The Castle Of Brecon Hotel, Brecon, Powys - The Coaching Inn Group

Good food, very helpful staff, was shown where CCTV was to show where it was safe to park my motorcycle, good location with very good views, very comfortable bed, but free WIFI. Thank you

Nothing

Wanted to stay in a hotel which we were accustomed to visiting many years ago. This was a trip down memory lane when used as a venue for Brecon Jazz. Enjoyed views from garden & dining room and being in historic part of town.

Taken over by Hotel chain and renovated in a style that was possibly the same in hotels throughout the company. No recognition of history or association with locality. Had requested a room which was in a quiet area away from any kitchen or restaurant noise with windows. This was confirmed but on checking in we found we had been allocated one which overlooked the extractor fans from the kitchen which would have been both noisy and smelly. Room was changed on request but no offer of help with luggage as we normally have in places we have stayed. Double room quite small. Ate out in the evening but returned to bar for a drink before retiring. Husband asked for a Welsh Whisky, Penderyn, but bar staff hadn't heard of it even though it can be easily found in supermarkets. Breakfast fare was good but service very slow. Dining chairs too low and poor design for tables. Expensive in comparison with other hotels we have stayed at.

The common areas of the hotel - lounge, bar, terrace and restaurant were all wonderful. All the staff were friendly and helpful

The majority of the staff we encountered were really friendly and welcoming, and the staff in the restaurant in particular were brilliant. They were attentive, helpful and made our experience there really enjoyable. The only disappointment was our check-in experience. The lady who checked us in wasn’t particularly welcoming and gave us very little information about our stay. We weren’t told that the sofa bed in our room needed to be pulled out ourselves, where we needed to go for breakfast, or given the option to book a table in the restaurant for dinner. I appreciate these are fairly minor things, but not knowing about the sofa bed meant we had to make another trip back to reception to ask about it. While there, I overheard the General Manager checking in another couple and they were given all of this information, which highlighted the difference in our own check-in experience.

We stayed in Room 502, which was very spacious, nicely decorated and had comfortable beds. On first impressions, we were really pleased with the room. Unfortunately, there were a couple of maintenance/cleanliness issues. When we turned the shower on, the shower tray quickly began filling with water and wasn’t draining properly. My partner removed the drain cover and found a large clump of hair underneath. Once he removed this, the shower drained normally, but this is something that really should have been picked up during cleaning before the room was given to us. The toilet seat was also broken and would slide to the side when being used. Again, not a major issue on its own, but it did give the impression that some basic maintenance checks had been missed.