Meadow Rise Guest House — Hotel in Cotswold District

We had high hopes for this place, both from past reviews and the lovely pictures, but unfortunately, this was literally the worst check-in experience (and we travel quite a bit). We booked this place for 2 nights through American Express Travel. What should have been a wonderful country getaway as part of our honeymoon turned into a disaster as soon as we arrived. The lack of professionalism of the husband and wife team, particularly the wife, is quite galling.

The room was paid in full, with $0 due at arrival. They greeted us warmly and helped us park our car. However, as soon as we walked in through the door with Wendy, she demanded that we pay in full, on the spot, because she had never received her money.

That made no sense when for sure the booking was confirmed and the money was paid in full from my AMEX credit card to AMEX Travel. I even brought up the booking confirmation as proof, but Wendy denied the confirmation and stated we either paid upfront and get a refund from American Express, or we can't check-in. Unbelievable.

She even claimed she doesn't accept American Express credit cards, nor that Meadow Rise is on the AMEX Travel site, and yet we were able to book through their travel site and paid with an AMEX credit card without issue. We even found her B&B still up there later that night. It was just a stream of lies.

Long story short, American Express Travel agents confirmed that the money for the full booking was indeed paid to Wendy and Meadow Rise, and that they saw NO issues on their end. Whatever issues there may have been on her part (in terms of accepting payment) were solely on her side.

Now, this could have been handled gracefully where she addressed the issue of payment directly with American Express Travel (or rather through their partner Expedia, which is what shows up on her side as the booking agent), WEEKS before we arrived. She could've even reached out to us directly so that we can work with American Express to figure out what happened before we arrived. Neither of those things happened, and she expected us to just pay her directly on arrival, ignoring what we had already paid. It's a slap in the face.

We think what most likely was the issue is that Meadow Rise does not like 3rd-party bookings. That's the only thing that makes sense for the song and dance Wendy gave us. Had she been upfront about that, then it would've been a non-issue (we support small businesses), but the way this was all handled, especially as a service & hospitality business, was ridiculous.

As a result of this literal s* show, American Express graciously refunded us the entire booking cost, and we left that night for another B&B in Bourton (where the check-in process was seamless by comparison). The rest of our stay at Bourton-on-the-Water was fantastic. BOOK MEADOW RISE AT...

We had high hopes for this place, both from past reviews and the lovely pictures, but unfortunately, this was literally the worst check-in experience (and we travel quite a bit). We booked this place for 2 nights through American Express Travel. What should have been a wonderful country getaway as part of our honeymoon turned into a disaster as soon as we arrived. The lack of professionalism of the husband and wife team, particularly the wife, is quite galling.||The room was paid in full, with $0 due at arrival. They greeted us warmly and helped us park our car. However, as soon as we walked in through the door with Wendy, she demanded that we pay in full, on the spot, because she had never received her money.||That made no sense when for sure the booking was confirmed and the money was paid in full from my AMEX credit card to AMEX Travel. I even brought up the booking confirmation as proof, but Wendy denied the confirmation and stated we either paid upfront and get a refund from American Express, or we can't check-in. Unbelievable.||She even claimed she doesn't accept American Express credit cards, nor that Meadow Rise is on the AMEX Travel site, and yet we were able to book through their travel site and paid with an AMEX credit card without issue. We even found her B&B still up there later that night. It was just a stream of lies.||Long story short, American Express Travel agents confirmed that the money for the full booking was indeed paid to Wendy and Meadow Rise, and that they saw NO issues on their end. Whatever issues there may have been on her part (in terms of accepting payment) were solely on her side.||Now, this could have been handled gracefully where she addressed the issue of payment directly with American Express Travel (or rather through their partner Expedia, which is what shows up on her side as the booking agent), WEEKS before we arrived. She could've even reached out to us directly so that we can work with American Express to figure out what happened before we arrived. Neither of those things happened, and she expected us to just pay her directly on arrival, ignoring what we had already paid. It's a slap in the face.||We think what most likely was the issue is that Meadow Rise does not like 3rd-party bookings. That's the only thing that makes sense for the song and dance Wendy gave us. Had she been upfront about that, then it would've been a non-issue (we support small businesses), but the way this was all handled, especially as a service & hospitality business, was ridiculous.||As a result of this literal s* show, American Express graciously refunded us the entire booking cost, and we left that night for another B&B in Bourton (where the check-in process was seamless by comparison). The rest of our stay at Bourton-on-the-Water was fantastic. BOOK MEADOW RISE AT...

I cannot recommend this B&B highly enough.||It is located about a 1 minute walk from the very centre of Bourton-on-the-Water.||We stayed in a first floor room with a double bed and en suite shower bathroom.||The room although small was of ample size and the shower was a proper shower with proper water pressure and not one of those weak electric ones. The bed was very comfortable and we enjoyed a good nights sleep.||The full English breakfast was standout for us. All of the produce is local and it tasted absolutely superb. I wish I could wake up to one of these breakfasts every day. Worth the stay on its own!||The B&B has a beautiful garden overlooking the fields of a local farm. There is a table and chairs outside for guests to use and we enjoyed tea in the sunshine in the garden after breakfast.||Hanna, one of the hosts, is fantastic and is always at hand and is very helpful.||We...