The Swan Hotel, Wells, Somerset - the Coaching Inn Group

We booked two months out. The property emailed us less than a week prior to our stay informing us that there was a function the second night of our stay and that it might be noisy until 11:30pm, but they would “try” to put us in a room far from the noise. With less than a weeks notice there was no chance to find any reasonable alternative in the area, at the competitors prices were double what they were when we booked and there was no real availability… and if we chose to cancel at the Swan we would have to significantly modify our trip, our first couples trip in some time and an expensive one. So we took a chance, relying on the fact that they would actually place us far from the noise. They placed us in a room next to the wedding reception. As in… we heard the guest conversations at their tables with our window open, and obviously the live band sounded like it was directly in our room. We were maybe 20 feet from the nearest tables with no door between them and our window (photos attached were taken from our window… for obvious reasons we left it closed… which led to the room being stuffy too.) So we went to the front desk at 8pm. The lady said “sorry we said we would “TRY” to place you away from the noise. THEY DIDN’T TRY VERY $&@$ HARD. So we spent extra to treat ourselves to what was supposed to be a luxury type hotel, and we had a poorly maintained room in a discotheque. (Chipped paint in the room too, the bathroom fan looked like it was a dryer lint trap that had not been cleaned in weeks, etc…) I’m still furious writing this. Beyond mad. At the checkout there was no apology, no offer to reimburse. I travel 1 week of 3 through rural Canada for work, I stay in small town motels usually hosting truck drivers, oil rig workers, and that sort of blue collar people. The rooms are cleaner and quieter than this apparently luxury hotel. Never again. Zero stars. I’ll be copy pasting this on every review site I find. Stay away if you can.

We just had three nights at the Swan, celebrating a very BIG birthday. Unfortunately, we arrived on the hottest day of the year and we were on the top floor, though the weather was not the fault of the hotel, nor was the fact that we had booked that particular room. We are getting on in years and the heat and a couple of other things were very challenging to us. However - in stepped the wonderful Zoe and Louis, who turned the whole situation around and redeemed for us what turned out to be a very special holiday indeed! They moved us to a lovely cool, very big room and we spent the last two days of our stay in luxurious comfort. The whole staff at the Swan seemed to us to be very professional, kind and friendly. The breakfasts were delicious and more than plentiful (do try the Eggs Benedict and Eggs Royale). After a rather disappointing start to our little break, we left feeling it was one of the best we've ever had. Very special thanks to Zoe and Louis for all you did for us.