Name: La Tour de Crecy
Address: 1 Place des Alliés, Crecy-sur-Serre, Crecy-sur-Serre, Crecy-sur-Serre, 02270, France
Rating: 9

Smoke-free property

Heating

Newspapers

Express check-in/check-out

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Rooms

Safe-deposit box

Services and amenities

Diet menu (on request)

Restaurant

Packed Lunches

Bottled water

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

English

French

Languages Spoken

Hiking

Recreation

Offsite parking reservations required

Parking

Fax and copy machine

Business

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Location

At the hotel

Reddition Museum

Mars Gate

Champagne-Ardenne TGV

Patte d'Oie Park

Hotel Le Vergeur Museum

Museum of Fine Arts

Reims Cathedral

Tau Palace

Lanson

St. Remi Basilica

Pommery Castle

La Tour de Crecy

Crecy-sur-Serre

We've stayed at this lovely little hotel twice before on our way back from a skiing holiday with the previous owners and wanted to visit again. We'd travelled for 8 hours with our two dogs ( I had been emailed by the property when I booked in September 2023 to say they would be accepted at a cost of 5 euros each which was agreed) We'd also booked a table for 7pm on the evening of our arrival. The food before was amazing

So when we arrived at 4.45pm and the hotel was in complete darkness we were slightly surprised but check in was 5pm so ...... we waited. At 5.15pm when there was no sign of life and after constantly ringing the bell and banging on the door I heard a movement and the door opened slightly. The lady (I presume the owner) was not very pleased to see us - the hotel was still in darkness. I showed her my booking with Booking.com and she very reluctantly got a key and took payment. Apart from our room the hotel was still in complete darkness which was quite disturbing. 

With hindsight we wish we'd just driven off but we'd had a long day with our two dogs and needed some rest.

Our room was as before, spacious and clean - couldn't fault it

My husband went up and down to the reception/bar area - the lady was sat in darkness with the door to the bar/restaurant locked.

In need of something to eat my husband went to the local kebab shop (not quite how we'd expected to finish our holiday). He  was asked where he was staying and met with huge laughter ...... the hotel was closed down and had been for a while!!

It was a fairly creepy night staying there I can tell you that.

Booking.com have been absolutely useless and basically after stalling for time refuse to get involved even though they are advertising a closed property on their website. I asked for a refund -  booking.com say it isn't their responsibility. So who is responsible?  

Such a shame - it had been such a fabulous place to stay before - really disappointing end to our holiday.

A lesson learnt - never go back ......

I don't know where to start .....

A prime reason for our constant use of Crecy as a stopping-off point when we arrive in France is this simple hotel, and particularly the fact that it was owned for many years by the irrepressible Laurent and his lovely and very talented wife and chef Brigitte. We had read on other reviews that the hotel was now under new management and, as some of those reviews were less than complimentary, I must admit to being overly-ready to write the place off.

On arrival however, we were greeted by a very charming young man; our room (no 1) was roomy and comfortable and our meal of a shared pizza and a salad du gesiers was enjoyable. Re the latter, the salad was way short of the one previously served up by Brigitte, but bearing in mind that she was an exceptionally talented chef, you have to accept that having such a chef in a two star hotel shouldn’t be expected as the norm, and we were more than satisfied with the standard of both the food and the service.

Breakfast was very nice and we enjoyed juice, fresh fruit salad, yoghurt and a basketful of fresh breads along with decent coffee.

The bottom line is that whereas that magical era of being welcomed by Laurent is now no more than a passing memory, we are still very satisfied with this hotel. The people we met were welcoming and very nice, the standards of service and food were perfectly acceptable, and the value for money remains top class. As such, we will continue to use this as our first stop of choice when journeying in France.

Still our first stopping off point when coming to France

Since Brigitte and Laurent left, I haven't found the warmth, the quality of the food, the lack of rigor at all levels.

I was used to it when Brigitte and Laurent were at the head of this sign.

We were on a motorbike tour in the French Alps.  Our guide has frequently stayed at this hotel in the past, but it is now under new management.  The stay was a stop over on our way back to the UK.  Our tour guide had previously been so impressed with the hotel that he felt it justified a 10 hour ride to get here.  Due to the extremely long day most of us stopped for food.  Just the tour guide and one other member of the party pressed on in order to get to the hotel before the restaurant closed at 8:30.  When we arrived we were provided with secure parking for our motorbikes.  A real bonus.  The rooms were very spacious, clean and had all the key facilities.  

