Clifton House Hotel - B B

YOUNG WOMEN AVOID I stayed one night because it was convenient for a night out. The city centre was close enough, and Ubers were reasonably cheap there and back. The staff were friendly enough, but I can't get past what I saw. The presumed manager was watching cam girls on a laptop in a public area. Around 2am, we went to use the tea-making facilities on our way back and ran into other guests. As we walked through a communal area towards our room, one of them brought us back to say, “don't look at his laptop.” Naturally, we looked, and it was genuinely horrifying. He'd been sitting in communal areas since we arrived, and we'd assumed he was working. This time he was facing a wall, but his laptop was plainly visible to guests walking through a large part of the hotel. He was watching porn, which made us feel like unwilling participants in an exhibitionist kink. Genuinely disgusting behaviour. Our room floor was dirty, and there were pillows behind the bed and sweets in the corners, suggesting it had NOT been cleaned before we arrived. At £25 per person, the standard was low. We were prepared to overlook a lot because we only needed a bed for the night, but the public porn watching was too much to excuse. The other staff were friendly, but checking in felt uncomfortable, with everyone in the social area knowing your room number. The pool and bar area was constantly full of staff and their mates hanging around.

It's a very basic place, really just somewhere to sleep, but not bad for the price. The rooms are tiny, with a very cheap mattress, a small TV, and no sound insulation, so you can easily hear other guests. There isn't a kettle, cup, tea or coffee in the room, though you can get tea and other things, plus use a microwave, at the front desk. There's a reception bar, and parking costs £5 a day, which can add up quickly.

My room itself was nice and reasonably priced, and for the first 11 nights I had a great stay in a great location. Then, at 1:15am, manager John woke me by banging on my door and my neighbour's, shouting "reception." Once I was awake enough to put some pants on and open the door, he said someone had complained about noise. I'd been asleep, though I could hear my neighbour's TV playing loudly. I apologised in case I'd rolled around noisily in my sleep, just to avoid an argument. I shut the door and tried to get back to sleep. My neighbour started banging around again, and at 1:44am John came back and shouted at me, even though I hadn't fallen asleep or made any noise. I told him so, and he accused me of having someone else in my room. I invited him to check, but instead he threatened to kick me out at 2am if there was another noise complaint. He didn't check the room or speak with any of the other rooms nearby. I was asleep when he first came by, and silent before he returned. My neighbour stayed loud until I eventually fell asleep again. The next morning, I spoke to John. He accused me of sleepwalking and said the noise couldn't have come from my neighbour because that person hadn't arrived until 2am, which was a complete lie. My door had been locked all night and was still locked both times he came to yell at me, so there was no way I'd been sleepwalking in the hall, unlocked and relocked the door without waking. After that, John mostly gave me the cold shoulder and barely spoke to me for the rest of my stay, though he'd been polite and chatty before that night. The stay was lovely until this happened, but I can't recommend the hotel if the manager is going to yell at someone who's asleep and then gaslight them in the morning. It was incredibly frustrating and disappointing during a stay of over 2 weeks. Avoid this hotel unless you want to be woken at 2am over noisy neighbours and then gaslit when you defend yourself. That incident ruined the whole stay for me, and likely woke half the hotel while he yelled. It's a great hotel in a great location, but the manager jumps to conclusions and won't admit when he's wrong.

It's cheap, and you get what you pay for. The room was clean, the staff friendly, and the place very basic, which fits the price. Onsite parking costs an extra £5 a night. As a woman travelling alone, I didn't feel very safe. Reception is in the bar, which was full of guests drinking, and the hotel is mostly used by contract workers. They announced my room number in front of everyone, and someone knocked at my door on the first night. There was no peephole or chain, and I wasn't expecting anyone, so I didn't answer. The walls are paper thin, so I could hear everything in the nearby rooms and all the way down the hall to the bar, including the "lads, lads, lads". There wasn't much privacy or discretion, and it didn't feel homely or comforting.