Château de Saint-Aubin sur Loire

I stayed here a few years ago. It’s looking worn. The location is convenient for what we wanted to do but the hotel parking was closed and the alternative parking wasn’t convenient with luggage. Breakfast was great, a nice choice and the bar was nice for a refreshing stop. I would stay here again but it does need a facelift.

The reason I pick members of The Leading Hotels of the World is not only because the properties and locations are exceptional and always in the very center of a city or the best spot on a beach. Villa Maia is not. It’s situated on a long and steep hill and you need a taxi to go everywhere and no other restaurants, cafes or stores nearby. While the room was fairly large the bathroom was small. Also the place felt unfinished: they have an indoor pool with a cool hot tub and nice lounge chairs right in front but the windows don’t open and you have to go through the bar area to go to the pool. It would have been much better if they would have sliding doors to create a seamless indoor-outdoor experience or built an outdoor pool area instead of the grass/weed area. It feels like they run out of money.