I've just returned from a wonderful visit to York. My trip to York was wonderful because of the beautiful city and not because of my stay at Holmlea Guesthouse on Southlands Road.
It seems that guests come second to the owners at this guesthouse. From the very beginning when I was making my booking, things were less than professional or reassuring. I was asked to call back later because the baby needed to be fed. Alarm bells should have been ringing, but I decided not to be cynical and I called back later to complete my reservation. I was told that nobody would be at the guesthouse before 5pm and that I needed to state when I would be arriving. This was less than promising.
I called the night before to say that we would be arriving at around 4pm and was given the code to the door and instructions for finding our room key. Sure enough, the code worked and we found our key as promised. Our double en-suite room was a tiny children's bedroom with tea and coffee making facilities. One look inside the kettle was enough to stop us from filling it up- it was disgusting. There was a spare blanket, but this was covered in brown stains. There was a copy of yesterdays newspaper and 2 Topic bars in one of the drawers. The bathroom was very cramped and had mould growing on the walls. It smelt rather awful. I woke to find our continental breakfast sitting on a tray outside our room. Tesco Value orange juice and a croissant and a yoghurt. No butter, just jam. It wasn't exactly inspiring, but what did I expect? After a full day in the city, we returned to find that the room had been made up. I had eaten one of the Topic bars the night before and left the other on the table. It seems that the cleaner decided to remove the chocolate bar or have it themselves! Thanks a bunch! I didn't realise that there was a time limit for consuming the chocolate!
All over the guesthouse were random notices telling us that use of the ironing board was limited to 20 minutes, that the owners could be contacted by telephone, but not to bother if the problem "isn't too important". The most infuriating notice was a piece of A4 stuck beside the front door to say that Holmlea Guesthouse could not accept payments by card or cheque and that guests would have to make arrangements to pay by cash! I'm sure that this is illegal, especially given the fact that the guesthouse has prominent Visa stickers on the windows. We travelled all the way to York before finding this information at the front door. I was not even informed the night before departing when I had called regarding our arrival.
The guesthouse is noisy because of the children and sleeping soundly is out of the question because of the slamming of doors. This is a shame given the quiet location of the street. I was most disappointed on the final morning (the noisiest of all) when our breakfast was delivered minus a croissant and accompanied by a note written in red ink which read as follows- "PLEASE CAN YOU CALL 01904****** WHEN YOU ARE READY TO LEAVE - THANKYOU" Suffice to say that this was the final inhospitable straw. Little did I know that actually, it was not. I sighed and called the number to announce our departure only to be told that there had been "a family emergency" and we would have to check ourselves out. I was then told to leave cash on the bed or give it to the housekeeper! I was told that there was a cash machine around the corner and to go to it before we left. Disgraceful.
I have stayed in many guesthouses and I have never felt more unwelcome or uncomfortable than during my stay at Holmlea Guesthouse on Southlands Road in York. Despite the current financial climate, I would urge anyone wishing to make a saving to stay elsewhere upon visiting the fantastic city of York. Our time was marred by a poor choice in guesthouse. It is a lesson I have learned the hard way.
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Advantages: Good price, useful location, clean and comfortable Disadvantages: Breakfast served only in room, poor breakfast, no lock/light working in bathroom
Advantages: Good price, useful location, clean and comfortable Disadvantages: Breakfast served only in room, poor breakfast, no lock/light working in bathroom
Feb 20th, 2009
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