For some reason independent hotels in the UK (particularly in small towns or in the countryside) are either fawlty towers style with poor service and very dated facilities (Best Western Hotels typify this) or super luxury and super expensive.  There is little in between

I dont think you can complain at going to stay at a golf resort and finding it full of golfers watching the Ryder Cup however.

No but what surprised is just how male stale and pale golf in this country still is. Breakfast on Sunday was table after table of hungover lads golf weekends with not even a singe table of ladies on a golfing weekend.

To be fair they could have had one corner of the lounge that wasn't an array of huge screens.

I think there is a gap in the market for somebody buying up some of these rather crappy independent hotels often in beautiful buildings and locations and creating a 4 star standard chain (perhaps at £150 per night level) for people who are not very wealthy to enjoy a countryside break without running the gauntlet of these dodgy independents.   

Where where you?! I have stayed in a few pretty decent hotels in UK recently. Often good value.

golf is still 85 per cent male and golf holidays probably 95% (apart from golfing couples).  It is very much the male equivalent of a spar weekend with mates...

heh spa weekend

Hampshire just not far from Portsmouth.

Also had an ageing hot water system that meant on a busy Sunday the shower wasn't consistently hot.

Elephant there are indeed ones that are good but my experience from weddings and the like is that the majority are not as good as they think they are and often just mediocre compared their counterparts in other countries.  My cousin is in the business and it's a tough gig and as she told me recently if you replace a bathroom you can increase the room rate as the guest can see you've done work but if you replace the hotel kitchen and the fire alarm you'll spend a load more but none of the guests can see it so they're not willing to spend more.  That's why in most hotels the front of house looks good but the staff only areas are barely standing.

There’s no gap in the market at all guy. That slice is filled happily by Premier Inns.

Golf hotel full of boorish golf bores

I am shocked

High expectations and low budget = disappointment 

plenty of lovely places to stay if you pay appropriately.  £150 is budget hotel level.  If you stay at a golf resort, expect to see golfers.  Golf takes four or five hours for a round so it’s typically player by people without caring duties for young kids and otherwise with time on their hands.  You can’t get food unless you play every week and you can’t play every week if you have a young family 

The place would have burned spectacularly given the volume of man made fabric being worn.

Sunday morning as well there was a young lady in her pyjamas sitting on a sofa in one of the communal areas having a long video call with someone.  She was there when I went to breakfast and still there when I came back but surely the point of having a hotel room is that you can make video calls in your pj's from the comfort of your room?

To be fair the Premier Inn does have a socket that you can actually reach whilst in bed so you can charge your phone and consistent hot water but there wasn't one within walking distance of where I needed to be on Saturday night.

Surely the provinces are all about quality bed and breakfasts? 

Bertha Premier Inns are fine, I use them a lot but they are functional, they are not in buildings you would to stay at for its own sake like some of these old country hotels.     

£150 is not budget outside London it is mid range.   The sort of hotels Sails is talking about are typically around £100.

sails, why do you always refer to women as "ladies"? 

I would always go Premier Inn if staying in town somewhere but they don't really cover rural spots.

Royalty I don't like B&B if I'm going to something like a 50th birthday as feels wrong stumbling back into someone else's house at midnight a bit drunk.

surely the point of having a hotel room is that you can make video calls in your pj's from the comfort of your room

Not on Swingers weekends...

Premier Inn are great. The probably is space for something around 150 to 200 quid a night mark that has good food on site though. 

The problem in the UK particularly post brexit (sorry, but it's true) is getting the staff.  Fewer family run hotels and a lack of European migrant workers means hotels staffed by studes working part time and with a shortage of even them they just don't give a fvck. If they get sacked it's on to the next one. 

Something on a John Lewis model that aimed to provide better employee engagement and actually offered a career could work I think.  

Because they are ladies and women always sounds a bit like that weird speak that police officers fall into when describing an incident.  I was proceeding in a northerly direction when I encountered the woman...

The staff were all very good including the fairly young chap in charge of the bar who was being hassled by golfer geezers for insisting on closing at midnight in accordance with his licence.

