Grenville Hotel

The hygiene was bad, with bugs in the room and the hotel very dirty. I’d booked three nights but left after the first because of the conditions.

This place would be fairly priced at around £40 a day. Once it gets near £60, the facilities don’t justify the cost. Booking.com and other sites make the accommodation much too expensive.

I’ve never stayed in a worse hotel. Grime and stains covered the surfaces, and this wasn’t ordinary wear in an old building. There was limescale in the toilet, sticky furniture, dirty marks on switches and handles, and lights coming out of their sockets. The curtains were yellowed and torn, and the hallways had a stale smell. The room’s cleanliness was defended with the reminder that it was a two-star hotel, and the manager said I should have read the reviews. They also pointed out that the bedding was changed between guests, as if that were a special favor. I asked for a refund and was told the hotel didn’t have the money, so I should contact the booking agent. The agent needed the manager’s authorization, which she refused. I’d read that WiFi costs extra and that the all-inclusive breakfast is just toast, cereal, tea and coffee, so I expected the basics. I didn’t expect conditions that felt like a risk to my health. Avoid this place.

I stayed during an early October night and kept the window open, which made the room cool enough for sleeping. I didn’t have the radiator problem other guests mentioned. The bed, though, had an ancient spring mattress that felt ready to tip over, so I barely slept. The power kept cutting out during the night, as if a circuit was overloaded, and the halls smelled strongly of cigarette smoke by evening. It’s a 19th-century boarding townhouse converted into a hotel. The rooms are about the size of a small main bedroom, with bathrooms added. The linens seemed quite clean, but the carpet needed a steam clean and the walls needed paint to cover dirt and bogeys. My only real positive was the architecture, since I’m interested in old buildings.