Rising Sun Hotel - Cheltenham, United Kingdom 

Arrived at Rising Sun tired and hungry after long journey on motorway. No staff in Reception. Had to use telephone in Reception to summon staff. After 15 minutes of waiting somone finally appeared to show us our room. Told by Receptionist that food was being served all day - no such luck. Wedding party monopolising kitchen staff. Told could be at least an hour before we could have something from the kitchen. Offered a bowl of soup by hotel manager. By this time husband and I had had alcoholic drinks so we were trapped there as not willing to use car to drive after drink. They obviously don't value their customers - only customers who bring in a lot of money. Would rather sleep on park bench than every stop there again.

I've read the other reviews of this hotel and I'm wondering if they are about the same hotel. Granted, they let me have the family room for just the two of us, at the same rate as a double room but that was just about the only good point. Despite that, I wouldn't describe the hotel as "inexpensive." Well, the view over the valley is spectacular as well. We arrived very late on our first night, which we had expected, and I was looking forward to a good night's sleep after a long drive. On opening the door to the room, the first thing I noticed was the peculiar smell. The second thing I noticed was the size of the "double" bed, which might have been fine for a couple who are both no more than 5 feet tall. Fortunately, as I said, this was a family room, so there was also a single bed. The two of us consequently ended up using both the "double" and the single bed. It didn't take long, despite my tiredness, to notice that the state of the decoration in the room left quite a lot of room for improvement. The whole impression was that the room had been furnished down to a budget rather than up to a standard. The windows were the old "up-down" variety (sash windows) and single glazed, which was a significant disadvantage given the constant traffic on the road outside; although it's not a major road, it couldn't be described as quiet either. The radiator had brown spots on it from some unkown liquid; there were dirty fingermarks around the radiator; the net curtains were dark grey with dirt or dust around their lower end. There was a cobweb of several inches' length hanging from the ceiling. The story in the bathroom was scarcely any better. The sealant around the bathtub had disappeared in parts leaving some black holes, and the bathtub was chipped with black material in the chips. The basin was also chipped but the holes this time were a delicate shade of brown. Once again, nobody had thought to look above shoulder height when cleaning: the ventilator was covered in grey dust. To return to the lack of a restful night: the door to the room had a gap underneath it of about an inch, which of course let in a lot of light from the corridor, and helped to ensure that every single noise from the corridor was audible all night. I would however like to say that breakfast was included in the price, and the cooked breakfast was well done and plentiful. To summarise then, I don't know what the other rooms are like, but you might want to think twice before accepting the family room (room 18). It needs some serious work doing on it.