Glendevon Hotel

The room had beer cans outside, dated furniture and decor that looked straight out of the 1980s, and a mattress that had seen better days. I didn’t want to touch anything and was genuinely scared to sleep in the bed. The bathroom had a horrendous smell, likely because pipes from all the hotel toilets ran through it, so using it, let alone sleeping, was difficult. The TV and kettle had no nearby socket, and the only one in the room was 10 feet up the wall. One person in our party was bitten by bed bugs. We were glad to leave the next morning and wished we’d taken our chances in Salisbury despite the Novichok incident. We were a group of 14 staying one night before an early start for New Forest. The receptionist messed up our bookings, and we spent over an hour trying to get the rooms we wanted because of overbooking. Some of us were even given keys to rooms that were already occupied, which was very embarrassing. This was the worst place I’ve ever stayed.

Music was blaring and people were drinking outside from when we arrived at 2pm until 11pm. The room was dirty, with stains all over the bed, cigarette and iron burns in the carpet, and a blocked shower drain that flooded the room. We’d booked a double, but they’d pushed two single beds together under one sheet, and they weren’t even the same height. When I told staff I was disappointed, they said it was up to me to report problems. I said I understood it was a budget room and expected basic facilities, but I still expected what was there to work, a reasonable level of cleanliness and professional staff. That wasn’t what I got. They were rude and inconsiderate. One of the worst hotels I’ve had the displeasure of staying in. Don’t stay here!

The rooms and bedding were clean, the beds comfortable, and the staff friendly and helpful. Breakfast was decent, though the dining room is too small and getting food can be hectic. The rooms badly need refurbishment: the shower was held together with a sticky substance and couldn’t be adjusted, and one bed was held together with screws that stuck out. Still, for the price with breakfast at this time of year, you get good sleep, nice food and friendly people. I’d come again.

The bed was surprisingly comfortable and the linen spotless. One staff member was very friendly, which helped me see the place as somewhere to rest my head. I stayed three nights and had no hot water one evening and the next morning, so I had to use the sister hotel. It felt like I was on the program 4 in a bed: dust everywhere, a door that was hard to open and close, peeling paint on the sills, smeared mirrors, limescale on the tiles and a dirty toilet, among other things.