Meadow Rise

Our two-night honeymoon stay was booked through American Express Travel. We expected a lovely country break, especially after reading previous reviews and seeing the pictures, but check-in turned into a disaster. We travel quite a bit, and this was literally the worst check-in experience we've had. The lack of professionalism from the husband-and-wife team, particularly the wife, was galling. The booking was paid in full, with $0 due on arrival. They greeted us warmly and helped us park, but once we came inside with Wendy, she demanded full payment on the spot, saying she had never received the money. That made no sense to us: the booking was confirmed and paid in full from my AMEX credit card to AMEX Travel. I showed her the confirmation, but Wendy denied it and said we had to pay her upfront and seek a refund from American Express, or we couldn't check in. Unbelievable. She also claimed she didn't accept American Express cards and that Meadow Rise wasn't listed on the AMEX Travel site, even though we'd booked there and paid with an AMEX card without any problem. Later that night, we found her B&B still listed. It felt like a stream of lies. American Express Travel agents later confirmed the full booking payment had gone to Wendy and Meadow Rise, and that they saw no issue on their end. Any problem with receiving payment was on her side. She could have taken it up with American Express Travel, or through its partner Expedia, which appeared on her side as the booking agent, weeks before we arrived. She could even have contacted us so we could look into it with American Express. Neither happened. Instead, she expected us to pay directly on arrival, disregarding what we'd already paid. It was a slap in the face. We think Meadow Rise most likely doesn't like third-party bookings. That's the only explanation that makes sense to us for the song and dance Wendy gave us. If she'd been upfront about it, it would've been a non-issue, as we support small businesses. The way she handled everything, especially in a hospitality business, was ridiculous. After this literal s*** show, American Express graciously refunded the entire booking cost, and we left that night for another B&B in Bourton, where check-in was seamless by comparison. The rest of our time in Bourton-on-the-Water was fantastic. BOOK MEADOW RISE AT YOUR OWN RISK.