Before I write chapter and verse about this hotel, let me start by saying I fully understand that you often get what you pay for… If you want opulence and over service then it doesn't come cheap.
However if, as in our case you wanted somewhere cheap and cheerful for a couple of nights either side of a golfing trip with friends without costing a fortune then our expectation would be a budget hotel which covers the basic requirements, is clean and doesn't smell!
Unfortunately for us we picked The Langham Hotel and quickly found we had made a huge mistake!
Two things struck us immediately on entering the Langham, firstly was the musty smell and secondly how dated and run down this place was.
In an attempt to keep this review from becoming a novel here is a list of some of the many issues we endured.
A musty smell throughout the hotel.
mould and hair in the shower.
Hair in the beds.
unidentified stains in the bed ( Eww!)
Broken windowpanes with Perspex selotoped over then, and an apology note in the room about the broken glass (I wonder how long the note had been there?)
The extractor fan in the bedroom sounded like a fairground diesel generator.
One of our party advised one of the springs in his bed was sticking through the mattress, resulting in no sleep.
No ice available in the bar, so the manager gave us a bowl of Doritos as compensation.. You really couldn't make this stuff up !
The breakfast was barely edible and uninspired..
Given the above we decided we really didn't want to stay for a second night(Saturday) so our group went to reception to discuss cancelling the second night stay, we spoke to the manager and he advised us to cancel the second night on Booking.com and if he could sell the rooms he would then give us a refund.
Over the next couple of days while golfing (At Whittlebury Park Hotel) we periodically checked the website and found there were no rooms available, we also phone the hotel and it was confirmed by a lady on the reception that no rooms were available, problem solved?... Err No!
We later spoke to the manager again on the Friday evening and he informed us the rooms were booked by some contractors and it wasn't a definite booking and that the lady on reception should not have told us there were not rooms.
Saturday came and went and no rooms were available on the website so our organiser called the manager to request the refund.
At this point he denied making any verbal agreement to make a refund ( despite this being said in from of 6 of our party) and said there would be no refund. He then went on to say (at a later point) if we were staying in the area again he would give is a free stay, so why would he offer that if no agreement was made? and given everything that is wrong with this dump, who in their right mind would want to go there again!
In conclusion:
If you want a second rate Fawlty Towers this this place is for you!
If on the other hand, you are looking for a 'Cheap and Cheerful' hotel my recommendation would be to find a local Travelodge ( or similar), they may be basis but they at least clean and smells ok.
AVOID for the sake of your sanity and possibly your health!!