I thought serving guests at a hotel was exempt from requiring licensing hour approval?  I suspect he just wanted to go to bed...

the only good news is that in thirty years' time neither it nor its clientele will exist. 

in the meantime, there's premier inn.

to answer the OP's question, it's the same answer as to why don't I get all the things I ordered from the shop or why can't the receptionist at the GP give a clear answer to a simple question or why are pieces of work often done badly - sloppiness, tolerance for low standards, lack of self respect, lack of respect for doing a good job. 

Completely agree though I think countries' hotels (under the luxe bracket) often fall into a particular stereotype -

- England - provincial ones often in lovely buildings but slightly run down and battered as soon as you get to the rooms. Overpriced.

- Spain and Portugal - generally brilliant at every range. 

- Germany - Joyless but functional. You are there to sleep. Which you will do. A dry biscuit if you're lucky. 

- Italy - like England but worse. Often nice buildings but with comically bad service. 1980s style rooms with crap beds. 

- US - an embarrassment. Never understand Yanks moaning about European hotels when everything under a 5 star is in a shitty box building with small rooms and poky bathrooms. And fiendishly expensive even when staying in some Coach by Marriott on a freeway 10 miles out of the town centre.

- SE Asia - once you're away from the backpacker places, incredible. 

My GP receptionist always gives a clear answer.. "No, we have no appointments available"

These country hotels, particularly the affordable ones, have always been rubbish.  There's a guy on youtube who visits Britain's lowest rated hotels and some of it is truly shocking..

at least in the south these hotels are no longer financially viable. No money to be made from forced diners - you have to shell out and effectively create a proper restaurant. Even then getting lunch bookings to justify full time staff prob a nightmare. 

As was obvious, Brexit has meant that hard working European workers have scarpered, and there is nobody prepared to work unsociable hotel hours for the only pay scales that make the hotel viable. So you have whoever will do it - mostly students and immigrants from further afield - with less reliability. Costs of fittings and construction workers mean improvements and refurbishments are not worth it.

Plenty of these places will also have people that have few other choices so no sense to waste money going above and beyond - just sweat the asset and eventually sell for flats. A good example of this is the Royal Bath in Bournemouth, which used to be the hotel govt big wigs stayed in when visiting for conferences. Now it is an absolute hole where they will not even pay for a new carpet tile- just patch it. Every hotel I have stayed in before and visited in the last year or so is noticeably worse, but the price is at least double what it used to be. 

Guy the bar was also club house for the golfing side so I suspect is also a private member's club in some manner which confuses the licensing.

The place was incredibly busy and apparently the golf course is good so you think that with non-resident golfers also lunching and the like they should be able to be profitable.

Truth in what you say Bananaman, I think these second rate country hotels only keep going with the wedding market (or golf if near a golf course)  and  I guess only worth spending on the capital improvements needed to keep them up to date at the luxury end (£250 a night plus) may as well keep them as they are even if the scruffiness and dodgy service knocks £50 a night off the otherwise achievable non luxury rate

Liverpools Adelphi probably tops Bournemouth additional free risk of death. I would recommend De Vere if going north for mid range good value. Breakfast at weekend full of subdued hungover wedding guests. 

They are vaguely rubbish but hard disagree they're worse than Europe

Mid-range hotels outside cities in France and Germany are usually half a step above open prisons. 

I always laugh when a wedding invitation announces there's a special rate if you stay in a particular hotel.  It's definitely a special rate in that it's 20% above the usual Saturday night rate because they know everyone will pay it because it's either the venue for the reception or is the only vaguely decent hotel near the reception venue.

I suppose the other problem for mid range hotels is that they cannot compete for value with Air B&Bs other than by offering very convenient locations in the middle of cities.

There are some excellent provincial hotels. The Bath Priory is superlative, but also The Principal in York, the Grand in Brighton. I stay at the Midland in Manchester which has periods of being very good. 

