I know that Formule 1 hotels are cheap and very basic, I've stayed in one before. However nothing prepared me for the appalling stay we suffered.

The room was dirty, carpet (flooring rather) was dirty and stained. The bed sheets although clean were torn and thin. The bed spread was dirty. The room smelt of cigarette smoke and was very hot. Being so hot we slept with the window open and finally got to to sleep, at 0626 we were awoken by a startlingly loud noise and lights as a train rushed by.
The Shower worked well but the floor was dirty and there were hairs stuck to the walls and on the floor. The other guests seemed to be other scared looking holiday makers travelling across France who were stopping over for the night or unfriendly looking professional drivers and workers who scowled at you and leered at the women.
The lady managing the hotel was unfriendly and unwelcoming.

We booked this motel for a cheap and hopefully cheerful final night stay of our annual holiday. We had to let ourselves into the Formula1 accommodation with my credit card because there are only certain times of the day when the motel is staffed. You are then given codes to tap into the locking system to gain access to the premises. As a result , you are therefore unable to see the accommodation before they have taken your money.

The rooms were sordid: the Formula 1 website shows images of lovely clean fresh white bed linen but we were greeted with soiled bedspreads and revoltingly stained carpets. The mattresses on the beds were so thin that you could feel the springs. The "non-smoking" rooms stank of stale cigarette smoke and air freshener and actually contained an ashtray. It made my flesh crawl to be frank.

We asked to be moved to an alternative room and found that to be equally dreadful. We then reasonably asked for a refund because we were not staying ( we could not stay in such a dump, feeling very anxious about the obvious lack of hygiene) but were told that we could not have a refund.

I wrote via email to express my anger at being unable to have a refund for accommodation as soon as we returned home(we decided to give France up as a bad job at this stage and drove home instead).

The customer services also failed to offer a refund and failed even to mention my name. Here is their response......

Dear Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us following your stay at hotelF1 Chartres.

We are sorry that our service and performance did not meet your expectations, and we would like to offer our sincerest apology.

(but you will notice that they are happy to keep our money, therefore demonstrating that they don't give a toss about our distress because they are NOT really concerned at all)

hotelF1 establishments are dedicated to offering you the best possible service for your stays and your opinion is very important to us.

The necessary measures are being taken to bring hotel performance to the level of quality defined in our Quality Charter.

We would like to thank you once again for your comments. Your input enables us to make improvements and continue to show our dedication to your loyalty.

Sincerely,

Your hotelF1 Chartres hotel.

The hotel of this chain rather cannot surprise. You get more or less exactly what you expect: a very basic room with no wardrobes, just a bed to sleep on and a WC/shower in the floor.
The problem we had with this hotel was his distance to the city center (Cathedral) with no bus running on weekends. So, if you do not have a car, seriously reconsider staying there.