Dear Sir/Madam, We recently booked a three night bed and breakfast weekend at the Hotel De La Bere in Southam, Cheltenham from the 3rd March 2006 until the 6th March 2006. The hotel was in a beautiful setting and was originally Southam House. We booked the hotel through Superbreak.com and when we arrived on Friday 3rd March in the afternoon, we were shown to our room number 155. We found that the room was not particularly spotless and the bathroom floor was peeling badly from the bath which we reported and we were moved to room number 153 which was a family room which was a bit better but the rooms smelled a bit musty. We were also given an electronic swipe card for the room. We noticed also that there were cobwebs on the ceiling, the furniture was scratched and marked with cup rings, the lamps were not dusted and the carpet was dusty around the edges of the skirting board. The quilted bedding was stained and looked really old. The sheets were starched as we both had bad red rashes and itchiness from sleeping in the bed. The bathroom also smelt of bad eggs when the extractor was switched on for the shower, the shower curtain had mouldy spots on it also. We mentioned this to the staff and they told us that the last hotel company had not looked after the place and so Legacy had took over in October 2005. Apparently we were told renovation was going to take place soon at the hotel. On the Saturday we had breakfast and the waiters and waitresses seemed to be unsure of what customers wanted for their choice and kept forgetting orders. My partner ordered full cooked breakfast without black pudding and beans. He got beans with his and I asked for full breakfast and I had no black pudding! We went out for the day and we came back at around 5pm and discovered the swipe card would not work on Room 155. This also happened on Sunday afternoon even though we were given a replacement card each time. The staff did not seem to know what the problem was and eventually they decided it was because they were checking us out each day on the computer when they knew we were staying three nights! On Sunday morning we went for breakfast and found the dining room full up and so we noticed that the cooked breakfast was now self serve (because there were a lot of couples staying). We got our cereal and had to wait for bowls for 10 minutes, orange juice and milk the same amount of time and then the waiters/waitresses failed to clear tables in time and even take our orders for toast and tea and coffee and so we were chasing them round the room. The self serve hot breakfast kept running out, eg scrambled eggs, no beans and people had to keep telling the waiters that there was no food. The waiters did not know how to cope and so they kept forgetting couples orders for toast etc. We started eating our toast and we could taste something really off and thought it was the air because we could smell it. We then realised that it was actually the butter they had served to us (it was off!!). Because of the jam spread on top we could not work out were it was coming from. Thankfully we were not ill afterwards. At night we decided to eat out in Cheltenham and then come back at 9.30pm for a drink in the bar. We arrived and noticed that the bar was completely closed! We asked the reception and she said they had just closed up because their were not many people staying. We were really annoyed as we fancied one last drink before retiring to the room. And on the leaflet given to us at check-in it states the bar is open until you wish to retire. So, although the house had a few broken windows, empty rooms, staff who did not seem to be bothered that much, and the rooms generally dirty, we did have a nice time going out to places, but the service of the hotel needs to be improved magnificently to please everyone as we were not the only people complaining. As the Cheltenham races are coming up I think the staff are going to find it difficult to cope with the stream of visitors to the hotel expecting an impressive room to stay in. I feel that as we paid £240 for three nights bed and breakfast we chose this hotel for its grandeur location and looks and expected it to be 4 star class or more. I think that we deserve some sort of compensation for what we experienced or if this hotel is to be improved greatly, new sheets etc, furniture, carpets, windows, etc and staff service we would be happy to come back later in the year or next year as we love the Cotswolds. We were very disappointed with what we received. Yours sincerely, Tracey Shaw