Brent Knoll Vacations from $1,277

Great all round

Great Location, excellent restaurant and amenities

A beautiful historic building let down by shockingly poor maintenance I rarely leave a two-star review, especially when the hotel staff themselves were friendly, responsive and genuinely tried to help. 1. The pool and sauna were unavailable. The pool and spa facilities are prominently featured in the hotel’s photos and were one of the main reasons I chose this hotel. I specifically wanted to spend a quiet Sunday exercising, swimming and using the sauna. None of this was available. 2. A fantastic room view — through an incredibly dirty window. My room had a wonderful view directly towards the beautiful clock building and St Nicholas Market. It should have been one of the highlights of the stay. Unfortunately, the window was so dirty that it almost became symbolic of the whole hotel: fantastic architecture and location, but very poor upkeep. 3. The spectacular main hall is a huge missed opportunity. This is the magnificent high-ceilinged historic hall that appears in so many of the hotel’s photographs. From the marketing, you naturally imagine having breakfast there, dining there or perhaps enjoying afternoon tea in such an impressive setting. 4. Worst of all: it was almost impossible to sleep properly. The air-conditioning system itself is quite noisy, so before going to bed I switched the entire system off. It made no difference. Roughly every hour or so during the night, some kind of system would suddenly activate: first a very loud click.