The Crown Inn, Old Amersham — Hotel in Great Britain

Isle Crawford designed hotel, on first look very nice. Stylish hotel, boutique feel in a traditional 17th century coaching inn in the quant town of Old Amersham. A favourite for those going to Wembley or Heathrow. ||It was my birthday weekend, so last minute we booked into the Crown Inn. Our plan was to hike the Chilterns so we wanted a decent base to start from, plus somewhere to get dinner. ||If you intend to stay at The Crown I’d suggest the (very local) Griffin pub which locals say is much better. It has stellar reviews and excellent food apparently. So book dinner there instead as it’s a very short walk along the old high street. ||Dinner at The Crown was nice enough, I’m convinced they went to the local Tesco to get the desert as the wait time on the main course and the desert was enough to think there was a problem in a restaurant with only two other tables. My dinner was a bit cold when it arrived. Maybe the team had a function and were crazy busy, waiting 30 and 20 minutes between courses felt like a long stretch. ||The room was nice, stylish. But you can tell it’s a long time since Isle designed it, the TV didn’t have any features to mirror screen or stream which felt old fashioned for a boutique-ish hotel.||The showers are excellent! ||The issue we faced was our room was right above the main bar. By 12:50am when we couldn’t sleep due to the incessant noise of what appeared to be ‘last, last orders’ or a lock in, my partner had to go downstairs and ask them if we could stop the noisy hub bub!! Saturday night, I get it, but don’t put guests right over the noisy bar without the appropriate noise insulation. ||We received a small discount for the trouble. ||The breakfast was ok, buffet style and a few choices on a menu. The coffee was terrible.||Maybe it’s just our poor location - if you’re mindful get a room outside the main building. ||Shame, as I imagine when this hotel was first designed it was excellent. It’s now just a bit shabby and...

Misleading Advertising and Unacceptable Conditions

The hotel's prime location and lovely Indian restaurant are its only redeeming qualities. Our experience in the old part of the inn was shockingly subpar, completely contradicting the website's claims of "modern," "contemporary," and "fresh" accommodations.

Cleanliness Issues: Aged cobwebs throughout the room Hairs on bed and pillows Suspicious red splotches (possibly blood) on bathroom walls Brown stains behind toilet Mildew/mold blooms in shower Heavily limescaled kettle Dirty hairdryer spotted with dried brown drips Filthy floors (evidenced by dirty footprints our socks left on white bathmat after walking around the room)

Additional Problems: Poor lighting WiFi signal so weak it was unuseable Inadequate temperature control (ill-functioning AC/heater) Virtually no storage space for luggage

Unsatisfactory Customer Service

When I raised concerns about cleanliness and requested a room change, the receptionist claimed the hotel was fully booked. However, upon checking the property’s own booking website as we left, we found multiple room types available, including ones at our price point - a clear contradiction.

Despite the receptionist promising to inform management about our issues, we've received no follow-up despite later sending two emails to the hotel directly and making three calls to the booking company.

Conclusion

Avoid the old part of this hotel at all costs. It lacks charm, comfort, and any semblance of customer care. The stark contrast between advertised amenities and reality, coupled with the absence of accountability, makes this establishment wholly...

Describing their rooms as "chic designer" is quite an exaggeration. Our room, in the building adjacent to the main building, was nice and comfortable, but a far cry from "chic" or "designer". There was a strange, stuffy, cloying, chemical smell in the room when we first arrived, so we had to open the window and run the AC unit to clear it out. The room and bathroom were both quite spacious, with plenty of room to lay out luggage without it getting in our way. Staffers were very professional, helpful, and accommodating. Complementary breakfast was quite good, although the younger staff, while pleasant and polite, could use a crash course in efficient food service and accommodation. We had a crazy incident with the smoke and fire alarms going off around midnight throughout the entire building because a guest accidentally hit the alarm in the main hallway believing it to be a light switch for the hallway lights. (How many times does this happen each week?) Why they haven't installed motion sensors to activate the hallway lighting is a mystery. Why the fire alarm is right at the front entrance, at shoulder height, and not enclosed in an alarm box, where anyone can easily bump against it or mistake it for a light switch is a mystery as well. The front entrance and room keys are old fashioned, heavy metal keys and guests only get one set, so couples and shared rooms have to share a single set of old keys. Time to upgrade your key access system folks! It's 2024, not 1924. Otherwise, a...