the hotel was very good and all of the staff very nice and helpful.