My experience is that unless you take a room in someone's house an Airbnb whole flat is more expensive than a medium level hotel if you're travelling alone.  Where they come into their own is if there's a reasonable size group of you happy to stay together in a flat or house.

yes true if travelling alone - but any group of more than a couple air bnb a better bet

I think the issue with these hotels in towns is location, often the only half decent one near a town centre fits the bill of poorly run or maintained.

I often find a foodie pub with rooms is better value, but you have to check the details and reviews to make sure it's not going to be noisy over the bar. 

Agree with snowfox. UK is uniquely blessed with some exceptional pub hotels, often with awesome rooms that far exceed those in traditional hotels. You don't find similar elsewhere. 

Pub with rooms is always going to be better value than a hotel as they don’t have to have the same level of service. Hotels are great if you need something approaching 24/7 service or want to stay a few nights. 

trouble with pubs with rooms is that you usually eat breakfast in beery smelling bar which while  I love pubs I always find weird and off putting for breakfast.   Noise levels can be an issue - especially rural pubs where lock ins for the locals on a Friday and Saturday night are pretty standard.

You have to pick more of a food pub than a drinkers pub Guy, that's the trick in my experience. Empty by 11pm and less of the stale beer, but perhaps I've been lucky, I've only had your experience once.

A Mercure perhaps. Hotels that are reasonably ok the world over. 

Dux Not sure the midland in Manchester falls into sails range. It’s full of tories anyway this week. Michel gove in the jacuzzi in the spa.

The midland in Manchester is quite nice - a go to if you’re at a conference next door. 

thats fair snowfox.  In fact now I think of it I have stayed in a few "posh" rural pubs that fill the mid range sweet spot I am talking about - but also had lots of bad staying in pubs experiences.

I'm talking about the kinds of places where you spend one night because you're going to something nearby and just need a place to get changed and then sleep.  If I'm going to a place as a destination in itself then clearly I'd spend more and also be more flexible on the choice of hotel.

To be fair it had a good proper self-service full English on Sunday morning although I'd forgotten to take my extra large plate with me.

a lot of B&Bs and hotels don't want you for one night as typically that's Friday night or Saturday night and it prevents a 2 or 3 night booking which is more profitable due to having to changeover bedrooms and housekeeping staff that dont want to work 7 days a week

I think it’s because they can’t compete against Pemier Inn for mid-market/ budget. I’d you just want a place to sleep and an ok beekkie with no fuss then I can’t think of anywhere else I’d stay. When I was working events I’d usually stay in PI. 
 

I don’t think it ever was much better. The 80s and 90s had Forte Posthouses with maybe a Crest in the bigger cities. 

Crypto with you in that all I need is a decent bed and bathroom. Not that much fussed about the rest and don't usually eat hotel breakfast as they are very generic. I tend to find a local cafe and just go there.

Premier Inns are excellent for consistency. You know it will be clean and perfectly fine, and you can just book without any research. Holiday Inn are the same really.

aren't breakfasts pretty much generic the world over blindtom? Most people dont like to too out there with their breakfasts...

Premier Inn is great if you're in a town.  Less ideal if you're going to a birthday party at a winery somewhere rural where the only nearby hotel is full of Essex boys golfing.

Anywhere packed with golfers does sound pretty bad to me. It's such an old boys club sport.

A few old girls too. Tartan trews. Best to go it alone. A lone golf wolf. Three clubs. No woods. Plus fours. Speak to no-one. The birdie that nobody saw. Who was it for? 

You think old boys club but it was more geezers with tatts and technical golf wear rather than good old chaps in Pringle and plus fours.

A well reviewed Airbnb will always be a better bet than a non-luxury hotel.

agree w sails that U.K. golf could do with something comely, confident and gobby like Alpha Jugs, even if she’s not actually very good at the playing side

Ah yeah “country house hotels” generally mediocre in the extreme but, as you said Sails, with a few gems. There’s no real competition and most are relying on weddings and conferences so people have to stay. 

I stayed in a country House hotel in Devon. After dinner all the guests retired to the sitting room. I read some books on art, studiously avoiding eye contact. The bed was uncomfortable, tossing and turning all night. The house was haunted I think. 

Both equally to be avoided Sails, it's the boys club that's the off putting part, I don't care where they're from.