Cambridge House Hotel — Hotel in Cambridge

I booked a room for my cousin and his wife who would be visiting from Germany (I live nearby, but don't have space to put up guests). They were attracted to the hotel because of its convenient location, and a charming photograph of one of the rooms on their website. N.B. I am writing about the Cambridge House Hotel in Tenison Road, Cambridge, UK (not to be confused with other hotels with similar names elsewhere).| My cousins weren't sure how to pay using Euros, so I prepaid everything for them in £ sterling (it was not cheap), and they repaid me in cash. Almost everything at this hotel is automated, but there was an employee there when we all arrived – who wouldn't allow us access to the room without payment of a further £50, as "damage deposit". This already made me uneasy, but I paid up. We were then led to the room, which wasn't anything like the one in the picture, not nearly as nice.| We had booked for three nights. The first two went well enough, but at about 4 am on their last night, my cousins were woken by the sound of rushing water: the cistern in the tiny bathroom had snapped, or burst and sprung a leak, or something while they were sleeping, and water was gushing down, and through, spilling out of the bathroom into the bedroom. The wife of the couple started mopping up with towels, paper handkerchiefs and anything she could lay her hands on, while her husband tried phoning the manager. No reply. (N.B. the website says the hotel staff are available 24/7, but there was no sign of this at the time). It took THREE HOURS before anyone arrived to take over. My cousins checked out shortly afterwards.| My cousins then asked for a refund for the last night, to which the hotel agreed. Of course, as I had paid in the first place, it fell to my lot to arrange this, which was difficult as I myself was about to go away. But I communicated with the hotel with texts going back and forth from my other destination. Finally, they notified me that the money had gone into my account, "but [would] take a few days to clear". It never cleared and I am convinced it was never paid. Not only did we not get the compensation, I never even got my £50 "damage deposit" back. I have written to and texted the hotel several times since, and never got a reply: hence this review, which I warned them I would write if they didn't sort out the refund.| I consider this hotel a fly-by-night operation, charging market prices for a shoestring DIY service: fine if all goes well, appalling if anything goes wrong. The complete automation of everything and absence of human beings on the premises is geared for young people; anyone older could struggle.| In addition, the room furnishings looked as if they had been thrown together in a cost-cutting exercise: the "air-conditioning unit", for example, "vented" to the outside via a big jagged hole in the plaster and brickwork that had never been made good.|I am still furious with the hotel owners (whoever they are – it's not at all clear!) – and would urge other visitors to steer clear of this shoddy...

I booked a room for my cousin and his wife who would be visiting from Germany (I live nearby, but don't have space to put up guests). They were attracted to the hotel because of its convenient location, and a charming photograph of one of the rooms on their website. N.B. I am writing about the Cambridge House Hotel in Tenison Road, Cambridge, UK (not to be confused with other hotels with similar names elsewhere). My cousins weren't sure how to pay using Euros, so I prepaid everything for them in £ sterling (it was not cheap), and they repaid me in cash. Almost everything at this hotel is automated, but there was an employee there when we all arrived – who wouldn't allow us access to the room without payment of a further £50, as "damage deposit". This already made me uneasy, but I paid up. We were then led to the room, which wasn't anything like the one in the picture, not nearly as nice. We had booked for three nights. The first two went well enough, but at about 4 am on their last night, my cousins were woken by the sound of rushing water: the cistern in the tiny bathroom had snapped, or burst and sprung a leak, or something while they were sleeping, and water was gushing through, spilling out of the bathroom into the bedroom. The wife of the couple started mopping up with towels, paper handkerchiefs and anything she could lay her hands on, while her husband tried phoning the manager. No reply. (N.B. the website says the hotel offers 24/7 staff availability, but there was no sign of this at the time). It took THREE HOURS before anyone arrived to take over My cousins checked out shortly afterwards. My cousin then asked for a refund for the last night, to which the hotel agreed. Of course, as I had paid in the first place, it fell to my lot to arrange this, which was difficult as I myself was about to go away. But I communicated with the hotel with texts going back and forth from my other destination. Finally, they notified me that the money had gone into my account, "but [would] take a few days to clear". It never cleared and I am convinced it was never paid. I have written to and texted the hotel several times since, and never got a reply: hence this review, which I warned them I would write if they didn't sort out the refund. I consider this hotel a fly-by-night operation, charging market prices for a shoestring DIY service: fine if all goes well, appalling if anything goes wrong. The complete automation of everything and absence of human beings on the premises is geared for young people; anyone older could struggle. In addition, the room furnishings looked as if they had been thrown together in a cost-cutting exercise: the "air-conditioning unit", for example, "vented" to the outside via big a jagged hole in the plaster and brickwork that had never been made good. I am still furious with the hotel owners (whoever they are – it's not at all clear!) – and would urge other visitors to steer clear of this shoddy...

This was one of my worst experiences in a hotel. First of all the room was tiny, you barely had enough space to walk around the bed, there was so little space in the bathroom that the toilet was sandwiched under the sink so the sink was on top of you as you did your business, not that you could do your business since the door had no lock and as the guy in the couple im not going to subject anyone to that. By far the worst thing about the room though was the heat. I font k ow what kind of thermodynamics is going on in this hotel but it was a good 6 degrees warmer in the room than outside so it felt above 25 to 30 degrees at night. Not so much a problem for my girlfriend but as a man it was intolerable, they had included air conditioners which took up any space at the foot of the bed but it was so loud that it was like having a jet engine in the room. So we spent all night switching it on for 2 hours then off and sleeping where we could. They had 100% polyester sheets which seemed to perfectly trap the heat. I can't stress how traumatised this room made me, put a serious strain on my relationship. They are also trying out a fully hands free hotel experience. There is no staff on site so you have a problem then deal with it yourself because it seems no one is answering their chat feature on their website, especially on the weekends. For instance our remote ran out of batteries, no point even trying to get an answer through an app, I dont think the system works, a hotel is not a gym, it needs a permanent member of staff. The cleaners did not replace any soaps or water either. Basically don't come here in summer, .aybe in winter the heating becomes an advantage, don't come here if you don't understand technology very well and don't come here if you want more than a shoebox to sleep in. Location however is great and cleanliness...