We got a drink from the bar.  The bar man was very friendly and spoke excellent English.  We enjoyed our drinks outside on the beautiful square.   We got a kebab from the shop across the square.  Whilst eating this outside the hotel we were asked to come inside.  We thought it was an issue with us eating food from another establishment outside the hotel.  We were happy to sit in the bar to eat them.  However we were told the bar was closing even though it was only 10pm.  Surprising as we would all have had a few drinks and provided the hotel with additional profit.  We asked if we could get one last drink.  We were told we could but that we would have to take it to our room.  

The seven of us headed up to our room where we sat and chatted whilst enjoying our drinks.  It wasn't long however when there was a bang on the wall.  We joked that the place was perhaps haunted.  Soon there was another bang so clearly we were disturbing someone, we soon worked out we were adjacent to the owners accommodation and it was they that we were disturbing not another guest.  So we all moved to one of the other rooms further away.  However the owner then came and told us to be quiet.  We were astonished at this as it was only 10:30pm and we were only chatting not partying and making lots of noise.  We then decided to go to our separate rooms.  The two guys however stayed in their room and continued to talk to each other.  They were soon visited again and told to be quiet.  Amazing! If it had been after midnight and they were being loud I could have understood it.  However they were making no more noise than if you had the TV on.  Clearly the owner expected quests to go to bed and go to sleep at an early time.

Next morning a pleasant fresh breakfast of French bread jams and spreads.  Together with fresh orange juice, tea and coffee.

A lovely hotel in an excellent location.  The stay however was totally ruined by the curfew.

Great Hotel but with a curfew

A fabulous and very good value stopover on our way to Spain.  Very welcoming and extremely dog friendly and will definitely stay again.  The food was delicious and we received excellent service.  There is a car park behind the hotel which was perfect for us. 

Excellent value dog friendly hotel 

An excellent place to stop in, as we have before, jus a short drive from Calais, with wonderful hosts, Brigitte and Laurent who look after you well and are more that welcoming, no wonder we keep returning. Rooms are adequate and the dinners are great with a good choice. You are given a bottle of water to go to be with, which is a nice persoanl touch. We will return.

Great welcome on arrival, great food and service.

Everything was clean, cozy, warm, comfortable. There are towels, little, shampoo, even a batch of watermelon. I'm taking one ball for breakfast: they brought some unfresh, showered and tasty steak. They told the administrator about it. She sniffed it, said everything was fine. Breakfast can be purchased for a separate price. It includes: coffee with milk, cocoa, packed orange juice, croissant, jelly, honey, noodles, two kinds of cheese with mold and molasses, steak, delicious steak.

The old man failed, so it's fine.

We have been using this lovely little hotel for several years now and it is as perfect as ever. 

When asked by various friends and family about the places we stay in France, I tend to describe Crécy sur Serre as a very ordinary little town with nothing much to see or do. And, arguably, this hotel could also be described as a pretty ordinary hotel in respect of rooms, facilities etc. 

The bottom line however is that this ordinary little town provides the ideal non-touristy start or end to a French trip. This is “real” France and is lazily wonderful, and the hotel provides the perfect icing on the cake. Laurent is the most welcoming, charming and humorous of hosts, and checking in here feels like coming home. 

And if Laurent is the garrulous front of house, his wife Brigitte is the top chef in the background, and the quality of food served in the restaurant belies the simplicity of the hotel and is a match for five star restaurants. 

Quite simply, if you want a real taste of French lifestyle and hospitality, this is as good as it gets.

Hits the spot perfectly.

Stayed for one night on our way back home. This is a hotel and town from the France you learnt about in the D’acorrd text books (if you are of a certain age!) where there is great attention to detail and well, everything is very French! With 2 small children the owner could not do enough for us, he even boxed up the kids left over pizza and put in in the fridge for us to take on our onward journey. We had both dinner and breakfast which were great. The dinner I had was some of the best food I have ever tasted, simple but with unbelievable flavours. We never got to look round the town as had to get straight off for the ferry but as someone else commented it looks like a movie set, so next time we’ll come back sans kids and give it a proper look round and revistit that fantastic food and hospitality. Well done to the owners on offering an increasingly rare authentic French experience!

A Gem!!

Thought we’d try a more relaxed start to drive to South of France, so booked a midday crossing and wanting to make a few hours progress in France. This place an easy drive off A26. Easy to park in the attractive square in front of hotel. Owner very friendly, funny and good English. You could moan about a few things in rooms, but clean, comfy beds, relatively spacious, great windows. It was 41.5 Celsius and no air con or fans, but not their fault. For the price it was great and the breakfast was really nice and worth the money. We had drinks in the bar and ate in the very nice restaurant. The ‘other half’ of the partnership served us and was great and again had good English. We loved the food and the menus were really good value. We stayed in a highly rated modern hotel the next night but I’m bound to say that I would take the Tour every day.

La Tour de Crecy

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