Les Tuillières

We spent an enjoyable 1 night stay with Susan and Hermann in their quiet and seductive farm house. This was our return visit and we were not disappointed. The welcome and attention to our comfort and enjoyment was excellent and we were sad to leave. The dinner was delicious. We will look forward to returning in the near future.

Thank you for your kind words, John. It was such a pleasure to see you both and we hope the rest of your summer is enjoyable. We look forward to seeing you again here at Les Tuillières!

I ummed and ahhed about whether to leave a review and decided that it was important for me to do so - after all, it’s useful for people to read reviews even if they aren’t entirely positive. Our experience of the Tuillieres was a mixture of positive and negative. The house was brilliant and Susan was an incredibly helpful and thoughtful host. She gave us some excellent tips for our stay and a bike ride we did and we really appreciated her help. Our experience with Herman however was not so good. There were a number of logistical situations that arose during our stay in relation to which we asked Herman for assistance. For example, we needed help with returning bikes we had hired but (we could not return them as the hire place was some distance away), and we needed help in organizing transport to and from the Tuillieres. Initially, he was very helpful but in the end he made us feel quite unwelcome and that helping us was a complete inconvenience. I guess hospitality means different things to different people. Nevertheless, our overall stay was enjoyable.

[Click Here To Hide Full Review]

SUSAN’S COMMENTS
We agree with this guest that all reviews are important, both positive and negative ones, as we always try to learn from our visitors what would make their stay with us a more pleasant experience. These guests had two special requests for us which we tried hard to fill: they ...

[Click Here To See Full Response]

SUSAN’S COMMENTS
We agree with this guest that all reviews are important, both positive and negative ones, as we always try to learn from our visitors what would make their stay with us a more pleasant experience. These guests had two special requests for us which we tried hard to fill: they needed transport to and from the train station and they wanted to rent bikes. Those two things are easy in a town setting but we are 25 km from the train station and 10 km from the bike rental man, out in the countryside where taxis are, we feel, prohibitively expensive as an alternative for our guests. Hermann met them at the station but arranged for taxi service to take them back. He also went specially to help them pick up their rental bikes and later arranged for the rental man to come collect them at a suitable time for our guests on departure day. We are sorry that they felt “inconvenient” because on our side, we were trying to meet their needs as best we could.

HERMANN’S COMMENTS
I would like to respond to your comments one by one.
1. “There were a number of logistical situations....” You called me a few days before your arrival to let me know that you could not find a car to rent. The real situation was that you waited too long to rent a car and that you were not willing to hire a manual shift vehicle. It is true that automatic cars in continental Europe are more difficult to find. 90% of our overseas guests make do with a manual shift car. To have a logistics problem was not an act of God but entirely your own decision. When you called me, I understood right away that you put the problem in my lap. While we always willingly help out guests who have accidents or who were unable to get transport due to reasons beyond their power, your case did not fall into this category. NEVERTHELESS, I offered to pick you up at the train station. I acted totally irresponsibly because what I did is illegal in France and any serious accident whether my fault or not would have had extremely serious consequences from losing our license to heavy fines to prison. I don’t dare to think what your lawyer’s demands would have been in such a case.
I felt I had gone way beyond the call of duty in providing this favour. As you know the station is not next door but a 50 km round trip. Regretfully, on the phone when I did mention a taxi, I also warned you about the steep charge for such a trip. This might have influenced your decision to lean on me.
2. The Bicycles. You also asked me to find and reserve two bikes. Bike shops are few around here but I eventually managed to find what you requested. The shop’s prices are based on guest pick-up and return. Here again I volunteered to do the 20km round trip and fetch the bikes, not really a service included in the €90 room rental tariff – but I did it. So far the “assistance” you asked of me, even though quite out of the ordinary, was given without any problem and with a smile.
3. During your stay it was felt that you were rather stand-offish towards the other guests and that you chose not to participate at our table d’hôte, something we offer not only for our guests’ convenience but also to earn some additional income. Given the way I went out of my way to help you, it would have been a nice gesture to buy two meals from us. You preferred to ride into the next village and leave your money there.
4. Departure. When it came to your departure and you had not bothered to find out how you could get back to the station nor worried about returning the bikes, I felt that you considered us as your servants and that I was supposed to take you to the train and return your bikes for you. This I was not willing to risk again for the reasons I have already explained. Did you therefore have to worry about any of this? Of course not, because out of my own sense of duty towards my guests I took the trouble to order a taxi and to plead with the bike rental place to come pick up the bikes at a time which would be suitable for you. He charged €5.
When I explained this to you, I immediately sensed your displeasure. Quite honestly, I felt abused that you did not appreciate all the extra work and time spent by Susan and myself for a situation which was entirely of your own making. It is only at that moment that I decided to charge you a mere €25 for the transportation I provided you. A taxi would have asked you at least €75.
In 17 years of this B&B business, we have never found ourselves in such a situation. I swore I would never again do anything like this if the occasion should arise . Now that I have calmed down a bit, I know that I would do it again and all will be okay if, and I am sure they will as they always do, our guests will appreciate our extra efforts.
Thank you for your stay and I feel sorry that we were unable to live up to your high expectations.

[Click Here To Hide Full Response]