Why are British hotels so unremitingly crap?

[martint235]

Crikey - for £200 a night I'd expect a 'Bobby Moore' thrown in!

Seriously, I don't consider myself to be a pauper but other than my wedding night, I cannot conceive every spending that sort of money for a bed & breakfast for 1 night. To me, £200 is still quite a lot of money.

It's quite a lot of money for me too but as is being discussed the UK doesn't do the middle ground hotel very well. I will either pay £200 a night for top class service or £29 a night for Premier where I know the bed is comfy but not to expect much else. I feel that if I paid £50 - £100 per night I would feel disappointed with what I would get in the UK.

 

[slowmotion]

This is probably the worst hotel in Britain:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...otel-Wolverhampton_West_Midlands_England.html

WOW! That place sounds a bit special.

 

[betty swollocks]

The last hotel I stayed in was a small hotel in Alresford on my way home (cycling) after disembarking from the Portsmouth ferry.
The food was crap (should have gone to the chippy over the road), the shower didn't work (they looked at me as though I had dog poo on my shoes when I mentioned this - they didn't fix it) and the hotel owner burst into my room as I was sitting down with a cuppa, to shut the windows because it was thunderstorming outside. No-one had told him the room was occupied.
I advised them next day, when I booked out, of my all-round dissatisfaction.
I used some choice terms.

 

[ianrauk]

Yegods that Wolverhapton hotel looks and sounds & reads more like a Siberian Gulag rather then a hotel...blimey.

 

[Globalti]

Wolverhampton Council have just bought the hotel off the owners for £150,000 to prevent them from selling it to a big hotel chain because they have plans for the site. I don't suppose there's much incentive to improve your hotel if it's about to be demolished.

 

[ColinJ]

Discover The Fox Hotel International, a haven of individual attention and welcoming hospitality

Ha ha ha!

All of our thirty five bedrooms are en-suite and tastefully decorated to the highest standard with all the facilities that you deserve.

"Because you're not worth it!"

We have created a special Wedding Package called "Once in a lifetime" designed to suit your budget

I imagine you wouldn't want to go back there when you got remarried!

Wolverhampton Council have just bought the hotel off the owners for £150,000 to prevent them from selling it to a big hotel chain because they have plans for the site. I don't suppose there's much incentive to improve your hotel if it's about to be demolished.

I think the fact than an entire hotel went for the price of a small house speaks volumes!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I stayed at a hotel in Nottingham a few years back and when I went into the room someone was already in it!

Just stayed at a Premiere Inn last night and it was actually quite good and all the people who worked there were very friendly and helpful!

 

[e-rider]

I recently stayed at a very expensive hotel in London for a work trip and it was absolutely crap. Beyond belief even. My experince of German Hotels is also very good.

 

[TVC]

Just to show off.... At the other end of the scale is the place we stayed when in Fiji:

This was our room (see Mrs VC). Bedroom, lounge, two bathrooms, outside hot tub, and private beach. All inclusive £215 a night, and because we stayed for a week they threw our wedding in for free.

Now that is good value

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Just to show off.... At the other end of the scale is the place we stayed when in Fiji

Oooo a hotel-off!

We stayed at Claridges in Buenos Aires and The Sheraton at Iguazu Falls about 10 years ago for B&B prices. [/smug]

 

[gbb]

Oooo a hotel-off!

We stayed at Claridges in Buenos Aires and The Sheraton at Iguazu Falls about 10 years ago for B&B prices. [/smug]

I did the Sheraton in Montevideo...just across the river from Buenos Aires.

TBF, not all hotels get in right abroad.
Bear in mind mind i'm not talking 4 star hotels below (i think almost any 4 star, here or abroad is going to be more than ok)
Also bear in mind these are not for the most part holiday or resort hotels.
Can't remember some of the names but one in Burriana in Spain, they couldnt have been more indifferent if they tried.
Golden Arches (IIRC) in Limassol...hmmm..bit of a dive.
Another hotel in Limassol, only stayed a couple of nights when the Icelandic volcano went up...the whole deal (hotel) left me cold.
One in Carmelo Uruguay, a right dive, but TBF, the staff were a mix of mickey taking, but quite attentive. Never quite knew how to take them. Took 8 days to get some laundry done Its not as though the hotel was busy.

I dont think ive been in a bad 4 star...

 

[fossyant]

I can recommend Carden Park outside Chester. We got a 2 night stay with 2 day Chester Zoo pass for less than £170. The restaurant even has early bird deals for families - eat before 7pm and the kids eat free. Had a cracking meal for less than £50 all in ! Nice pool, and spa treatments for the ladies. It's a golfing hotel, but we only did the crazy golf on the front lawn. There is also rope race type activities, MTB hire and stuff. Really nice few days. Will probably go back again this year !

 

[lukesdad]

Because "hospitality" is not seen as a profession in the UK.

Quite so mossy chefs being the exception, but its not allways been this way. When I first started in the industry every trade within the hotel industry was a proffession and you could advance to the very top. Ive met Hotel owners who started as waiters and chambermaids, there was ambition and pride and with that came service and quality. The introduction of graduates with no experience to middle management positions ended this tradition.

Ive worked all over the world in restaurants and hotels. In europe especially worth,skill and hard work (going the extra mile) are still the main criteria for advancement, and it is true you reap what you sow.

 

[lukesdad]

I did the Sheraton in Montevideo...just across the river from Buenos Aires.

TBF, not all hotels get in right abroad.
Bear in mind mind i'm not talking 4 star hotels below (i think almost any 4 star, here or abroad is going to be more than ok)
Also bear in mind these are not for the most part holiday or resort hotels.
Can't remember some of the names but one in Burriana in Spain, they couldnt have been more indifferent if they tried.
Golden Arches (IIRC) in Limassol...hmmm..bit of a dive.
Another hotel in Limassol, only stayed a couple of nights when the Icelandic volcano went up...the whole deal (hotel) left me cold.
One in Carmelo Uruguay, a right dive, but TBF, the staff were a mix of mickey taking, but quite attentive. Never quite knew how to take them. Took 8 days to get some laundry done Its not as though the hotel was busy.

I dont think ive been in a bad 4 star...

The star rating of a hotel relates to facilities not quality of such things as service, food etc.

 

[redcard]

Just to show off.... At the other end of the scale is the place we stayed when in Fiji:

View attachment 8730

This was our room (see Mrs VC). Bedroom, lounge, two bathrooms, outside hot tub, and private beach. All inclusive £215 a night, and because we stayed for a week they threw our wedding in for free.

Now that is good value

I wonder if they're such good value cos they treat their workers as slaves, and dump all their rubbish on the near-by public beaches?