Our beloved regular guest house has had to shut down, and so we had to find alternative accommodation for our most recent stay in Cheltenham. We chose this particular Premier Inn, since the pub is on my old stomping ground (I used to live just up the road), and so I thought I knew the pub, and the hotel was pretty reputable as far as I was aware.
Big mistake. Huge!
We were greeted at reception by a young girl with slugs for eyebrows (a local thing, according to my niece) and as soon as we went through from there to the main corridor we could smell a mixture of blocked drains, dirty toilets, hospital and nursing home. The room appeared to be clean, however (aside from hairs in the bath that we planned to report the next morning, since nobody was manning the desk when we headed back out), and so we forgot about it and headed off to my Mum’s for her birthday. We initially didn’t like the place, but we didn’t expect to when we miss Hope Orchard – and we certainly didn’t expect the friendly and personal touch that we’ve always had from there. We put it down to just missing the place we’ve always stayed at.
We were wrong.
I won’t say that it was the hotel that made me sick because I can’t prove it, but after a lovely meal I was violently ill at my Mum’s house, when I had felt just fine on the journey over. Before the part where I was sick I was aching all over, I was sweating, and my ears were especially sensitive (I ended up shouting at my niece to tone it down, and I feel awful for that – I’m actually partially deaf and wouldn’t usually notice, but on Friday night all of me was so sensitive that I could have heard a flea fart and been triggered by the sound). Anyway, we dropped T home as promised, and arranged to meet up with her on Sunday.
We went back to the hotel for the night… and that is when we noticed the stench.
The duvet stank of urine, and there was nobody to complain to because all the staff had gone home. Sorry, but you have cleaning staff that should have cleaned the room… and you’re giving us a duvet and cover that have obviously not been cleaned and stink of pee? I spent half the night on the truckle bed, and only got into the main bed again because I was cold.
We complained the following morning, after eating the worst excuse for a cooked breakfast that we have ever encountered. How the hell do you make bacon soggy? Why was the sausage smaller than my thumb and tasting of cardboard? Why was the egg swimming in grease? It was only the two of us in for breakfast at the time, and so there was no excuse to rush it. Actually, we were both alarmed by the speed in which breakfast was brought out; we’re used to waiting for longer than ten minutes for a breakfast that is perfectly cooked – and this wasn’t. That’s a food poisoning case waiting to happen to someone if they keep that up!
We grabbed my Mum on our way to visit my Gremlin. She could see that I still really wasn’t well. As it happens, I was sick while we were there – and I do blame the greasy, nasty breakfast for that. I had to reassure Rhys that I was okay, as he was worried. I don’t like for my son to be worried about me.
At least the stinking duvet and duvet cover had been changed when we got back to our room. All I wanted was to lie down, so that really was a blessing. Really though, it shouldn’t have been filthy in the first place. I’d already left a Tripadvisor review prior to speaking to front desk because I really was so bloody disgusted – and now they’re butthurt with me because I reviewed them before they could rectify the problems that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Boo hoo; give me a clean bed and you won’t have me reviewing you on Tripadvisor at all, unless you are supremely good or bad. In response to previous reviews, they admit that the rooms are only cleaned every four days or so. And our bath had scratches in it, which will collect germs. They admit to the scratches in the bath, so you can probably understand why I wouldn’t use the bath or shower. Just… ew.
Were you planning to use a Premier Inn? Don’t. Find a nice B&B or a Travel Inn, instead. Gordon Ramsey would have a field day on this dump.
Yes, I have sent a complaint to the main website.
An Accident In Space And Time 
Argh! What an awful experience! I hope you’re feeling better now.
Apart from the one which I mentioned to you by email a while back, I haven’t so far stayed in any B+Bs in the Cheltenham area, so I can’t recommend any place specifically.
Just a thought – the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has a list of places
https://www.gwsr.com/planning_your_visit/visiting_gwsr/accommodation_guide.html
which could be worth checking for any that might suit your needs.
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Thanks, we’ll look into the most relevant links. Shurdington Road looks and sounds good.
It was an absolute bloody nightmare! Tewkesbury Road can say that we should have reported it all they like. We did report the issues, and they ought to be saying “It shouldn’t have happened”. Typical for a large chain to try and exhonerate itself by blaming the guests…
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The rooms should be cleaned every time someone checks out, not every three or four days. Ugh, I now feel icky all over on your behalf. When I’ve stayed in a hotel, I always make it easy for the cleaning staff by not making the bed and piling the towels from the bathroom together on the floor. I think trading standards or someone needs to be informed!
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It was utterly vile. When we pay to stay somewhere we don’t expect to walk into a smelly corridor to be greeted by a filthy bath and smelly bedding. Somebody was in that bed before us, and it wasn’t changed. So they can whine about my review all they want: it’s great that they sorted the issue, but if they don’t want people making Tripadvisor reviews from their room, they ought to make sure it’s clean in the first place!
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This is just terrible!!
I had a bad experience at a motel during my honeymoon. Roaches everywhere. We had to leave after a few minutes and get our money back. We ended up going home as we were too exhausted to try and find another place.
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Wow, that’s horrendous! I’m looking forward to our next trip to Cheltenham, though, as the hotel we’ve decided to stay at used to a B&B run by my Nan. I’ve never been there, but a friend of hers took her for a surprise dinner there once, a year or so before she died, and she raved about it for weeks, she was so happy to have seen the place as it is now 🙂
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I hope the hotel you’ll be staying out turns out to be good – it very much sounds as if it will be! If so, I’d be very interested in details, as it could well be one to bear in mind if I need to stay in the area and can’t stay with my sister and BiL
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My Nan got the guided tour, and she approved enormously. She said the food was wonderful, and that the stained glass window she loved so much was still there 🙂
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