The refuge cancelled our booking on the day. This might be ok for a normal hotel but when the hotel is in the middle of a mountain, only accessible by a 2.5 hour hike (or a tiny train that is on strike - it’s France after all) then it is simply unacceptable to let your guests arrive at the door tired, hungry & thirsty to see a sign that says ‘sorry we’re closed, we tried to contact you’. We had indeed received a message from the hotel that morning but it confirmed that, despite the train strike, the hotel remains open if you are happy to walk. We had always planned to hike so we set off as normal, paying 85 euros for the cable car up. A few hours later they sent 1 further email to cancel the booking completely but of course we were already up the mountain & didn’t see it. No phone calls or voicemails (except from Expedia, later that evening) so they let us hike for hours, not knowing the hotel was closed.
In the end, we had no choice but to hike all the way back down the mountain with blisters on our feet, no food & no water because of course we had not planned for such a long hike all in 1 day. We had booked half board & this hotel isn’t cheap compared to a typical refuge! Absolutely disappointed. Not even a follow up email to apologise, just a request for a review. Charming
