Cwrt Bleddyn Hoyel & Spa

I have mixed feelings about my stay in this hotel. The location is beautiful, although may not suit those looking for the hustle and bustle of a busy town with lots of nightlife. Quite remote, although only 10 mins by car to Caerleon where there is quite a good choice of pubs and restaurants. As far as the actual hotel goes, I have to say I was a tad disappointed. Whilst I certainly would not expect 5* facilities, I have to say the hotel looked and felt 'tired' and desperate for a bit of TLC. I seem to recall reading somewhere on this site that they are looking to do some renovation which I think is much needed. The room we had was ok, but unfortunately was extremely hot, especially the bathroom, with no means of turning the heater off that we saw. This made it rather uncomfortable. The mattress was probably the softest I have ever slept on so probably not suitable for those with bad backs. The floorboards were the noisiest I have ever experienced and probably not ideal for those needing the toilet during the night and not wishing to wake their partner up! The room we had was also situated right above the entrance and was the spot where smokers chose to use. On this particular night there was a wedding on and this meant a lot of chat coming from the smokers well into the night and because of the heat in the room we could not sleep with the window shut so the noise was even worse. Breakfast was good with quite a nice selection. We had one evening meal in the bar and that was excellent - never had chips like it - gorgeous!! Also have to say to anyone venturing into Cardiff - it is a great city to visit. Dont miss the Bay area and if you get chance dine at 'Phosphorous' - a Greek restaurant on its own little pier. Food was stunningly delicious!!
I think this hotel has so much potential and I think with a little money spent it could become very nice. Unfortunately, we left rather disappointed with our stay....:-(

I stayed at with my family occupying four hotel rooms and one of the private function rooms.
The last time I stayed at the hotel I had a superb weekend, but this weekend's visit was anything
close to average.
During dinner we asked for some ketchup for the children in our party. The waitress returned a
few minutes later to tell us, "Sorry, no ketchup." What!? No ketchup in a hotel? You must
surely be jesting.
After dinner, a few of us moved to the bar for a quick G&T. "Sorry, no tonic?" You know you're
somewhere special when a hotel bar has run out of tonic. Now, I've had a gin & tonic in Lima,
Cuzco, Nairobi, Marrakech, Kigali, Tambopata, and even Jinja, close to the source of the Nile.
None of the bars in those locations have had trouble locating tonic. Switch to a lager from the
rather limited choice and a Baileys. Probably the shortest measure of Baileys ever delivered.
After an hour in the bar, listening to the incessant drone from Sky News banging on about Jade
Goody's wedding, we decided to call it a night.
Fortunately, we were staying in Room 16, the room in which someone spent over 6 hours making it a
better place to sleep. I can't quite figure out the point of that, especially as as soon as you
put someone in there the balance is ruined.
At breakfast I decided on a lighter option, rather than the ful Welsh breakfast. Pancakes with
syrup and some toast for me, and something equally light for her. Off went the waiter, order in
hand.
After about five minutes a waitress walked past with some toast and delivered it to another table.
Fair enough, they might want the same toast as us. Five minutes after that a waiter visited The
Others' table and brought the toast to us, making no effort to hide the fact that he'd just lifted
cold toast from someone else's table to bring to us. He then proceeded to take their order.
Fifteen minutes after we placed our order the waiter returned to let me know, "Sorry, we can't do
pancakes today." What!? You have got to be kidding me. "It's just flour, eggs and water, and it
took fifteen minutes to figure out that you haven't got anyone in who can make them?" I decided
to stick with a bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.
So, The Cwrt Bleddyn has gone from a fairly decent venue for a party to one that's rather tatty.
The stair carpet is held together by frayed gaffer tape. The door handle on room 16 is held
together with chipboard. The door on room 16 doesn't close unless you bang it shut because the
hinges haven't been properly fitted. Neither of the windows in the room close properly. The bed
was poorly made, unless "lumpy" is one of the settings
Given that the hotel was extremely quiet, I'm surprised that it can cope with a wedding party. At
no time during the evening was it apparent that anyone over the age of 20 was working there. On
the whole the service wasn't bad, but apart from two of the waiting staff it thoroughly lacked any
personality.