Being an amateur hotel inspector helps me run a professional hotel
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-01-14 19:04:20 - Graham Ellis
In September of last year, Lisa and I slept in 9 different beds in 2 weeks - in 8 different hotels and other accommodations (we visited one twice, and had different rooms). Prices, facilities and quality varied greatly - four were highly enough regarded by their owners to be put up for the "Four in a Bed" TV series which we were taking part in; the others were "staging hotels" where we stayed between visits, and a hotel that we had stayed at the night before the recording started to meet up with Lisa's brother, who was briefly visiting the UK.
Now - I stay at a lot of places each year - some chains, and many independents, and what's shocking at times is the lack of customer service, facilities, and cleaning that many hotels feel they can get away with. I can understand what many travellers find a chain that they find acceptable and stick with it, even if it's typically higher in price and just mediocre in quality.
Here are six older blogs that show you what I think and what I look out for ...
Twenty questions for our team to ask themselves [link]
A contrast in room rates and facilities [link]
Review of a cheap guest house [link]
Feeding the Grockles - paring the budget too fine? [link]
Lindors Hotel, St Briavels [link]
Having staff sit on the toilet [link]
... and here are 8 pictures I took - eight different hotels - to give you an idea (and leave with with a memory) of each. I'm not going to label them here, for my point is the wide range of qualities from superb to dreadful that the independent sector provides.
If you particularly want to know which is which, email me!
