Worst/best night in a hotel or guest house?

Icyalittle

Best hotel ever, Chateau Saint-Martin in Vence , the last word in luxury.
The worst was probably in France too, a logi in northern France, where the bed linen looked iffy and the towels were so dirty that I unpacked my beach towel to use in the bathroom. The bedroom carpet was so dirty I felt like wiping my feet as I left. The food in the restaurant was an insult to French cuisine and we left after one course.

Deedaa I'm also a 'partner' and I live locally to Brownsea Island so have visited the castle several times. Haven't stayed but we go with our social club from time to time, we have a delicious lunch and afternoon tea. The inside is all wood panelling with very comfortable lounges, chat up the manager and he'll take you up to the roof where you can see all the glory of Poole Bay. The last hotel I stayed at was the Cumberland Hotel once owned by the so called Duchess of Duke Street. We had a lovely room with comfy beds, the bathroom had proper bath towels and not the flannel size we usually get. They provided an ironing board, dressing gowns and even an umbrella.
Years ago my late mother and I stayed overnight in a B and B in Wales. Like others on this thread there were horrible nylon sheets, the room was dingy and depressing. Tea was brought up to us in the morning and Mum asked for a jug of hot water so we could have seconds. When we came to settle the bill the owner had added two shillings for the hot water. Mum just laughed and refused to pay for it.
Friends of mine had stayed at several guest houses during their holidays, some made Basil Fawlty seem a mild mannered man. They got so fed up with the terrible service, food and rooms they decided to open their own. They owned their guest house for several years and managed to get so many repeat bookings they hardly needed to advertise.

Worst hotel was a b&b in Oban. Mismatched bri nylon sheets cold room,no towels,awful breakfast ,musty smell,anti Brit landlady. Thankfully forty years ago,but I can only stand Scottish hospitality if it's wrapped up in five stars. Best hotel recently was Holbeck Ghyll in the Lakes. Not just the service but the atmosphere. Or perhaps Salish Lodge in the US where the luxury was over the top but the staff were so proud of the hotel. I think it's the input from the staff which lifts a good hotel into the top of the range.

Can't decide on the 'best' as there are many of them. The worst? Well, that B&B that everyone else has stayed in comes to mind, 40 years ago,with the nylon sheets, crumby carpet, greasy breakfast, iffy owners.I think it miust have been a travelling hotel, because we encountered it twice, first in Newquay, Devon and then in Uist [Isle of Skye]. Truly dreadful.

Worst ever was a B&B just outside Dublin. Many years ago DH was working there for a few days and suggested that me and DD came along for the trip. We had a family room. DH got up and went to work around 6 and at 7.15 (sharp) the old witch landlady knocked loudly on the bedroom door saying (in her Irish accent) "come on now, lets be having you, you can't be staying in yer bed all day now".

I thought it couldn't get any worse until we went down to breakfast only to be told that "the sausages are all gone...those people who bothered to get up at a decent time got them ".

I kid you not !

Worst by far was the Belgravia Mews Hotel in Ebury Street, London. We booked in for 2 nights to attend a big 'do' and arrived to find no room ready but were taken up to the top floor of what can only be described as a doss house. I refused it before even seeing it on the grounds that there was no fire escape route and also DH had heart problems and could not be expected to climb 5 flights of stairs. We got a room on the ground floor : the shower room was a disgrace, filthy, rusty and no hot water and the windows were covered by grills, so still no escape route. I went to the party unwashed and feeling very angry having had a row with the Manager. This was 4 years ago and I see from Tripadvisor that it continues to operate and continues to get appalling reviews
Best has to be the Intercontinental in Paris and even better was that we weren't paying and I got a day of treatments in their spa!!

Not, strictly speaking, 'the worst' from a quality point of view (and not a hotel, I realise!) but disconcerting to find that the self-catering 'Scandinavian lodge' we had booked (well before widely available internet allowed you to see what you were booking) turned out to be a timber-clad static caravan!!! Not only that but DH was taken ill and was swiftly admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary (was I glad I could drive!). So there was I with 2 small children & a poorly DH miles from home!
The best? Hotel in Montreux with a balcony that overlooked the lake. I still look at the picture on my 'phone.

A B&B in Aberdour, Scotland, where the owner wanted us out between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. - although the upstairs was practically a private suite as we were the only guests (there were 2 bedrooms and a TV lounge); and we had booked for 2 nights.

Anyway she became extremely tetchy when she overheard me telling my husband at breakfast that I intended having a bath before we headed out (as it was nearly 10 a.m. and that would have meant we had broken her rules).

I noticed her heading up the stairs out of the corner of my eye, and when I went to the bathroom after breakfast, she had hidden removed the bath plug!! . I didn't find it funny at the time, and had a row with her. She gave me back the bathplug when I threatened to report her to the Scottish Tourist Board.

We've had loads of wonderful hotel experiences, one memorable one was in North Wales, can't remember where, artisan food and exquisite decor in this tiny boutique hotel owned by a lovely gay couple, need I say more I've never seen such attention to detail.

On a wet and windy night the guest-house front door opened and a waft of stale cabbage, cigarette smoke and sweat met us, together with an unshaven bleary-eyed old man wiping his hands on a dirty old tea towel. We didn't stay, and luckily found a Travelodge about an hour later which was excellent, thank goodness.

That first sentence led me to believe you were writing a horror story, papaoscar.

It could easily have been, AnnoD.

About ten years ago we were driving though France to Dordogne and as was normal at the time we had not booked a hotel but just pulled in during the evening. We were much later than usual and DH missed the turning where we knew there were a number of hotels and would NOT turn back so we continued on and found the meagre number of hotels on that part of the route full.
Eventually about 9-30 we followed a sign to a village Etape and to the hotel which looked lovely. Greeted by a very nice woman who looked totally worn out, we had a DS with us too - she said she had one room left and we could have an extra bed- looked at the room on the top floor in the attic space and there was an acro outside the door holding the roof up! The room was decorated with orange flowery paper on the walls and ceiling. The beds were clean and DS had a Z bed type of thing in the window extension bit. We agreed to stay ---only one night of course - and then she showed us where the bathroom was - two floors below and was really just the toilet with a shower the other end. DS announced he would be up early to get his ablutions done. When I actually went in to use the loo I saw the state of the towels - all just hung together and grey looking and many with HUGE holes in. Needless to say I did not need a shower in the morning.
We had missed the dinner so went to the only bar with food in the village - saw a lovely salad being served and asked for one only to be told no more and all that was on offer was a croque monsieur - so we had that with a large glass of beer - it was a roasting hot evening. Breakfast was fine but we paid more for that room than the modern hotels and even had to pay for parking.
Looking back on it I don't know why we stayed - apart from the fact that we were worn out!