Malmaison Cheltenham

Nothing

My only criticism was you couldn’t turn the air conditioner off!

Better A/c
Far more accessible bed for an older lady ( in an alcove) power points very inaccessible
No walk in shower, essential for me

It was a really hot weekend and the AC was barely working. The fridge was barely cool and it fact was pumping lots of heat into the room. When I came into the room the bed still had not been made and the previous occupier had left behind some dirty clothing. The light in the bathroom was not working. It all felt a bit tired and rundown given the price being charged and Malmaison's reputation as a quality brand. To be fair, they gave me a partial refund when I complained but I would rather had had functional AC.

It was an exceptional hot weekend, nevertheless if you book a hotel which states that it has air conditioing you expect the room to be cooler inside than outside especially in the evening. That was not the case. The hint was on first arrival when there was a fan turned on in the room.
It is also one of the first hotels where ther has been a queue to check out and no-one on reception. I tried ringing the advertised telephone line but that simply went to an automated response asking if I wanted to book another room for the night. My impression is that the local staff are trying the best in difficult circumstances, but the hotel group management are away enjoying their bonuses.

The air con was not working properly despite it being the hottest day ever recorded for June. When we called reception about it we were told that there is demand for the A/C and that they would reset it. This didn’t solve the issue and we we had two incredibly hot and uncomfortable nights. Whilst we appreciate there is a demand for A/C, if the room is advertised as such (and we have paid for it) then we would expect this to be included.

As well as this, the room was poorly laid out. We appreciate its advertised as ‘Cosy Double’ but we don’t understand why the bed is fixed in a position so close to the wardrobe when there is much more room on the opposite side. This makes manoeuvring around the room unnecessarily difficult with two people. There were a couple of stubbed toes during our stay.

The floors within the hotel lobby were generally unclean. There were bits all on the floor and the carpets in the hallways and within our room look outdated and haven’t seen a carpet wash for a while. Generally the entire hotel decor is very outdated other than the lobby area and it definitely doesn’t reflect on the price we paid which equated to £160 per night.

The lift from the car park was out of service meaning we had to carry our large (and heavy) case up the stairs. The main lift from the lobby to the floors above was also extremely slow and looks like it has seen better days.

Overall it was a very disappointing stay and certainly not worth the money at all. Malmaison is considered a very boutique brand however the Cheltenham property certainly lets the brand down.

Toilet was a bit broken

First impressions found there was no air con in any of the public areas so was very warm inside on arrival. I checked in and found my room had not been cleaned from the night before so had to go back to reception who were accommodating and found a different room.

The room was ok although not properly cleaned with various stains and coffee up the wall etc. The air con was also not working despite playing with the control panel. It was clearly a known issue as there was a desk fan in the room which itself did not work properly and only worked on full blast which was very noisy. Given it was 32 degrees outside this made the room hot. However we turned on the fan and hoped it would cool later. We were there for a wedding and found many others had air con issues where it worked fine in other rooms. Seems pot luck.

The evening reception held in the hotel was mainly held outside as it was too hot inside the hotel and the disco in that heat inside was pointless. I felt sorry for the bar staff who were struggling in the heat and sweating profusely. We went back to our room later in the evening to find the temperature 30 degrees and led to a very uncomfortable night and had to leave the very loud fan on all night in vein hope to circulate the air. The photo was taken when returning to our room to sleep with the room temp clearly shown in the top right. Next morning we found it cooler in the corridor outside than inside the room. An elderly couple in our party had locally sourced a portable air con unit to put in their room and appalling people were forced into this situation. Not what you expect from this hotel chain.

Upon check out it seems many others were complaining and we were being offered 50% discounts but was not the point as I do not expect to go to a hotel and experience such a poorly maintained and badly cleaned property with staff who tried but were clearly used to these issues.

The rooms were dated decor and the bed wasnt comfortable and the shower wasnt very good or hot

We had a great stay with no issues at all

Had to pay for a bottle of water in the restaurant yet it was complimentary in the room.