Rose And Crown

“ An appalling experience! After such a horrid experience at this establishment I left the following account of our stay on Marston Inn's website - which they promised to answer within 7 days. A fortnight later and I have heard nothing. This gives an indication of how this hotel chain likes to treat its (now ex)customers. Avoid!!

"I have never felt it necessary to make contact regarding the poor standard of service which I have received when staying in any hotel or inn in the past. My wife and I regularly have weekend away, and use a variety of different private and chain hotels and inns. However, my experience this past weekend at one of your inns was so poor that I feel that I must bring this to your attention.
My wife booked an overnight stay at the Rose and Crown in Brockenhurst for the 18th/19th September. We were taking one of our daughters back to university in Southampton, and required overnight accommodation prior to returning home the following morning.
Having driven from East Anglia on Saturday afternoon and installed her in her flat, we were looking forward to a pleasant drink in the bar and a good night’s sleep. However, on arrival at the Rose and Crown our plans went drastically awry. On arrival at approximately 2100, we were handed our key by a personable young lady and shown to room 10, at the rear of the inn. The first problem was that the key would not open the door. We did manage to get into our room, having had to fetch said young lady back from the bar to effect this.
As soon as we walked into the room our problems started. Although it was a lovely room, there was an immediate and overwhelming smell of cat urine. We did not wish to make a fuss, in view of the problem with the key, but the smell was decidedly unpleasant and not what we expect to experience when paying for overnight accommodation. On returning to the bar, we were advised that there was no alternative room available and that the only option was for the room to be cleaned for us. I was not happy with this, not believing that it would be possible to sort out the smell to the point of making it habitable, just by cleaning. However, we were now in the position of needing a bed for the night, with little prospect of finding alternative accommodation at such short notice.
To give them their due, the staff did try; shampooing the carpet and cleaning the sofa, where they believed the cat had sprayed. One of them said that he knew which cat was responsible, thus indicating that this was a possibly known problem. At this point we were now unable to smell anything feline, as the aroma was masked by that of cleaning chemicals. At this point I was a little surprised that we were offered a portable heater, so I asked for assurance that there was heating in the room. On being given such an assurance, we declined the heater and my wife and I reluctantly agreed to accept the room, as it was now getting very late and were keen to get some rest.
It was now that we discovered why we had been offered a heater. The radiator in the room was cold and turned off, so I attempted to turn it on. The thermostatic valve promptly fell apart, and it proved impossible to coax any heat out of the radiator. Added to this, the carpet was damp from the cleaning efforts, making the room feel cold and clammy. However, we resigned ourselves to a night in this inhospitable environment, as no alternative was readily available. Not wishing to make any more fuss, I said nothing about the toilet – which had no lid and a seat which was lose to the point of making sitting on it somewhat ‘interesting’ – or the level of sound transmission from adjacent rooms. I am sure that our temporary ‘neighbours’ would have been somewhat embarrassed if they had known how much of their goings-on we could hear.
In the morning we had our breakfast (which was excellent), and spoke to the manageress about the foregoing. She did reduce the bill by £30, however I still feel that the price we paid was higher than was warranted by the standard of the accommodation. I did discover afterwards (by reading customers’ feedback on the internet) that a 30% reduction in the bill seems to be de rigueur for a multitude of reasons at this establishment.
It had been our intention to bring our daughter back to the Rose and Crown for a carvery lunch on the Sunday, but in view of our experiences detailed above, we chose to eat elsewhere.
On reflection, we would not be surprised if other guests had been offered, and declined, this room prior to our arrival. However, we arrived late and there was no alternative room available at this hour.
All in all this was a pretty dismal experience, and one which I do not wish to repeat. If this is the standard which can be expected from all Marston Inns, then I will certainly give them a wide berth in future.