Priory Hotel

I don't give negative reviews lightly. I've posted 141 reviews on Tripadvisor, only three of them one-star, while 78% have been four or five stars. I've travelled widely for over 50 years and spent thousands of nights in all sorts of hotels. The Priory Hotel was the worst hospitality experience I've ever had. We arrived in the late afternoon. There's no proper reception, just access to a bar and dining room, and the place was empty except for one woman. She handed us a key and pointed us upstairs. The room and bathroom were freezing. When I asked how to turn on the heating, she said it ran on a timer, couldn't be overridden, and would start in 10 minutes. It was 4:50 pm. I asked for a fan heater and was told no. We waited, shivering. By 5:30 nothing had changed, so I went back down. The woman said the heating should come on, repeated that she was the only person there and couldn't do anything, but didn't check the room or try a temporary fix. When I asked what exactly we were paying £130 for, she had no answer. I tried again later. She said she'd called the manager, who told her that if we didn't like it, we could go somewhere else. I was astonished and asked to speak to the manager myself. The manager was rude and aggressive from the start, repeatedly telling me to find another place if I didn't like it. I explained that we'd booked the room weeks ago and didn't expect to have to find a different hotel, especially since it was already well past 6 pm. She said, “I know, that's up to you,” and didn't believe the room was that cold, though nobody had inspected it. There was no empathy, apology or real attempt to help, just a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. I know hotel problems happen, including heating failures and other unexpected issues. What matters is how they're handled. Here, the dismissive, confrontational response was worse than the heating trouble itself. A temporary heater, a different room or simply a more professional approach could have sorted it out. Eventually the manager said she'd send a plumber. We decided we had no choice but to leave and find somewhere else. As we were going, the “plumber” arrived, looked at the timer controller and said the heating should come on. I told him we'd already heard that two hours earlier, and after the way the manager had spoken to me, we didn't want to stay. I asked for a refund of the prepaid room charge and was told I'd have to come back in the morning. Fortunately, we found a very nice nearby hotel with a comparable room and good heating for £100. The staff there were professional and warm, a stark contrast with our experience at the Priory Hotel. I returned the next morning for my refund. The manager wasn't there, I was told, so it would have to wait another day. There was nothing I could do, so I said, “OK, but please do that or there'll be trouble.” No refund was made the next day either. Two days later the manager finally called to check my card details and accused me of threatening the hotel. I explained that it was a figure of speech expressing frustration over the delay, not a threat. Her interpretation seemed in keeping with the attitude we'd experienced throughout. After decades of travel, this was the worst customer service I've encountered: careless and dismissive, confrontational, and completely lacking in empathy or concern for guests.