You get what you pay for...

A little while ago now, my boyfriend and me decided to find a cheap and relatively nearby country hotel for a getaway.

Looking online, you are privy to plethora of information and deals but being in a rush to find something nice at late notice, we ended up booking - to our detriment - a hotel in Ascot based on a picture and the hotels' own trumpet-blowing review. At £39 it seemed too good to miss and being in Ascot, surely it couldn't be bad?

On arriving through some wrought iron gates, we saw to our left, a car park and dotted about on the right, blocks of apartments. Being unsure how far the hotel was from this point, we parked up and started walking. We passed a white building which looked like a very nice place. I quickly googled the hotel on my phone and learned that this was another hotel, so thankfully, embarrassment saved. I say embarrassment, due to what we stumbled upon afterwards. Having continued walking around for about 10mins, I finally caved in and called the hotel, asking them to direct me into the reception.

I actually couldn't believe my eyes. The reception looked like an old fashioned college reception, with low level desks, shady strip lighting and cheap suited staff. Panic rose in me as it dawned on me that the blocks of apartments WERE the rooms of the hotel. As we obligingly gave over a credit card for pre-payment, my boyfriend asked in a stressed voice, whether we would be charged for the room, if we did not stay.
Thinking that was an unusual thing to say, I jumped in with the only excuse that came to my head; that my friend was pregnant and had gone into labour just hours earlier and we were waiting for the call. That we hoped to stay, but should she give birth, we wanted to be able to go immediately. Suprisingly the receptionist was very cool about that, said that she wouldn't possibly charge us if we had to leave, so no problem, just let her know.

The food hall was also detached from the rooms and reception, and as we walked in, we discovered the only option for dining available was a set 3 course meal. As we had travelled there, we thought we would have a meal and mull over what to do about staying or going. The meal was horrendous. Simply put. I can only describe this as canteen food. It was all buffet style, the starters in one quarter, the main in another and the desserts in another.

The food was so bland and so over cooked that we barely could eat it. Limp salads, dodgy smelling curries, you get the picture. Having scoffed down the meal (the desserts were ok, but then you can't easily go wrong with defrosted desserts...) we decided in no way were we going to stay in this shabby place. First of all, I thought perhaps I was a snob, maybe I have been too protected by nice 4 and 5 star hotels through work and my personal life, that this maybe perfectly acceptable 3 star hotel, in actual fact was just out of my snobby high standards. I looked around at the people dining, there were some couples, normal looking and a lot of families. Everyone here was getting a bargain, didn't this tell me something?

Anyway, so realising we couldn't really just saunter back into the reception and ask for our money back, I devised a plan that embarrassed the hell out of me. I don't like attention and I certainly didn't want to be stood about lying to this girl for any length of time other than necessary.

So, full on shitty food, I made me and my boyfriend start running, to the reception. I burst in, put on my most flustered and excitable voice and exclaimed to the girl that my friend had given birth!! And no way, that we'd just had to eat our dinner so fast! And was this deal on regularly as we hadn't even time to see our room and had been looking forward to our stay. Etc etc.

She seemed to share in the excitement and signed all the paperwork off and off we ran, "to the hospital". I'm sure my timings can't have added up. I mean if you've just given birth in 3 hours of labour, pretty much you aren't going to be up for visitors, right? Still the details were left to be thought over by her as we were back in the car and on the way home.

When I got back, I thought, right this hotel needs looking into. As soon as I did, I discovered that actually, it had been totally RIPPED apart by most staying. So there went the snobby theory. There were so many complaints about the food, the quality of the rooms, the thickness (of lack of) of the walls and so it went on. Many people had seen their rooms and refused to stay and HAD been allowed to leave without a charge. Having known that, I would not have put the effort into such a dramatic performance.

Still, it made me realise, that you know maybe there are some decent 3 star hotels out there, but in future, I will be reviewing them thoroughly before commiting myself to a night's stay.