I travel a LOT for work & I've stayed in a lot of hotels and in particular a lot of Holday Inn's,…read morethis one I did not like. Obviously it's a standard hotel, it is an express hotel & you sort of had to expect that coming to it. I will say that the hotel was spotless! Now for the list of things I didn't like: I didn't like the breakfast. Your options were some sort of strange flavoured sausage, eggs, bacon, pastries, fruit salad from a tin, a handful of cereals or toast. As someone who has certain food intolerances breakfast is often my least favourite meal when I'm away from home. In general there's often some whole fruits I can take to make up for it, in this place the whole fruits were Banana's & they were all gone by day 2. The hotel was grossly understaffed & the staff that were there were so ridiculously slow they didn't really do much to help each other out. There were more than 50 of us here in a group (including 27 children) & another gang of Scottish men. As the bar was behind the same counter as the reception desk you were often left standing an age for someone to leave the bar & come serve you at reception or vice versa. And for some reason the hotel room keys kept deactivating (everyone's did) so we spent a lot of time waiting at reception. There was one occasion where two families arrived at the bar at 8:45pm to order food. Because they had to wait so long for service one of the families was told it was too late to order food despite the other family having just been served in front of them. The hotel staff (or certainly one guy in particular) was incredibly rude when under pressure. In general our group were really nice to them and although we understand being under pressure is not nice, there's just absolutely no need for rudeness - I actually had an full blown argument with the guy for overcharging me for a drink & then leaving me short on the change... Full blown row to resolve the issue despite him clearly being in the wrong! Extremely unprofessional! They actually ran out of alcohol 3 nights into our stay, not because we drank a lot, we were there for a competition so no real drinking was done until the last night. Not giving one star because as I noted the hotel was clean & completely liveable. Just wouldn't be my first choice of hotel.

A little gem of the area. Hidden away down a narrow country lane and nestling on the banks of the…read morecanal. I had been lucky in that I was looking for a 'different' hotel for a single night stay after a 65th birthday party in Sawbridgeworth. I wanted to get away from the Travelodge and Welcome Inn for a change. Now, don't take that wrongly, we love both of those hotel chains but, on this occasion, wanted something different. A really friendly, welcome as we arrived, by Richard. Owner of The Mill with his wife Miranda. Miranda, we were told was the brains in the kitchen. As it was a quiet time of year we were upgraded to a larger room in the house. Lovely large room with all the amenities needed, including bathrobes. Comfy bed, and I mean comfy. Neither of us wanted to leave that bed in the morning. Flat screen TV, coffee/tea making facilities. Free, fast WiFi. All of this for a very reasonable price of just under £50. An extra £7.50 each gave us a wonderful breakfast starter for the day. There had to be a 'down side' to these prices so it was going to be the breakfast, we thought. No way, cereals available with orange juice in the huge glass jug. Wonderful cafetiere of nicely ground coffee and then the full English. A plateful of beans, mushrooms, tomato, egg, bacon (so tasty) and sausage (must have been local) with toast. Set us up for the day. Speaking to Richard he said that the Mill was an ongoing project of theirs. Restaurant, Wild Hart, with its local game and venison dishes. We look forward to giving it a try in the near future. I can see that booking will have to be made to get a table. Great stay and I would recommend The Mill to anyone if they are looking for somewhere to stay in the area.

What a pretty venue for a party celebrating the slow descent into middle age! Gaston Green is tiny…read morelittle village near Little Hallingbury, and the mill is on a single track lane which drops down a hill, opening out onto fields. There are about 18 rooms, with a tiny little bar and dining area. It was a perfect size for a party celebrating our friends' 40th year. Serving various (bottled) unfamiliar ales and brews alongside your normal lager downstairs, service was very friendly and the staff seemed genuinely eager to make you feel as comfortable as possible. Note: in the morning mist, this place will knock your socks off. We had a buffet for the party so I can't comment on the meals themselves, although I was a little disappointed that the hot breakfast was limited for non meat eaters even though I had checked ahead, but no matter, what I had was ample. I also stayed overnight - there are two sets of rooms - one in the main body of the mill itself, and the rest in a separate house only a few metres away. I stayed in the separate building - which I was a little grateful for - the rooms are nicely decked out but it is noisy given the age of the property (1874) so be warned if you are a light sleeper, especially if you are in room 18 (by the main door), as I was. Plenty of tea and coffee in the room, plus your own teapot, which I made plenty good use of.

Reasons for being in Bishop's Stortford are few and far between. Reasons for staying there…read moreovernight are practically unheard of. However, if for some reason you do find yourself with a need to crash in the area and are not troubled by money matters - then the Down Hall Hotel is for you. The Down Hall Hotel is pretty amazing. I found it by mistake. Me and a friend of mine like to go for drives at 2am when the rest of the world is sleeping. We were driving around in the middle of nowhereville and saw this sign that was almost entirely hidden by hedges and looked as if it was made in 1842. It pointed out the direction to a hotel. We decided to follow it, hoping we'd be able to find a cup of tea. So we stumbled our way through the tiny country streets until eventually we came across the hotel. The Down Hall hotel doesn't look like your regular Holiday Inn. This place is a mansion. You feel like royalty in this place. Especially after you get a pot of tea and it costs you the same as a flight to Eastern Europe. I tend to not like places for the rich; as they tend to be pretentious. But this place was just kind of lovely. The rooms where you eat and drink look like places in 'The West Wing' where people used to have meetings. Just pure class, and great service. I've not stayed here - but we did go for a wander and managed to find a room that wasn't locked. It was pretty great. Spacious, comfortable and colourful. If you need to get away, then maybe this little place in Bishop's Stortford is just for you. The setting is idyllic and they even have some lovely grounds you can walk in. In fact, this place isn't too far from Stansted if you're looking for somewhere to stay the night before your flight (to Eastern Europe or otherwise)

