Hotel De La Bere - Cheltenham, United Kingdom     

Stayed at this hotel twice in July while attending a training event being held there. Previous reviews pretty accurate - beautifull property and location, needing a little TLC at 3star or a refit to become a stunning 5 star. 3 rooms assessed - Origionaly booked into a single which was below standard - B&B Guesthouse style room, split level, very small bathroom, low quality Fix & fit Had to change rooms as no curtains or blind fitted! Moved to a double room of a decent 3 star standard, much better, but very, very noisy as room directly over the bar. Returned the following week with family for 2 days - outside courtyard family room, Large 3 star standard family room with open second room with 2 extra beeds. very quiet and comfortable. Would recomend and stay there again, and request courtyard room specificaly. Food was pretty good throughout the stay, staff were very helpfull and pleasant.

The photographs oh the hotel website looked promising and indeed the grounds and the external aspect of this ancient dwelling are glorious particularly on a summer's evening. That is pretty much as good as it gets. The inside of the hotel is just worn out. This is not a Relais & Chateau hotel. I had a single room which was just dingy and energy saving lightbulbs did not help. One almost went blind trying to read in bed and i had to abandon working at the desk as the desk lamp was just too dim to work with. Housekeepng was clearly hoping to come back and retrieve some small child type cartons of orange juice that were left in my room by the previous occupant. The bathroom was an unexpected delight. Clearly given a recent make over it bore no connection to the state of the rest of the hotel. The hotel food at dinner was also a pleasant surprise though the dinning room was disappointing. Dark and shabby. The hotel was incompetent when it came to trying to receiving a vital fax sent to me by an important client. Managerial staff came to my rescue when the front of house evening receptionist declared that the fax machine was out of toner. Almost an hour i stood in the dreary reception area waiting for my fax. One day this hotel will have some money spent on it. Until then if you are looking for cheap accomodation in pleasant grounds then i suppose the hotel will just about do.