Power couple who moaned 'it's not hard to get pastries right in France' after being served 'stale' croissants at four-star hotel and claimed their room was 'mouldy' win £4k payout Holiday lets landlord is ordered to pay £2,000 damages after forcing family out By DOMINIC YEATMAN Published: 06:12 EST, 22 January 2025 | Updated: 06:21 EST, 22 January 2025 e-mail View comments A blue-chip lawyer who expected a week of luxury and fine dining with his family in an idyllic French hotel has been awarded damages after discovering that even the croissants were inedible. Damen Bennion was looking forward to a 'gourmet' experience after spending £6,670 on a stay at the Club Med Opio in Provence with his high-flying accountant wife, Jane, and their two young sons. The hotel's website promises that 'fragrant lavender, the song of cicadas, and the taste of tapenade take you to the heart of Provence'.
But the couple found themselves in a 'smelly' room on their first night before being served an 'awful' dinner, followed by stale croissants at breakfast the next morning. 'It's not hard to get pastries right in France , but they got them wrong,' Mrs Bennion, 49, told the Central London County Court. When the couple asked for a different room they were transferred to a dirty and dingy suite where mould dotted the walls.
'We told our children on the first night that daddy would get things sorted, but it wasn't sorted,' Mr Bennion told Judge Justin Althaus. 'At the end of the week, we as a fami.