Friday, July 23, 2010

Cwrt Bleddy Nightmare

Cwrt Bleddyn, Llangybi nr Usk
Doesn't this place look lovely? It's the Cwrt Bleddyn Spa Hotel not far from Monmouth set in the most beautiful grounds. All manicured and prettily landscaped, with pond, little stone bridge, stone cottages, and impressive manor house.

Unfortunately, the four rooms we saw were far from living up to the expectations inspired by the grounds. To the point that, upon stepping into one room, I was immediately transported back to my granny's house which smelt of damp and dust, an instantly recognisable odour that I would never expect to find in a £117 per night hotel.

Some of the hotel rooms have been refurbished, none of the ones we saw had however. Despite the price, they were basically crappy. Peeling paint on the window frames, ratty, dirty carpet, old scuffed furniture, well-used bed, slightly grubby chipped bathroom, and no hot water upon arrival. We were not impressed with any of the rooms we saw but felt obliged to stay anyway because of the unlikelihood of finding anywhere else with space available.

Thankfully, our nerves were soothed by steaming gently in the ham-man of the spa, a G&T, and then by the excellent quality of the restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious. I had a whole bream, preceded by salted duck on kumquat chutney. My TWDB had veggie dishes which were imaginative and tasty.

I didn't see inside the refurbished rooms, but I hope they get the un-refurbished ones modified rapidly because they are quite shameful compared to the quality of the grounds and the restaurant. One final insult, I couldn't even print off an airline reference because the printer in the 'business centre' had run out of ink, and there was no new cartridge. We left confused and thankful to be gone, back into a saner world where coherency featured highly.

5 comments:

  1. I've had better room in darkest Honduras, by the sound of things...at 15 dollars.

    At least the food was good.

    How are hotels getting away with this sort of thing?

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  2. Fly, I have no idea, but the place was full. I did complain to the receptionist, and told her the room was crappy. She was apologetic but with not much else to offer we either had to like it or lump it.

    For the price, particularly it was a disgrace. I'm going to leave a word on Trip Advisor too.

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  3. Sounds delightful.

    A friend told me about an hotel he stayed at which seemed to be rather disorganised. The bar was not staffed but guests could help thenselves. The restaurant wasn't working and the guests sent out for a takeaway.

    Nick

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nick, I bet the bar was packed!

    I wrote a review on Trip Advisor and David the manager replied! He said that the hotel was full so things were hectic, but he apologised for all the cock-ups. He also told me they'd had 1000s of happy customers. Like I care.
    I was not, I don't give a stuff about the others. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes he said that the bar was very busy.

    Nick

    ReplyDelete

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