I choose a hotel with swimming pool and sauna to meet an old friend over the weekend.
The hotel is called De Vere Village in Swansea. Meaning, Village hotel ran by De Vere group. When I check about De Vere, it has a long story of business since 1760s, started as brewery, later changed to hotel and leisure activities.
In terms of hotel presentation, it looks great at its level with decent carpet and lighting. Car parking was enough for weekend visitors when I stayed there. A good thing is no bad smell you may experience in some hotels.
Unfortunately, there are a variety of issues while I was in that hotel of Wale's city, Swansea.
Thanks God. I was given the top floor with a nice view to dock and Swansea bay. I was so happy and I tried to take a photo. Gosh! The smell of dust came out from curtain once I touched it. I noticed paints of oil, most probably human origin, marked on the glass. It seemed hotel staffs never check the curtain and window glass or they wont bother it.
Visitors should thank for free wifi which is reasonably fast. I feel it is faster than Starbuck coffee wifi. I was able to communicate on line with contacts across the world.
TV is just OK to watch BBC news . It is Philip flat screen. For some reason, image was slightly blurred with gravels. To be honest, I have not seen such quality of Tv reception for such a long time in the UK.
The bath room looks good in a first glance with florescence lights and big mirrors. But the disappointing thing, if you are hygiene conscious, is that there were a couple of brown stains near the toilet paper roll holder. It looked fresh. You could argue that it was tea drop. If so, why it is in toilet near paper?
In the evening, hotel restaurant and bar were busy as it was weekend. We did not make reservation and no seat was available. We were advised to go to bar. We ordered foods with the starter as grilled chicken wings. Unbelievably, it was so sugary sweet. I saw a crust of sugar coat over the chicken skin. I never know British people eat such a sweet chicken. I must say , it was cheap. 22 pieces for only around 7 pounds ( I cant remember exactly) But we had to leave about 18 sugary pieces.
At night, I set the temperature at 25C as I felt room was cold when I came back from dining. I appreciate that bed was comfortable and no noise. But, in the early hours of morning, I was woke up by cold air blown from ceiling air conditioner. When I checked the thermostat, it showed 21C (Not 25C I set) . I suspect the hotel has central control system to keep the temperature at that level , regardless of customer need. They could argue that it is environmental friendly approach. Obviously, I am not really happy with it at all. I got sorethorat in the morning.
I did enjoy sauna and swimming pool. Well built and not crowded. Well facilitated. A guard has been standby at pool. Good for safety. But, disgracefully, I could not enter my room when I came back from at 10:20 Am from swimming pool. My swipe key had been rejected. Fortunately, a hotel staff was cleaning at nearby room. She kindly helped me to go into my room , saying that the reception locked the door because I am leaving on that day. Absolutely ridiculous. It has been declared that the check out time is 11am and check in time is 3 pm. ( usually, 12pm check out time in the majority of hotels I stayed previously ). The hotel administration indecently made inaccessible to its customers during the time paid for the stay. It happened in Wale's 4 star hotel.
To conclude, this 4 star Village hotel in Swansea is providing poor customer service. I would score 3 out of 10. I have a concern about De Vere.
