It’s not often that people walk out of one hotel and book themselves a room in another, but that is what one of our staff did recently.

Andi our techy guy and his good lady decided last minute that they wanted to go to the coast at Easter weekend and spend the night away in a hotel.

Leaving it a bit late, they found that all the hotels were booked up at the coast and that they had to pick something a little further out. A short drive away from the coast wasn’t a big problem.

One hotel which had a room available was a Premier Inn situated in an industrial area of Grimsby.

Premier Inn is a trusted chain. They deliver a decent product for a decent price. Their rooms are spacious, well kept and the beds are comfy… if you like incredibly soft beds that is.

Andi and his good lady didn’t fancy spending a night in an industrial area of Grimsby so they decided to look elsewhere.

They found another room available this time in a quaint country pub in a small quiet village fifteen minutes inland. The pictures looked fine and the price was slightly less than the Premier Inn room.

The pub also served food so there was somewhere to eat and have a few drinks. They could unwind and relax for the evening and then drive to coast in the morning after enjoying breakfast.

Perfect.

Or so they thought.

At first everything seemed fine when they arrive. They were welcomed by the owner, given the key to the room and told what time breakfast was.

The room at first glance was okay, a bit on the small side but okay.

They then noticed that the duvet cover was too small for the duvet which was bundled up lumpy inside.

It hardly covered the bed. There was no cover down the sides. One pull from Andi and his good lady would be left uncovered and cold in the night.

It wasn’t a huge problem, so they decided that it would be okay.

The only window to the room had a double glazed unit which had blown allowing condensation and dirt to build up on the inside obscuring the view of the court yard.

The owners were doing some work to the property and there was a skip in the courtyard… right outside their room.

With the skip being right outside their room, they decided that an obscure view wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

They were only planning to sleep in the room for one night only so, just like the ill-fitting duvet cover, they decided that they could tolerate it.

They planned to spend most of their time in the bar enjoying food and a few drinks. They were only going to use the room to rest their heads over night.

It was a stunning day. The sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue. There wasn’t a cloud in sight.

Because of the fantastic weather, Andi and his good lady decided to go for a quick walk and explore the village before going back to the pub for a bite to eat.

Unfortunately, the owner failed to mention when they arrived at 2pm that the kitchen was closing at 3pm and wouldn’t be reopening until the morning.

When they arrived back at the pub after their walk at five minutes to three, they were greeted with that information.

There was nothing in the village other than the pub they were staying at and one Chinese takeaway. The owner said that she was happy to call the takeaway and order them something if they wanted.

They decided to take a drive to a town a few miles away, but with it being Easter Sunday, very few places were open other than a Costa Coffee and a few dodgy looking pubs full of drunken locals making the most of the good bank holiday weather.

The town restaurants wouldn’t open for a couple of hours. They wandered around a bit, had a long coffee and waited for an Indian restaurant to open.

The Indian restaurant turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. The food was exceptional, the service was warm and friendly and the fact that the hungry pair went in as soon as doors opened, they had the place to themselves like it was a private party.

After eating, they returned to their room to relax a little before heading to the bar for a drink…

But that is where it all started to go downhill.

After making a cup of tea, they decided to lay out on the bed and watch a bit of television.

That was when they realised how paper thin the walls were.

At their head, they could hear the television in the next room booming through. It was fixed on that wall, the wall their heads would be close to during the night.

And on the other side they could clearly hear a conversation going on between the occupants in another room.

As Andi jiffled around on the uncomfortable bed, looking around at the room, he spotted more problems.

Gaps between the window frame and the recess, cobwebs in the corner of the room, broken electrical sockets, it was looking less like a hotel room and more like a builders ‘digs’ in Auf Wiedersehen Pet.

Andi turned to his good lady and said…

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