Monday night, Tuesday night

Where did I stay earlier this week? Read my review!

"""An overpriced airport hotel (even at the LaterRooms price which was less than half the rack rate), overdue for refurbishment, and with staff who rightly knew they didn't need to be more than routinely polite to guests coming through the door, because most are unlikely to pass this way again.

Gatwick Mercure Hotel

Open a cupboard door, and you find that the back of the cupboard's missing and you can see the dust wall and the wiring at the back. The only way to find which is the hot tap and which is the cold by trying them both out, because both have long since lost their labels. Wonder at the carpet which looks like it expanded when it was deep cleaned, the didn't shrink back to size and is now "baggy". Go to the parking desk, then queue at reception to get your ticket stamped "resident" then go back to the parking desk so that you 'only' have to pay ten pound for the pleasure of parking in the hotel's car park overnight. And everything is cream, or yellow, lighting anemic. It IS clean (and I have rated that "good") but a little musty.

I'm invited as I complete this review to say if I would recommend the hotel for a group of friends. as a romantic retreat, as a country escape, as a relaxing Spa, a city break or a family holiday. Sorry - none of those. If I had to find a room for a few hours one night before an early flight, I just might stop there for convenience if I could get a room for forty quid and couldn't find anywhere else in the same price bracket ... but the 145 rack rate is a joke, surely!"""

How tempting ... to post the review above and to identify the hotel in question! And how sad that I was tempted to do so. "Raise issues at the time, not later" is the usual advise, and I had considered doing so. But in my heart, something told me that I would get mere platitudes if I tried, and I too was dog-tired at the end of a long day of training to be bothered.
(written 2009-11-13, updated 2009-11-14)

Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles

M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [4109] What might you find at a tiny bed and breakfast? - (2013-06-03)
  [4093] More things to make sure that we do NOT do ... - (2013-05-18)
  [4091] A reminder of why we opened Well House Manor for our customers - (2013-05-17)
  [4081] Pushing down the advertised price, pushing up the total price charged. - (2013-05-08)
  [4058] The highs and lows of customer service - Cheltenham - (2013-04-03)
  [3975] Being an amateur hotel inspector helps me run a professional hotel - (2013-01-14)
  [3970] Comparing four VERY different places to stay - (2013-01-11)
  [3963] National TV - Melksham - 9th January 2013, Pre-alert. - (2012-12-27)
  [3900] The Xxxxx Guest House in Xxxxxxxxxxx - my stay reviewed - (2012-10-20)
  [3794] Should hotel staff sit on the toilet in the customer bedrooms? - (2012-07-02)
  [3776] Some traps it's so easy to fall into in designing your web site - (2012-06-23)
  [3754] Eyes Wide Open - (2012-06-06)
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2413] Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income - (2009-09-21)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1525] Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory - (2008-01-31)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [693] The on line booking experience - (2006-04-21)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)

2961

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