Kingsmuir Hotel — Hotel in Cheltenham

I booked this accommodation, through lastminute.com, based on the reviews that it had on the Kingsmuir website and that it is rated as a three stars establishment.||||I booked on the afternoon before the stay so attempted to contact the Kingsmuir to clarify when I would get the access codes for the premises. It took four attempts at ringing the contact number, given on the website, before the answering service worked properly and I was able to leave a message. I received no response to my message. I eventually received the e-mail with the details of the access codes at 09:35 on the day I was due to travel, 30 minutes after we should have left home. Had the details not arrived before I left for Cheltenham I may well have been stuck when I arrived, given that I can only access e-mail from my home computer and that there seemed to be problems with the contact number for the Kingsmuir. We didn’t see a single member of staff during our stay.||||For approximately 15 rooms there were only 2 off street parking spaces. There would have been 3 if it wasn’t for the presence of a dark blue Vauxhall that had clearly not been moved for some time. It was covered in dust and bird droppings and was boxed in with an old wooden pallet. All the on-street parking on The Circus was taken. No free parking permits were available, so Monday – Saturday inclusive you have to pay for parking. ||||Parking was further limited because the owner of a garage on the premises required access to their garage between around 8 am and 4pm, thus losing a further parking spot. On street parking in the area was not unlimited on the day we arrived and had we not been able to park off street at the accommodation parking would have been a real challenge.||||The room was clearly part of a larger room that had been divided through the middle of the window, the one curtain was ill fitting and lacked blackout lining – so the sun wakes you at dawn. There was a nice view of The Circus – grass and mature trees from the ½ window.||||The bed frame had been broken on the blind side of the bed and roughly repaired externally to the frame, so that you discovered this by stubbing your toes several times. The bed was too hard for even a 12 stone man to be able to get comfortable on, resulting in broken sleep and painful shoulders & backs after 7 hours in bed.||||The two chairs provided had loose seats. The wardrobe had a mark on one door that looked like dried blood. The microwave in the room still had crumbs on the turntable from the previous guest. The one teaspoon was dirty, we discovered a second tucked away in the bottom of the wardrobe whilst checking we had left nothing behind. The TV, even BBC1, was unwatchable due to a poor signal causing a broken picture. ||||||In the bathroom the mirror was hung on the wall using a piece of 13-amp earth wire. The join between the taps and sink needed a good scrub with a ‘toothbrush’. The bathmat was on the towel rail. ||||The continental breakfast provided in our room comprised, 3 tins of fruit, only instant coffee and 1 sort of tea, UHT milk, two croissants made with vegetable fat filled with chocolate flavoured vegetable fat filling, 1 banana,||two apples, two slices of only white sliced bread and 3 cereals. I know of nowhere in Europe where this passes as a continental breakfast, where were the meats (advertised on the Kingsmuir home page) and choice of continental cheeses and breads, and all butter croissant? There were, however, two good quality yoghurts, full fat and zero artificial sweetener. ||The breakfast was so poor that we bought our own.||||In the kitchen on the first floor there were further cereals available along with a selection of jams. The fridge in the kitchen contained an open pack of cheap sliced ham and an open packet of sausages, both occupied the same shelf.||||The Kingsmuir does not meet the standard of any of the three-star guest houses or bed and breakfasts that I have stayed at. ||For the money I paid a three-star B&B would have served me a choice of high-quality continental or cooked breakfast with fresh coffee and a choice of teas, provided adequate free parking facilities and a well-furnished clean room. We would have been personally welcomed and bade goodbye.||||At 8.15 on Sunday morning there was loud hammering in the building. We would expect any maintenance to be carried out between 10 am and 2pm.||||The location of the Kingsmuir was as described, within easy walking distance of all of the attractions of Cheltenham, estimated times quoted on the website from the Kingsmuir to key attractions were accurate and the area was quiet during...

This was by far the cheapest accommodation available on Hotels.com for the day of my visit to Cheltenham. Cheaper even than the local inns and well-known chain hotels. So I'm confused by the many negative reviews for the place from people expecting steak at burger prices.||||Yes, there are negatives. The room carpet sported several large stains of dubious origin, but that's perhaps inevitable when the breakfast is self-service and in-room. The wardrobe door handle came off, but was still usable. The electric shower sounded like a jet engine; could be a problem for some. Into nitpicking territory, the tv was small, relative to the size of the room. Guest parking is minimal, and Pittville Circus has double-yellows.||||Yes, there are positives. The room and bed were comfortable and warm. There's a bath and a shower; rooms in the budget price bracket don't often have both. Plenty of clean, matching towels and the usual toiletries. As well as the requisite tea/coffee/biscuits, there's also a cupboard containing a fridge, microwave, cutlery/crockery and enough cereal, pastries, juice, yogurts, tinned and fresh fruit to easily feed two at breakfast. The building retains many original architectural features.||||The place lands somewhere between an old-school seaside lodging house and Mr Bean's bedsit. Secure building/room access is via a code provided upon booking confirmation. I'd stay again. It's somewhere to sleep and at around £50 for the night, you shouldn't expect...

I was honestly appalled at my stay on Friday 27th August. Firstly as a single female I DID NOT feel safe. As soon as I entered the premises of the Kingsmuir 'Hotel' I felt extremely uneasy. Secondly I had to choose between either having a freezing cold or scolding hot shower. The water temperature would not regulate no matter what I did. It was highly unpleasant and in the end I just gave up. So I was unable to have a shower. The least you pay for with accommodation is a shower, a bed and a roof over your head. There was a general smell of must. It was like staying in an old decrepit house. In addition to the above I found the 'continental' breakfast promised to be very disappointing. It simply comprised of two very sad looking apples, a hard pear; the cheapest yoghurt, a children's croissant and a tin of grapefruit. Who even eats grapefruit!? The ham and cheese promised was not there. There was also a rather rude instruction in red capitals behind the door demanding for guests to leave at 10am despite my booking reservation saying I could leave at 1030. Finally I feel that each guest having to use their fingers to manually enter the code on 2 separate doors to enter their room through the garden suite completely defeats the whole purpose of a 'keyless' system and further spreads covid-19. Shambolic,...