Le Relais de la Poste: "The cheapest option we could find" Île de Porquerolles Hotel Tip by rsilva

Finding accommodation on the island is difficult as it is both very expensive and scarce.

After some research, I ended choosing "Le Relais de la Poste", but it was a difficult "negotiation" phase.

Unlike most other places I have been to, Porquerolles is not very technologically advanced and although almost all hotels have a website, it is not possible to book online and it takes forever to get answers to emails (I tried some other places as well, before).
That means that, more often than not, you have to phone and, in this particular case, the owner (the lady) was less than friendly and spoke almost no English at all. Even email communication was not very smooth, even ignoring the time it took to get a reply.

In any case, we finally confirmed the reservation and upon arrival, the staff was quite friendly (except the owner who was still not very friendly) and took the luggage upstairs although it is a 2* hotel.

The room was very basic (see picture), but had a balcony and a view over the main square and the church. There was an interesting lists with the "rules of the house" that included things such as "do not take towels to the beach", "leave the room as you found it", etc.
One very annoying detail was the electrical flushing system in the toilet. It was not very efficient, it was noise and I think it is a waste of power. Just wonder who invented it.

The doors were very old and cranky so you could hear everyone entering and exiting the rooms or simply opening the balcony door. As if that was not enough, the church bell starts ringing early in the morning and you can hear the chatter on the street, so it is not the quietest of places.

In addition, it is necessary to pay a deposit of 50% of the room fee, which is quite annoying.
Credit cards are not accepted, so cash is the only option.

It was a very good price-quality ratio (considering the prices on the island), the room was clean and location was as good as almost all the other hotels: on the main square.

Address: Place D'Armes - 83540 Ile de Porquerolles
Comparison: less expensive than average
othercontact: E-mail / Reservation : relaispos
Phone: 33 4 98 04 62 62
Price: US$80-120
Theme: Hotel
Website: http://www.lerelaisdelaposte.com/index-uk.htm