What constitutes good value for a stay in an 18th century hotel in a historic city in the south west?
Now this is not to be a rant by tired and grumpy of Tiverton that I have already done when the booking company requested feedback on the said hotel.
No this is more a reflection on another conversion of a private residence into a hotel.
Yesterday I was down in a peaceful Cornish valley with an old farm cottage which by degree over the last half century has been converted into a fine place to stay.
And the following day we were in a city centre hotel.
We had booked both places on line as we moved around Cornwall and so after a long journey north we were hoping for a place which matched the inn in the valley.
Now this hotel had all plenty going for it.
It was in a parade of stylish period houses close to many of the tourist attractions with some pretty stunning views.
Sadly the 18th century property had been converted to maximise the number of visitors that could be packed in and the rooms we slept in were woefully run down.
The paint around the doors was chipped, the cord to the once elegant sash window was broken while the seat of an arm chair in the first room we looked at was torn and the varnish on the wooden sill below the mirror was peeling.
To be fair the room was clean and the beds comfortable, the plasma TV big, and the staff did their best to make our stay a happy one, but the carpet bubbled in places and the shower was a little tired looking.
What saddened me was that there appeared to be an expectation that because we were in the heart of the city the state of the room was acceptable.
Now I am a realist and fully understand market forces, and the argument of supply and demand but cannot reconcile a bubbly carpet, chipped paintwork and broken sash cord in what from the outside looked smart inviting and elegant.
All of which makes me reflect that this once fine period building had been badly converted, was shabbily maintained and sadly did not do justice to what it had once been.
Was I angry? Yes. Should we have found somewhere else? Perhaps.
But we arrived late into the city and I doubt that we would have found any where else at that time and would have still had to pay something for the room.
As it was the cost was as much as that other hotel in the peaceful Cornish valley which was immaculate.
So I am cross because I don't think it was what we thought we were getting, angry that such a fine old building was not what it had once been, and a little concerned that someone somewhere thought that the rooms were OK to be marketed.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
No this is more a reflection on another conversion of a private residence into a hotel.
Yesterday I was down in a peaceful Cornish valley with an old farm cottage which by degree over the last half century has been converted into a fine place to stay.
And the following day we were in a city centre hotel.
We had booked both places on line as we moved around Cornwall and so after a long journey north we were hoping for a place which matched the inn in the valley.
Now this hotel had all plenty going for it.
The paint around the doors was chipped, the cord to the once elegant sash window was broken while the seat of an arm chair in the first room we looked at was torn and the varnish on the wooden sill below the mirror was peeling.
To be fair the room was clean and the beds comfortable, the plasma TV big, and the staff did their best to make our stay a happy one, but the carpet bubbled in places and the shower was a little tired looking.
What saddened me was that there appeared to be an expectation that because we were in the heart of the city the state of the room was acceptable.
Now I am a realist and fully understand market forces, and the argument of supply and demand but cannot reconcile a bubbly carpet, chipped paintwork and broken sash cord in what from the outside looked smart inviting and elegant.
Was I angry? Yes. Should we have found somewhere else? Perhaps.
But we arrived late into the city and I doubt that we would have found any where else at that time and would have still had to pay something for the room.
As it was the cost was as much as that other hotel in the peaceful Cornish valley which was immaculate.
So I am cross because I don't think it was what we thought we were getting, angry that such a fine old building was not what it had once been, and a little concerned that someone somewhere thought that the rooms were OK to be marketed.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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