Oaklands

I didn't stay overnight in the end because I didn't feel safe after speaking with the owner by phone. I felt patronized, and getting out through the back door was harder than I expected. The caretaker had let me in when I arrived. The room itself was simple, clean, and adequate.

It was an easy, pleasant stay overall, and the brief time I spent with colleagues there was fine. The room wasn’t immaculate, and the shared bathroom was practical rather than luxurious. The facilities are good, though, and I’d stay again if I needed to be in the area.

We were a family of five, visiting in August 2019 because my father had a business meeting. We needed somewhere urgently and found it through bookings.com. The price was decent, and they put us in the largest bedroom on the top floor, but I wouldn’t really come back. The owner was great, helpful, and easy to get along with, and I hope this feedback is taken into account. Parking was a nightmare. Our toyota corolla barely fitted, so we had to use two narrow bays and move the car whenever anyone needed to get in or out. In the bedroom, one bed was broken, the sheets could have been cleaner, and there was a dead moth on the wall that my mum scraped off straight away. The microwave was dirty but worked, and the TV worked too, which was a surprise, lol. We brought our own soap and left it there, though I can’t remember whether any was provided. There wasn’t enough toilet tissue, and the bathroom light kept switching off about every minute. With no windows, we had to wave our hands around to turn it back on, lol. The floorboards were cracked, and the shower was unfinished and didn’t work properly. We barely had any warm water. Someone else posted a shower photo on this page, so have a look for yourself. Thanks for having us, even though I’m writing this almost a year later. Lol.

After six hours of travel from Wales, I needed a place to sleep. I saw it on bookinging.com for £34 before my phone died, so I couldn’t finish booking. I went in through a back entrance into a dirty kitchen. There was no reception desk, and when I eventually found the landlord, he demanded £60 cash and gave me no receipt. The room looked okay, but the bathroom was shared. I was shocked, and he said it was shared with him and two others, as though that made it acceptable. When I asked about breakfast, he said, “what breakfast.” I should have left then, but I was too tired. A girl from upstairs came down wanting hugs and kept holding my hand with sticky hands. She wouldn’t leave the room, told me stories about losing her parents, and pretended to cry. I eventually got to the bathroom, which was very dirty: an awful toilet seat covered in..., and rusty sink taps. The girl came in with the landlord behind her. I told them it was a very strange place. There was no lock on the inside of my room door, so anyone could come in. The host again said he was the only one with the combination for the outside lock, as if that was okay. It was a night from hell. I was so scared I couldn’t sleep. He was in the room next door with the TV loud and on the phone until the early hours. There was also a shouting match with one of the guests about opening the fridge. The place was horrible and completely unprofessional. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. How is somewhere like this allowed to operate?