Prince Llewelyn Hotel — Restaurant in Wales

Stayed here with my brother/hubby when we were on a drive of the west coast of Wales. There were few hotels with availability and so had to opt for the last available room. When we arrived it was around 8 pm. I had to stand in line for quite some time at the bar with the bar customers to check in. Our room was very dated and there was one bathroom shared by other rooms. The bathroom wasn't great, but it did the job. The breakfast was just OK, walked into an empty pub room to find slices of bread to make toast and some yogurt, tea and coffee. No real hospitality or welcoming feeling, but the pub seemed to be very popular when we checked in and the food that was being served looked great. Such a shame that no one told us that they stopped serving at 9 pm - and so did every place in town. After we had settled into our room and had a cup of tea we found ourselves walking from venue to venue with a bunch of other hungry visitors all surprised that there was no food available. Way to go Beddgelert - very short sighted that you don't even offer a pre made sandwich for late arrivals. The town however, was a whole other story - our room had an amazing view of the village, river and mountains. It was truly breath taking -the village is one of the prettiest to see. So sorry that i can't give this lovely place a better rating, but the hotel really lets the town down.

UPDATED Response to owner comments. Thank you for your reply, however I do feel that it's a tad on the defensive side. My comments are merely factual accounts of my experience and how my group felt as a visitors to your town so that other visitors can use the information in their considerations. Reasonable does not come into unless the truth is unreasonable. The room was and probably still is dated, not because you are in a beautiful old building, but because the furnishing are out of date. The massive wardrobe/dresser looked like it was from the 80's. Typically, when a visitor comments on 'the room' they're rarely reviewing the architecture. I have read your retort and though you claim to have only 300 residents (actual last census is 455) you do cater to the half a million tourists that visit your region annually. Many of them, like myself, are international visitors who aren't used to limited hours of service within the tourism industry. It's not enough to make up a story about a dead dog to entice visitors to your town, you have to be able to deliver good service once the tourist takes the bait, or you may not get the very important repeat business that is the bread and butter of tourism; business 101. Beddgelert and your pub included is not only serving the locals, hence the high number of restaurants and visitor accommodations in the town. Like it or not, you are in the business of tourism and tourists rely on reviews to decide where to spend their hard earned money. You are correct; $75 is not a lot of money for a low end hotel room and I have not challenged the price in my review. I am also familiar with continental fare for breakfast, but a bag of bread and a yogurt is pushing the lower limits of good hospitality. As I said in my review, it was the only room available, otherwise I would have booked elsewhere as you advised. You went to great lengths to tell me about your food, how your kitchen operates and what limitations you face, but my comments were to let visitors know the availability of food in your town, not your pub. I forgive your hostility, I'm sure that you simply didn't understand the motivation of my review, taking it personally v's professionally. From your comments, you appear to be concerned about satisfying your customers, but you may be a little too sensitive to be in this business; many proprietors take sincere feedback as indicators on how to improve. You seem to be charging what the room is worth, it did not appear to be worth more. However, making a paying guest feel welcome and of value is free, but that too was not included in the price or...

We booked the Prince Llewelyn for a night stop as part of a long distance cycle tour as they appeared to cater for people doing outdoor activities in the area.

We realised the day before we were a bit behind schedule so called to check it was ok to arrive late evening and we should be ok up til 11pm when the bar shut.

However, the next day a message was left to say there was an electrical problem with the glass washer and the bar shut but bnb still open but we had to call ahead and give an exact eta- not an easy thing to do cycling in Snowdonia and we're still mystified as to why someone didn't just unplug the glass washer and stick a pair of marigolds on...

We tried calling back but the electrical fault also ment no one was answering the phone either and confirmed a time for someone to let us in (again , why the bar staff employed that night could not have been ready and waiting I don't know). We made a big effort and arrived a few minutes early only to then be left in the cold and rain banging on the door for 15 minutes until another guest let us in.

Eventually a lady turned up who was obviously very upset about the whole glass washer crisis and showed us to our room. We asked to have dinner at 7 am (not that early if you are catering for outdoor type people) and the answer was along the lines of "I suppose I can see if I can get up by then, I'm very tired"... we had just cycled 130 miles...

The room was tatty with a weird layout but all we wanted was hot showers and a warm bed. Unfortunately this was not the case as the window had been left open, the heating was off and there was not hot water. We raised the hot water issue at breakfast in case it was related to the electrical fault but were told the hotel was full so they must have run out! We hadn't counted on hot water being on a first come first served basis!!

Breakfast was ready at 7 am and was fine but we were still made to feel like an inconvenience and left as soon as we could.

If the problem with the electrics had been so severe to have made our stay so unpleasant and upset the staff so much maybe the hotel should have been closed and rooms sourced elsewhere in Beddgelert. We certainly would have stayed somewhere else given the choice of a warm room.

I don't believe in leaving bad reviews straight off but my complaint to the management has been ignored and as we paid in full in advance we feel we have been completely ripped off.

Oh... and the wifi doesn't work and there's no signal for most mobile networks. Bit if an issue when you need weather forecasts etc for...

The people - Fantastic! The place - Pretty bad!

The hotel is desperately in need of modernization. I understand that this hotel caters mainly for mountaineers and walkers, so has to deal with a fair amount of muddy boots, and wet clothing so isn't going to be perfect and you don't expect it to be.

I stayed in a room with twin single beds with a friend while mountaineering for a few days, and while the welcome from the lady host/ barmaid was warm, friendly and welcoming, frankly the room was a huge disappointment.

The beds were relatively comfy, but with a thin duvet and a very thin fleece blanket, the room was nowhere near warm enough for a January night. There was a plug in heater in the room which didn't work and when we swapped it for one on the landing that we spotted, that too didn't work! The TV remote control was missing, and the wooden set of draws was shamelessly held together by black insulation tape! The walls were covered with stains and the floor covered with crumbs and tourist leaflets!

The bathroom was by far the worst bit, which on arrival had yellow dried spots staining the seat and toilet paper and yellow water indicating the obvious. The bathroom had quite a bit of mould and mildew and in the evenings the shower would only get to lukewarm.

The whole room had a feeling of damp and decay and frankly if I had booked the hotel for anything other than a weekend in the hills with a mate I would have asked to change rooms or leave.

The only other member of staff we saw was very friendly and chatty, and the dining room seemed well decorated, clean, and well kept.

Overall, our room was cold, felt damp, dirty on arrival and wasn't cleaned at any point during our 3 days there, it had a useless TV and a broken heater, and a filthy bathroom.

The staff however were lovely and cannot be faulted. Warm, friendly and encouraging. The bar seemed busy both nights with decent and friendly people.

If you an unfussy walker or hiker on a budget looking simply for a bed for the night with friendly, and welcoming hoteliers, then this may well suit you. If not then proceed...