I would warn people to be very careful when booking this hotel. We booked thro expedia and when we arrived we were shown to a house about half a mile away from the hotel which we were told was our accomadation. We appeared to be the ony guests in this house. I protested and we came back to the hotel to sort it out. The male receptionest simply sneered at us and said take it or leave it. We asked to speak to a manager who when she arrived explained that there was nothing she could do for us despite the fact that our guide who brought us down to the other house had told us the hotel was quiet. She also explained that as we had booked thro Expedia for four nights she felt it unlikely we could get our money back but stressed that this was not her concern and she had no idea what Expedias policy was on cancellations. It took a lot of persuasion and emphasis that we were not prepared to stay in the annexe before she accepted that we would not go away. She then told us she could accomadate us in a sister hotel in Villeneuve des Avignon which turned out to be a lovely hotel when we eventually arrived. I would stress that our complaint was at the accomadation we were offered but also at the attitude of the staff. The annexed house is a long way from the main hotel with no facilities

I was booked in one of the annexes. I attached pictures of our room. . . you judge for yourself if this looks like a world class hotel. You had to call the main hotel and wait for a driver to come and get you if you needed anything. Was quite far away. main hotel looked lovely, but the experience in the annex was not even close to worth the price tag. . . SEE PICS!

I spent last summer at Ousteau for a week long stay with my family. It couldn't have been a nicer stay. The staff was amazingly pleasent, the grounds were gorgeous and the food was amazing. The combination of Sylveste Wahid and his brother Jonathan in the kitchen made for some amazing meals.

I wouldn't just recommend this hotel, I would say it is a must visit when in Provence... I would go back every year if I could.

My wife and I just returned from a 3 day stay at l’Oustau. I have read conflicting reports on this Site and wanted to share my own experience. I believe ones’ views are closely related to ones’ expectations. For me having lived in the South of France for over 30 years l’Oustau was a magical place : very expensive but an excellent restaurant (used to be among the top 30 french restaurants carrying a Michelin 3 star evaluation). Unfortunately my wife and I experienced the following :

- a small room with a strong odor of tobacco quite distasteful for non-smokers and a closet containing only 3 shirt hangers and 5 pants holders. On Sunday after a delightful but tiresome walk up to the village we came back to rest at 2 PM. The room had still not been made (although only 14 rooms in the building) and in order not to be disturbed during our nap we put the “do not disturb” sign outside our door. This did not prevent a call from the reception to know when our room would be freed for cleaning.

- our package included a gourmet diner. This was actually the motivation for our visit as the advertised prices are quite high as indicated by other travelers. Well the imposed diner choice was nothing special either in content or presentation. The fish served was returned to the kitchen as insufficiently cooked (I couldn’t cut mine and my wife’s was red around the bone) ! We were quite cool about the problem as such incidents do happen and just waived the waiter over. The dishes were promptly removed and cutlery replaced and 2 new dishes of fish brought out 15 minutes later. It seems this did create some commotion as the following dish – beef – was delivered in person by the Maître d’. However he had not investigated the order and was surprised when I asked him which piece was rare and which one was medium-rare. Well he had 50-50 odds but this was not his lucky day and had to change the plates around. Later a well provided cheese table was rolled over to our table but we passed as we were keeping room for desert. The waiter rolled the cheese table away and a few minutes later a waitress put down a basket of rolls on our table. We were trying to figure out what this was about as the rolls looked like breakfast rolls when another waiter rolled up the cheese table and offered us some cheese… and left with the cheese and the bread. All this to say that the food was fair but would not qualify for a one star in the Michelin and the service is by no means that of a 2 star establishment.

The building itself and the grounds are nice and the surrounding mountains and village worth the detour. Those who have not traveled extensively in France or in Europe and who are not limited expense wise will be delighted with l’Oustau. The others will be disappointed as numerous other establishments exist providing better lodging, food and service.