The Fleece at Cirencester — Hotel in Cotswold District

Unfortunately I had the displeasure of staying at the fleece with my partner on Saturday night, June 3rd 2017.

The room was ok, if a little tired, but the staff were a disorganised rabble, and providing any kind of service was clearly an inconvenience.

On the Sunday morning, we arrived for breakfast at 9am, halfway through the advertised service 8 - 10am.

It was clear that nobody was in charge as empty tables were not being cleared for later arrivals, and the continental breakfast had not been replenished, so most things had run out.

There was barely half a glass of fruit juice left between two of us.

As there were no cleared tables, a member of staff asked us to sit at at table in an adjacent room, ans she would come and attend to us in a few minutes.

This seemed reasonable as another couple had also just been asked to sit there.

Oh how wrong we were.

The room turned out to be a thoroughfare with other guests frequently passing by heading in or out of the hotel.

After 20 minutes we had to go and find someone to take our cooked food and hot drink order. The staff member who'd seated us seemed somewhat surprised, that we were sitting there and appeared quite put out that we wanted service. The empty tables had still not been cleared, and the continental breakfast had not been replenished.

It took nearly 15 minutes for a pot of tea to appear, I had begun to wonder if they were waiting for the tea bush to grow. One medium sized teapot between two seemed somewhat miserly given the price of the rooms. This did not bode well.

We were also promised butter for our croissants, which, unsurprisingly with hindsight, never appeared.

A further 15 minutes later, after we'd begun to wonder if the local hens had gone on strike, and refused to lay, a staff member returned to inform us that our hot food order hadn't been taken, and asked what we'd like to order.

This was in fact quite curious, as I'd watched the previous staff member write our order down along with that of the couple seated opposite.

At this point we gave up and left as, having waited nearly an hour, we had no confidence that any food would ever appear. The couple seated opposite had not been served any food by this time either. We don't know if they waited any longer.

I have stayed at hotels all over the UK and Europe, and this is the worst service I have received by some margin.

The organisation was so poor, and the staff so disconnected from reality that I thought we were in an episode of Ramsay's kitchen Nightmares.

On checkout, we spoke to who we believe was the manager, but it was hard to tell as he didn't seem to care, and seemed happy to just brush it off.

I think one of the bar stools would have been a more effective manager.

The debacle at the fleece has left me feeling fleeced, and has spoiled what had otherwise been a lovely family weekend to celebrate a special birthday.

I am only grateful that the birthday meal was held over the road at The Bear where the service was outstanding, and the food was excellent, as I can only imagine how shambolic it would have been at the fleeced.

I would recommend people to avoid this place like the plague, but, on consideration, the plague may be preferable.

It's a shame I can't give zero stars, it's certainly not worth...

Don't be fleeced - this is not a 5 star hotel any more - it might have been when the AA first reviewed it but it's worn out and badly maintained. We stayed for 2 nights (fri, sat) Big room and big bathroom. Decent bed but there were no pillow protectors - which is v. Poor for any hotel never mind one that pretends to be quality. Carpets are tired and dirty. All the walls and paintwork are chipped and very dirty including the tired shower tiles which needed a good scrub ! Bathroom walls had not survived the damp so were bubbling and the paint had split on the walls. Even the trim around the shower base had come off.

Maybe that's why they have such terrible lighting in the rooms - so you can't see how tired it all is ! Lights so poor I ended up putting the phone light on for my wife so she could do her makeup ! They hadn't even replaced the broken bin in the bathroom which had no lid and a plastic bag chucked in it. Building work going on outside so scaffolding and filthy windows were the order of the day. Let's not also forget that this is an old building so.you can here everyone's business - above and next to you - just to add to the ambience!

It all led to an overpriced, dirty, noisy stay which may fleece someone who doesn't stay in good hotels very often but I do and this was the most overpriced and underwhelming hotel I've been in for many years - get a good discount or avoid !

Btw - in case you think I'm being harsh - we met up with someone else who was staying there and they...

The staff we met on reception and on the dining room were smashing, polite & helpful, especially the staff at breakfast 😀. |Room number 4, a feature room was on the whole disappointing, to be fair when I asked for things they were provided eg very slippery shower floor so I requested a bath mat, no tissues in the room, I do not travel with my own box! Bathroom bin was replaced when I showed a photo of what seemed to be black paint all over it, the shower ceiling had peeling paint and the floor was stained and grout missing. A feature room is one of the most expensive rooms and lacked the 'little somethings'...cobweb on a lamp and bedside lamps hanging by their wire so they could not be directed so book reading at night was done with a main lights on. As I said, staff very nice but no identity badges so I did not know who I was talking to unless Iasked. Staying in another chain,Coaching Inn Group, the rooms do have little extras eg, digital radio and digital TV. |The fire alarm went off at 6.30am 22nd, apparently by someone having a hot shower, so I was told! |Room 4 has a narrow door to fit through, it hits the wall as you enter, plus an alarm that sounds if not closed properly which has been pulled by so many guests the door handle and panel were loose on the outside, alarm sounded everything to closed the door. Over £400 for 2 nights expected better quality, hole on the throw on the bed, slicker finish all round needed, as I said...