Buckland Manor - A Relais & Chateaux Hotel

Location: This hotel offers a tranquil and picturesque retreat in the heart of the Cotswolds, praised for its idyllic location near Broadway and proximity to key attractions such as the Cotswolds Way and Broadway Tower.

We visited Buckland Manor for one night. The grounds did not disappoint. Picturesque English countryside at its best. We were greeted by Sam, the friendly front desk person who also helped us book our room from Canada. It isn’t easy in England to find a room for two adults and a tall teenager! We were allocated a room with a king bed (actually two twins pushed together) and a small adjoining room with the same bed configuration which was perfect for our 6’5” son. Given the rating and price of this hotel, I expected a high level of attention to detail, and that’s where the hotel fell short. The first thing I noticed when I walked into our room was the heat (it was 30 degrees outside and 29 degrees in our room) and the stains on the carpet. But it’s an old building, so I let it go. I couldn’t wait to see the modern bathroom described on the website but turning on the lights in the bathroom revealed a very dirty floor (no excuses here - it just hadn’t been washed!). We mentioned it to the front desk. They said they would have it cleaned when the cleaning staff came in later. After they cleaned it, it was a slight improvement, but still very dirty. It required more than a quick mop! Then, when I went to have a shower, the water pressure was good but the drain in the shower didn’t work and I nearly flooded the whole floor so I had to cut my shower short. Back to the front desk I went! They said they would send the cleaning staff to fix it. Had the staff taken the time to wash the bathroom/shower prior to our arrival, they would have noticed that the drain wasn’t working. Sam was apologetic, but apart from offering to remediate, nothing was done or offered for the inconvenience (this is not Canadian customer service!). We had made reservations for dinner, but a quick look at the menu told us that it wasn’t the best option for our teenager, so we chose to go in the nearby village of Broadway for dinner which turned out to be a very good decision. We loved it. When we got back to our hotel, around 10 pm, the heat in the room was oppressive. We were provided with fans, but they really didn’t help and it was a very uncomfortable night. When it was time to get ready for bed, upon drawing the curtains i was met with ripped and frayed curtains. It felt like we had been given a room that had been neglected and perhaps not used in a while. In the morning, we had the included hotel breakfast which had a good selection and was tasty. We had lattes, fresh juice, pain au chocolat, fruit salad, yoghurt, avocado toast with poached egg, full English breakfast and toast. The breakfast linen serviettes were frayed and tatty (again, no attention to detail) and the chairs were dirty. Apart from Sam who was lovely and apologetic for our bad luck, we found the staff to be mostly unfriendly. I understand that sometimes things go astray in the service industry, but I felt like this was above and beyond what is acceptable and I was very disappointed that we were not offered m