Huge fan of the hotel. Simply a stunning venue that we didn't take full advantage of…read more Price: I don't know why this has 4 dollar signs. We went economical through a 3rd party booking agency and it came out to about $125USD/night. By far one of the better decisions all trip. For the price alone this should be a 5 Yelp star hotel. Sure it's an hour and a half outside of London but transportation was easy. I'll get to that later. Room: We were given a great spot overlooking the entrance. It was a great view. Size wise it was bigger than expected with little added amenities that were extremely thoughtful (think heated towel rack and bath robes). Transportation. It's easy. We didn't have a car but... 1. A short taxi ride to Sawbridgeworth Train Station was $13USD each way and... 2. A Day Pass (for the overground/train, the underground/The Tube, and the buses) was about $40 USD/person each day. Transportation runs until midnight each night and was surprisingly easy (save for a 3 hour delay on the train when it broke down one night). *Go to Sawbridgeworth instead of Bishop Stortford to save $8USD per taxi ride. **Leave after 9:45am (peak time) to get cheaper Day Passes Staff: Very good. Had a few hiccups but it's expected. I was also told by one chap that I could use a microwave to heat up some pizza (it was 1am) while another chap firmly put him down and said that microwave use was not allowed. Awkward exchange right there but the night audit's job is tough to begin with. Note: Local calls from your hotel room aren't free. Had to learn this upon checkout but no biggie. Buy a SIM for your unlocked phone and use it.

Distressingly strong smell of mold in the double standard sofa bed room. Like the carpet got wet…read moreand was never able to dry properly. Staff is pleasant enough. No true service in the restaurant--it's either QR code or order at the bar. Convenient shuttle to Stansted on the half hour. We've been in worse.

We missed our flight home and this was the only hotel we could find a room at in the immediate area…read more(there was also a Ryan Air strike going on at the time). We needed a place to rest our heads and figure out how to get ourselves home as soon as possible. The hotel looks nice and newly renovated. Our room looked decent enough for a night. We had one full size bed and a pull out sofa. Our room was very, very small and the bed was super uncomfortable. The sofa bed wasn't fit for a child to sleep on the mattress was so thin. Parking was free here and there is a gas station/convenience store just across the street. The free breakfast in the morning wasn't bad and there was plenty of seating. A couple of issues we found, we had small ants in the bathroom and the shower didn't drain well. Overall, not a bad stay but we didn't want to spend another night here and found another hotel for one more night.

I have stayed at this hotel a few times now and my experiences have been good. The hotel is a bit…read moretired in places but the location is fab.very quiet and nice.

I can't fault this hotel for value for money. Yeah it's tired in places but the rooms are clean and…read morethe staff are friendly. The food in the restaurant is very nice and it's ideally situated in Old Harlow.

Where to start ?....Good points......softest bed and pillows i have slept on......staff generally…read moresmiley...........£42 for a night is reasonable for the area i suppose ,on paper anyway......food was fairly nice... Bad points ...accommodation car park poorly lit, several lights not working, very dark and shielded by planting ......accommodation foyer greeted me with tables covered with used crockery, bottles, half cups of coffee etc from what i presume was an earlier meeting or conference, i arrived at 20.30hrs and they were still there when i climbed the wooden hill to bedland at 2300hrs....carpets threadbare patches in hallways and own room....tiles loose around bath....room lighting abysmal two wall lights and a table lamp, had to have bathroom light on and door open to be able to see into my wardrobe (which had a handle missing), i think the lighting thing is a deliberate ploy so you dont notice the tired, peeling, leak stained wallpaper, dust on the picture frames and flakey paint work......the drawer at the desk unit contained the hairdryer unit which some numpty had screwed to the base of the drawer using a screw so long it sticks out the bottom of the drawer and into your leg when you pull the drawer open..ouch....the pub had a range of three real ales on tap however none of them working......people next to me at bar had to ask for wine to be topped up as short measured.....restaurant would only serve me a main course as it was near to 10p.m (5 to) says until 10 on the menu though....had onion rings for dessert,they were ordered as a side dish to my main but did not arrive until three quarters of the way through despite further enquiries. Would i go back? ....yes i would... but only to pinch a pillow.

I booked here at the last minute after having missed a flight at Stansted Airport. I chose this…read moreplace rather than the very expensive airport hotels. It's 10 minutes away by train (+10 min walking to the station). Take exit London road pass the supermarket and take the second on the right. The street as almost no light and the guest house is just a normal house. Inside it's very nice and the room is decorated of a great taste. The host is really Really nice. She happened to be French as well and gave me a takeaway breakfast as I was leaving very early the next morning. I highly recommend this place!

We stayed here for two nights while attending a wedding over the summer. The property is huge with…read morea sprawling golf course but the hotel building itself is quite old. Our room was a decent size for a king bed non-smoking room. The hallways are long and there is really only one set of stairs on each side of the lobby leading up to the upper levels and one escalator (that was out of service for part of our stay). The wedding venue itself was beautiful... it a very well naturally lit room with huge windows to serve as a backdrop to a wonderful ceremony. When we were outside for a champagne reception before dinner however, we did notice that there were many bees or wasps flying about in the lawn area. I'm not sure if anything could've been done to prevent that, but it didn't make us want to stay outside very long. The main lobby boasts a bar and open seating in addition to the hotel restaurant. If you're into English food (i.e. pickle and cheese sandwiches), there is a variety of things to order from the restaurant menu at the bar. There is a cut off time for those orders and no exceptions to that. The staff was all really friendly and helpful despite how loud our party was being the night after the wedding and reception. They also assisted us in transportation from here to the train station.