To think 9.30 is not very late?

[Antoniacaenis]

I stayed at a small hotel/guest house (16 rooms) this weekend. When I made the reservation the manager asked me what time I planned to arrive - a city break weekend so I said about 9.30 pm ( or thereabouts depending on trains). The manager was quite rude and complained that this was too late but I wasn't able to change this.

So we turned up on Friday and there was a note on the door to look under the mat - we let ourselves in and found our room ok so let it go.

Then on Sunday the same manager begrudgingly agreed that we could leave our bags in the lobby for collection later ( 3pm) however when we went back to retrieve them the place was all locked up and no one answered the door bell. I called them up to be told " I'm down the pub - you can't get them" but another member of staff appeared back at that point and let us in. So problem solved.

Anyway I'm thinking of writing them up for Trip advisor but I've not got much experience in staying in this kind of place (sells itself as a 5* B&B) and whether it is BU to rock up on a Friday evening and collect bags Sunday afternoon. The rest of the stay was good so don't want to be unkind if this is just normal practice?

That's not normal practice! That's a one star B&B, not five star! Write the review and be honest about what was good and what was bad.

How weird! You definitely weren't BU, write them a trip advisor reviews

I would write your review fairly, mentioning all the good parts or your stay but also mentioning that any variation to normal check in and out times isn't very well catered for.

My relatives have just visited and stayed in a genuine 5 star b&b, they were offered breakfast before their flight when they left, they were leaving to catch their flight at 4am!! Such amazing service and the place also organised a taxi for them etc and gave them little gifts when they arrived in their room totally complimentary. That was not a 5 star b&b you stayed in, definitely do your review!

Depends re the check in time. Some places only allow check in between x and y times so perhaps you's was after their cut off?
And some places don't allow guests to leave bags due to H&S. I know that sounds daft but it's a bomb threat issue. My hotel will only allow guests with ID leave a bag for example.

Still not great customer service at all. Much better ways of phrasing things to paying customers!

It's a B&B - not a hotel - would not expect to be able to leave luggage, but would expect to be able to turn up any time til 11pm to check in.

I've stayed at a B&B where you weren't able to get in before a certain time because the owner had a part time day job - so leaving luggage to collect later in the afternoon would have been an issue.

If they accepted you leaving the luggage without any caveats but not being available when you came to collect it, then that was unreasonable of them.

Arriving late - there should have been something on the website to let you know what was and wasn't acceptable.

Is it possible that he'd arranged for the other member of staff to come back at that point?

Regardless of whether it's reasonable to expect them to store your luggage, it's totally unreasonable of them to agree to do it but then refuse to let you collect at the agreed time.

sounds like they thought they were doing you a favour, rather than providing a paid for service

Write to or email the B+B first and see what their reaction is.

Tell them you are planning on "this" review on TA, but you are giving them time to explain their actions first.

Too many people just lash off an angry TA review, when the first port of call should be to the accommodation manager.

But certainly if you get no response from B+B then by all means fire up a TA review. But be fair and honest, not ranty.