Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2009-11-13 15:12:29 - Graham Ellis
Where did I stay earlier this week? Read my review!
"""An overpriced airport hotel (even at the LaterRooms price which was less than half the rack rate), overdue for refurbishment, and with staff who rightly knew they didn't need to be more than routinely polite to guests coming through the door, because most are unlikely to pass this way again.
Open a cupboard door, and you find that the back of the cupboard's missing and you can see the dust wall and the wiring at the back. The only way to find which is the hot tap and which is the cold by trying them both out, because both have long since lost their labels. Wonder at the carpet which looks like it expanded when it was deep cleaned, the didn't shrink back to size and is now "baggy". Go to the parking desk, then queue at reception to get your ticket stamped "resident" then go back to the parking desk so that you 'only' have to pay ten pound for the pleasure of parking in the hotel's car park overnight. And everything is cream, or yellow, lighting anemic. It IS clean (and I have rated that "good") but a little musty.
I'm invited as I complete this review to say if I would recommend the hotel for a group of friends. as a romantic retreat, as a country escape, as a relaxing Spa, a city break or a family holiday. Sorry - none of those. If I had to find a room for a few hours one night before an early flight, I just might stop there for convenience if I could get a room for forty quid and couldn't find anywhere else in the same price bracket ... but the 145 rack rate is a joke, surely!"""
How tempting ... to post the review above and to identify the hotel in question! And how sad that I was tempted to do so. "Raise issues at the time, not later" is the usual advise, and I had considered doing so. But in my heart, something told me that I would get mere platitudes if I tried, and I too was dog-tired at the end of a long day of training to be bothered.
Open a cupboard door, and you find that the back of the cupboard's missing and you can see the dust wall and the wiring at the back. The only way to find which is the hot tap and which is the cold by trying them both out, because both have long since lost their labels. Wonder at the carpet which looks like it expanded when it was deep cleaned, the didn't shrink back to size and is now "baggy". Go to the parking desk, then queue at reception to get your ticket stamped "resident" then go back to the parking desk so that you 'only' have to pay ten pound for the pleasure of parking in the hotel's car park overnight. And everything is cream, or yellow, lighting anemic. It IS clean (and I have rated that "good") but a little musty.