DENHOLM Beds

I’ll let readers decide what to make of this. I booked on 31 July after Danny agreed to provide a cooked breakfast, and we settled on a price by email. He asked me to confirm my arrival time, so I did that on 04 September. At 01:24 on 05 September, he emailed to say the booking included a self-serve continental breakfast. I replied at 10:40 that I thought we’d agreed on a proper cooked breakfast, and that £60 a night seemed expensive for continental only. Danny answered at 10:53 that cooked breakfast cost an extra 10 pounds per day. At 11:09, he then said it wasn’t available at the moment because of covid restrictions and that I could cancel if I preferred. I hadn’t refreshed my email, so at 11:19 I replied to the earlier message, saying we’d discussed cooked breakfast before agreeing the price. At 11:26 Danny wrote that he was cancelling my booking because he didn’t want to get into an argument with me. The booking wasn’t honoured, and I was badly let down.

The room was pleasant enough and did the job, though nothing special. The bathroom doesn’t offer much privacy if you’re sharing with guests, so be prepared for that. If you just need a cheap place to sleep, it’s fine, but don’t expect a warm welcome. We’d booked about four hours before arriving, and got there at 20:45. The listing said late check-in was available until 9pm, but no one answered the door, so we called. While I was on the phone, I heard them say to each other, “Why have they come this late?” and “Tell them they can’t.” They clearly weren’t happy to have us. When the man came to the door, he said they didn’t accept late bookings or late check-ins. I pointed out the 9pm time and apologised for being late. He went back inside to speak to his partner, I think. By then we didn’t want to stay and asked whether we could get a refund, since the cancellation fee was the same as the room price. He said he couldn’t refund us and that Booking.com would have to handle it. We accepted that and went in.

The room was clean, but the hallway smelled strongly of hash. I wouldn’t come back.