The Cross Keys — Restaurant in England

TL;DR: NO HOT WATER IN THE SHOWER. Would not recommend or stay again. NO BREAKFAST.

I stayed at the Cross Keys in Rode as this was one of the few places which allowed me to check out late at 2pm. Initially, I was impressed with the communication, both via phone and email. When I arrived, the room looked mostly clean although there were quite a lot of random hairs here and there in the bathroom. The room was also very dark even with the lights on, and overlooking the pub garden so had to keep the curtains shut as otherwise pub guests would be able to see into the room from their tables.

When I tried to shower in the evening, there was no hot water in the shower. I called the "reception"/pub number a few times asking about the issue, and honestly the staff were not particularly helpful, most of the conversations ended in "Hannah is not here right now" with no plan as to how to resolve the issue. Eventually I was advised that there was a busy kitchen service therefore no hot water in the hot water tank. I was extremely frustrated and disappointed, and had to shower in lukewarm water after reading other reviews online that there was no hot water even late at night. I decided not to wait to verify this, as I was extremely tired and didn't want to waste my time.

This place does not offer breakfast either, which was another disappointment.

I think £80/night which is what I paid for my room (plus £30 for a late checkout) is not a fair price for a room where there's no hot water half the time, and no breakfast offered. Found many other reviews online which also mention the lack of hot water, so clearly this is a common issue.

Would not recommend...

Pleasantly surprised with the venue. Beautiful building and enclosed garden. The room had a nice relaxing atmosphere. Furniture and fittings were lovely. Fantastic bed to sleep on. Great shower. Nice thoughtful extras for my wife, with cotton buds and cotton wool. Negative points though, are as follows. Light above bathroom basin didn't work. Not enough light in the room for my wife to apply makeup around mirrors. Maybe a ceiling light could be a future solution. Simple points such as holes in the wall not filled in, where previous plugs or hooks where, or not sanded over properly. Paintwork in bathroom peeling, pipework needed painting. Bathroom door panel splitting. Various stains on the carpet. No soap dish inside the shower. Some extra dusting may be needed before new guests arrive, especially around worktops and lightbulbs. My wife has left phone charger behind in our room. Rang up the establishment to explain this. However they were unwilling to check the room, or knock on the door to ask the guests if a phone charger had been left behind, until they vacate the room on...

First negative point parking is very limited, most of the car park is allocated to the residential properties. Second negative point, I arrived on a Monday at 5pm, I could not check into my room because the pub was closed it only opens at 5:30 pm, this was not mentioned anywhere when booking the room. No food was served on a Monday night. The room was ok, however the kettle and coffee maker didn't have the water emptied out from the previous tennant. The water after refilling and boiling the kettle several times was cloudy. The worst part of this hotel was loud music from the pub downstairs which went on from opening at 5:30pm until late, considering the pub is supposed to be closed by 8:30pm and the music continuing well after this, it's 10:20 pm as I'm writing this. This has left me with a particularly restless night given that I had to go to work in the morning. I even had to turn the TV volume to the max to try and drown the music out without success.

Would I recommend this place not a chance, this hotel is now going on our company avoid list for when we are working...