OYO Ottleys

The bathroom felt dangerous, with rough edged steps, a stained shower base, black mould between the tiles and old black silicone. There were extension leads running everywhere, so the electrics seemed dubious, and the washing machine and drier made constant background noise. We stayed for two nights, but after a water leak on the first night we had to move to another room. The accommodation was poor overall. The bed linen was old, unironed and undesirable, and the pillows were flat. This was probably the worst accommodation I’ve stayed in.

The location was lovely, near a Londis, and we met some really nice people. The guest houses felt homely, and the TV had apps like Netflix/Youtube. But because of the faulty socket fire and the lack of help from the owner Jon, we won’t return to Ottley’s guest house. There were also used products left by previous guests. We’d stayed because we were coming back from a concert in London, and got in around 1am. As soon as we entered the room, there was a smell of burning fish from the same outlet that later caught fire. When black smoke and flames came from it, we hadn’t plugged anything into that socket. Still, Jon blamed us. We called him three times between 1:30am and 2:30am before he even considered coming to check on us or the room. He told us “not to touch it” and to “leave it be” until morning, despite the fumes in the room. When he arrived at 2:45am, he was still accusing us, asking “well what have you plugged into it” and saying he “hadn’t seen anything like this happen before”. He left at 3:05am. Since the burning smell had been there from when we arrived, and he kept asking what we’d plugged in, we’re left thinking he may have known about the faulty socket. After he turned off all the electrics, we couldn’t charge our phones and they eventually died. At 3:15am we pulled wooden chairs into the ‘lobby’ to try to sleep away from the smell, but after 45 uncomfortable minutes we packed and got ready to leave. At 4:15am we tried to sleep in the room with the smell and fumes for the rest of the night. We couldn’t leave earlier because we had no car, there was no taxi rank, and the nearest underground was a very long walk in the dark. After texting back and forth, Jon did let us charge our phones at his house. In the morning we woke with blocked noses, sore throats and very sore chests. The fumes affected my asthma a great amount. We told Jon, but he said “there was no smell, i have a sensitive nose and i would have smelt it too”. We received a half price refund, but only after he accused us again and said “i don’t believe what you are saying and you just want your money back”, even though he’d come to the room and witnessed what was happening. We’re severely unhappy. All our belongings now smell like fish and burning, and we’re left extremely upset and tired. It was a very bad night.

The owner was v.pleasent, and the room was clean with a lovely shower. When I mentioned on the phone that I always bring pot noodle to eat, they had two porridge pots for breakfast and two pot noodles ready for me when I arrived. A nice touch. I’ll stay here again.

On my last night I was moved to another room, and it was inferior. No one told me about the change, so I walked into what had become someone else’s room. Thankfully nobody was there, but it was still an unpleasant and embarrassing experience.