NOT A HOTEL IF YOU APPRECIATE QUALITY OR IF YOU HAVE ANY MEDICAL OR DISABILITY PROBLEMS
Well I am either just the unluckiest person in the world or this could happen to everybody, firstly to highlight this is not a hotel for people with a disability or mobility problems, this hotel was booked on my behalf by somebody else as an emergency accommodation, I am registered blind as well as having mobility issues with my ankles and also spinal surgery for spinal problems.
Firstly even the driver found it nearly impossible to find the private parking area at the rear of the hotel you have to do a complete loop of the city high street and then go down narrow dark back streets (we arrived evening). On arrival in the private parking area we discovered it to be completely dark and unlit in the parking area (not very welcoming or making you feel safe), I even tripped over a kerb trying to walk to the rear of the hotel. We booked in and were shown to our rooms which was on the next floor up, immediately I identified how severely the floor was uneven every step of the way every step the floor had a dip or a hump or floorboards that dropped an inch or 2, now before anybody states its a 400 to 500 year old building you can expect uneven floors, I would not have expected the floors to be that bad in any business due to safety reasons and other factors which I will not ramble on about. Also it was immediately apparent how poorly dimly lit every corridor and stairway was which was enhanced by the dark and dreary decor. Another factor which also hit me also was the smell which was not just the 400 to 500 year old smell it was, that "is not very well cleaned and maintained dusty smell" which on arrival in the room was even stronger.
We only placed my bag in the room and went back downstairs for something to eat , now with credit the food turned out to be good and I was happy with that, however the waitress did not have a sense of humor we tried to laugh and joke with her to cheer her up but in the end she asked us to stop because she was having a bad day.
I then had a drink at the bar and requested a glass of port however in my opinion the port was off and potentially had been opened a considerable number of weeks before or even months.
I retired to my room and had not been informed that the bathroom / toilet in the room had to be accessed up approximately a flight of 5 or 6 high steep steps the steps were "exceptionally" narrow at the top step being only 2 inches wide as you stepped out of the bathroom / toilet I would say is lethal if you miss that step then you'd miss the rest hence why the big sign on the back of the bathroom door saying STEP DOWN covers them for insurance reasons but no good to a blind person I was only informed of this after.
Then when I attempted to go and get into bed I tripped up on a huge 8 to 10 inch gradient hump in the floor Directly in front of the bed, the whole floors in the property reminded me of the fairground attraction of a "fun house" with all the waving wobbly humpy floors, and every inch of every floor was like something out of a cartoon for high pitched creaking cracking and squeaking of every floor board and believe me they were extra loud.
Then I tried getting into bed and immediately thought there was something wrong and when I tried to re-position myself I literally rolled out of and off the bed onto the floor, and discovered the bed was broke and abnormal that it was broke in the centre but it was 10 inches fatter at one side and only 4 inches fat at the other side making the bed lean at nearly a 40 degree angle.
I tried to lie again on the bed holding onto it hoping I'd fall asleep but the pain in my back became excruciating due to my spinal surgery and back problems, so at 3.30am I call reception and informed the manager about it and all the other problems, he just said there was nothing he could do tonight that he would report it at some point tomorrow, I argued my case stating I'd paid for a room that was not fit for purpose and that I had traveled over 6 hours to attend a hospital appointment first thing in the morning and I had to leave at 7am, he attempted to look for empty rooms on the system but kept saying no have nothing then he found one and said he would be up in a minute to take me around to show me it.
He arrived at my room and I pointed at the bed and said "do you think that is fit for purpose look at it" all the manager did was slightly tut and sarcastically said "yep" I pointed out the hump in the floor in-front of the bed all he did again was tut and say "yep its and old building what do you expect".
He then took me around to see the other room and it was lethal trying to navigate safely through the rabbit warren corridors, there was 3 steps up here 2 steps down here another step down here followed by 4 steps up here the corridors was extra dark not lit it had black carpet no step edges were marked or highlighted.
On arrival at the other room it was apparent the room was bigger but the floorboards even noisier, the manager took me back for my bags and not at any stage did he offer to carry any of my bags even though he was aware I was registered blind and was having serious trouble navigating the corridors and steps.
when the manager left me in the new room the first thing I went to do was go to the loo but when I touched the light switch plate outside the toilet I received an electric shock.
The other annoyance and frustration was there are no plug sockets next to the beds at all there was only one plug socket on the opposite side of the room being used by the kettle or the lamp, which means you can not have your phone next to you for your alarm or internet whilst charging it which means if you have medical equipment such as a CPAP machine for sleeping your screwed, both myself and my driver had flat batteries on our phones the following morning so we had a comparison of 3 rooms with all the same issues and problems in every room.
I strongly stated my complaints at the desk the following morning and there was absolutely no offer or suggestion of a part refund, complete refund or a future discount if we ever stayed again for all the inconvenience and the rooms not being fit for purpose, which I think demonstrates the exceptional poor customer care and lack of interest in customer feedback you give them and the evidence was there for them to see, my opinion the building is what it is a 400 to 500 year old building with people working in it of the same mindset as the age of the building "highway robbery comes to mind, they grab your money and run" so prospective customers think twice before booking here you would have a far more luxurious night at a cheaper price finding a travel lodge or a premier inn !! less