The Castle of Brecon Hotel, Brecon, Powys

The location is great. The town is a short walk away. The staff were pleasant and the bath sheets were large and soft. My lack of comments about the rest of the establishment will give you a clue about the hotel. We will return to the area, as the people etc are lovely. But we won’t return to the hotel

The broken tiles at the front entrance and the frayed and worn carpets do not do justice to this grand old building. Housekeeping was poor. In the room we were assigned there was garbage in the waste basket and dirty cups left from previous guests. We notified the front desk clerk who did agree to find another room for us. This one was somewhat better but the carpets were stained and had not been vacuumed. The dining room has been updated, was clean and food ok. However service the evening we were there was poor. After being seated we waited over ten minutes for a server. Finally we went to the bar to find someone and found three staff members watching a movie on the bar TV, oblivious to the needs of the dinners in the room next door.

Last minute getaway, have been many times and is a perfect location. Stayed in a lovely room the first night, normal uneven floors but lots of character. All comfortable and good. Stayed an extra night and had to change rooms to a standard room. The bathroom was good but the mattresses and pillows were not as good. Which was a shame. The first room had beautiful views to wake up to. We will be back as the staff are great and helpful. We love the location and the hotel has so much character.

Large grand looking building in the edge of the city centre and on the river. We booked after viewing the rooms on the website. As usual for these old buildings there as no lift, not a problem for us. The entrance and downstairs rooms are quite attractive. Check in was done by a disinterested young man who gave us no information but all other staff members were friendly. We had booked the double room but it was a great disappointment, nothing like the website pictures. Was quite small and very shabby. Large cracks in the walls and ceiling, badly needed painting and drapes that had gone out of shape and didn’t fit the windows. Bed and pillows a bit lumpy. Bathroom very tight fit and awkward to get in and out of shower. Towels thick and fluffy and lovely bath products. Breakfast was ok although few choices. Price wise, we have been staying across Wales at places that compare price wise, and this was the worst room we had. Felt very much like a low budget hotel but price wise was not really cheap.

Had booked a few months in advance and "checked in" online prior to arrival. Why check-in online when you still have to check in the old fashioned way? Arrived later than expected and ended up in a room on the second floor. The online check-in suggested that our room had been changed. Obviously with older buildings the shape of rooms can vary so don't have any issue with that. However the room can be at best described at shabby. Given the photos on display when booking you would not think it was the same hotel. The room really needed to be refreshed. I can accept some stains on carpets, even in brand new hotels as things happen, but the carpet in our room was awful. It looked dirty, areas were worn through and just not very nice. There were power extension leads along the floor rather than proper wired sockets. One light fixture had no shade and no bulb. The bathroom blind didn't work properly and given there were plain glass windows privacy was compromised when you were in there when washing, showering etc. The shower on the first night was reluctant to go above tepid and the flow made it hard to rinse yourself. Subsequent days though it was impossible to turn the water temp low enough as it was scorching hot!. On the whole, the room was a major disappointment. Breakfast continued with the theme. Cooked breakfast consisted of watery backed beans, a sausage that looked half the size of what it should have been and a tiny (not much bigger than a thumbnail) piece of bacon. Egg was OK though. Breakfast the next day was better but waiting 30 minutes after it was ordered seemed a long time. Staff were not working together and once seated and you had to actively get them to take your order. Evening meal was OK apart from the fish having loads of bones in it. The menu is OK but very limited vegetarian (one?) options, again they maybe need to think about their customers. Biggest issue is accessibility. There is no lift. I would never have booked the hotel had that been known. Has been decades since I have had to lug up suitcases up stairs in a hotel. There is no mention of a lack of lift on the hotel website that I could fine nor any accessibility info at all. This really is an issue in a more modern world. I accept it is an old building so modifications may not be possible but it should, must even, be highlighted. The carpark is a nightmare too. Always busy but the way the spaces are laid out makes it hard to get access to them. To sum up, the stay was very disappointing. Maybe other rooms are nicer but it would be hard to justify booking there again and would we not book any other hotels in the chain based on this experience.

Lovely comfortable quirky hotel in a fantastic central position for our motorcycling holiday. Super staff throughout who went out of there way to accommodate my wife who had to unexpectedly join us following a motorcycle accident on our trip. Will definitely be returning.

Horrific! Absolutely awful! What you see on the website is not a representation of this hotel. The whole hotel is tired and run down - watermarks / stains on walls, the bedroom we stayed in had light fittings and bulbs missing, horrible stained carpet, cracked tiles, damp smelling bathroom, shower barely dribbled out water. Then there was the breakfast! - white runny scrambled eggs, sausage looked warmed up, all of it was just about warm, we left it all as didn't want to be ill. They also ran out of drinks at the bar the evening we arrived. How this hotel can state things like 'AA Award Winner, Group winner' etc is beyond me, the pace should be condemned. The only plus was that the staff were nice, helpful and always smiling which is incredible as I am sure they spend most of their time dealing with customer complaints. If you've booked I would cancel, if you haven't booked don't do it. Try the Wellington Hotel in the square, still fairly basic but good all round experience.

Avoid at all cost's, we stayed here for 1 night in may and we stayed in room 28 which had a car parking view which we didnt mind, the location of the hotel is perfect and the staff are absolutely lovely (sue at breakfast and mackenzie dent at reception) the staff and location is the only thing keeping this hotel in business. I dont like giving places bad reviews but unfortunately this one is unavoidable, we came up to see family, we checked in, went out and came back at around 7pm we then realsied the state the room had been left in.... we had thick milgue in our kettle,the mirror in the bathroom is held on via bluetack, the only plug sockets was the extension lead that was originally resting on the pillow of the bed, the bottom of the door when fully shut didnt shut all the way, and the light in the hall way wasnt working at all, there was also stains on the carpet, beds, lampshades, curtains, cabinets, bath both in and around and the list can go on... we are not happy at all with the stay at this hotel... we went down the same day around 7.30pm and complained to the bar staff as there was no receptionist on and they said there was nothing they could do and that they get complaints all the time via guests, apparently they have been due a refit/refurb but management dont care and keep pushing ut back no matter how many times people/guests complain about the health and safety of the customers etc... There was nothing they could do because they were fully booked, they then said to speak with reception in the morning which we did all they could offer was 30% off, the only thing that kept us staying there that night was the staff, they were lovely but you can tell they get complaints all the time about the state of the rooms, now the location, views and staff of the hotel was amazing but the room was terrible.... we did also have breakfast with the view of the gardens which we was served by sue who is very kind and friendly to all guests honestly she deserves the best mention possible in this review as the staff have done nothing wrong xxx they are just fed up....

Very welcoming. Great food evening meal and breakfast. Tired in places but is an old building. Pillow were very uncomfortable. Table lamps did not work . Veiw from bedroom looked out onto a flat roof .window could not be open due it being broken.