The hotel room is in desperate need of a repaint and you definitely do not want to wander around the bedroom in bare feet; the tiny double bed is so bouncy that when one of you turns over, the other is nearly thrown off onto that horrible floor; the pillows are definitely hiding a golf ball or two and finally, to add insult to injury, you can hear every noise from next door, (and they, I suspect can hear you!)

Next morning, bleary eyed you go off to breakfast looking forward to decent cup of coffee to revive you before beginning a day of work. Sadly the unappealing display that is ravishingly referred to as the International Breakfast Buffet is both sparse and unappetising. The fruit juices come out of packets and hot water to make tea is tepid, the ham tinned, the coffee acidic and the cheese plastic. Oh, and then, just after you have tasted a mouthful of the juice, the waiter tells you that repast is not included in the room rate and hands you a bill for the dubious pleasure you have just endured.

Yet this hotel is classified as and proudly boasts of having 4 stars!

What is going on?

Who decides one particular hotel is worth such a spectacular and highly sought after rating?

It seems that far too often, a long inaccurate listing of facilities and physical size of the hotel premises is all that a hotel needs in order to claim 4 stars yet surely it should be the comfort that it provides and the excellence of its staff who serve you that should determine ratings.

While a lot can be forgive when the hotel is rated 2 or even 3 star, surely hotels ought to reach a predetermined level of service excellence and room quality before 4 stars are claimed and proudly exhibited on a door and inside hotel publicity brochures?

Please note the hotel described above is just not in Britain and not one in particular. This opinion is but a reflection and comment of some the more shocking establishments that we have visited recently.