"This was genuinely one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve had.
We arrived as part of a large, organised university group booking and were told check-in was from 3pm. Despite this, our rooms were not ready until 4:30pm. There was no proactive communication, no proper explanation at the time, and no urgency shown. We were simply left waiting.
The excuse later given was a linen shortage and “communication issues” with housekeeping. That is not a guest problem, that is a management failure. If you accept a large group booking, you ensure you are prepared for it. You do not pass internal operational failures onto paying customers.
Even more unbelievable, some of the so-called “clean” rooms we were eventually given were not clean to an acceptable standard. So after waiting an extra hour and a half, we were handed rooms that clearly had not been properly prepared. That is unacceptable.
To make matters worse, our key cards stopped working at 10:30am on departure day despite checkout being at 12pm. So we lost time at the start of our stay and at the end. We quite literally did not receive the full access we paid for.
What has truly stood out, however, is the complete lack of care and accountability in the follow-up communication. The tone of the emails was defensive and dismissive, filled with excuses and technicalities about why compensation would not be offered. There was no genuine concern shown for the inconvenience caused to me or the wider group, just a clear effort to protect the hotel from responsibility. The cheek of refusing compensation while acknowledging the failures speaks volumes.
This was an organised university trip, and the hotel’s inability to manage its own operations reflected poorly on us. It was embarrassing, unnecessary, and entirely avoidable.
The service failure was bad enough. The handling of the complaint was worse.
We will not be returning to this hotel or this chain.
Avoid if you expect professionalism, accountability, or even basic standards to be met."
