The Swan at Hay

my job is to travel around the world, which means that there will be more than one hotel during the year. this time I went on holiday. this hotel is one of the better ones. I could write a long list of positive things, like tidyness, posision or how Nice everything was. I prefer to mention the negatives: 1. food not included in the hotel price, as we made the wrong order at the arrivle point, it is partly our fault, but the price for food was nevertheless at the highest level. so we went to a cafe in town instead. 2. during afternoon tea we felt forgotten. the waiters did not know that we were coming, and felt that we were a bit in the way of the next meal. the table was booked in advance. small mistakes are allowed, we'll be back anyway!

What a wonderful hotel this is. A beautiful venue with a great team working hard to make sure everyone’s stay is a good one. Our room was immaculate & the bed was ridiculously comfortable. We requested a room with a bath & that’s what we got. In the morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast. My wife’s Welsh breakfast was perfectly cooked & my continental breakfast was spot on. Nicky, I believe the lady was called was superb. She couldn’t have done more for us. In fact, every team member was very professional. We will be back… we’ve already booked our next stay.

We based ourselves here for three days motorcycling around Wales and couldn’t have picked better! The location is great, and the onsite parking for us was a must have. We had room 16 which was a large twin. The room was immaculately clean and very well presented. Tea, coffee and biscuits were replenished each day as were clean towels. 10/10 for housekeeping. Breakfast was excellent and the guy who served us each morning was friendly and professional. He repeatedly checked we had everything we needed and our ordered arrived quickly and were of excellent quality. We didn’t eat at the Swan in the evenings as there are so many great places to eat in Hay and we wanted to try a few of them. We recommend Tomatitos tapas and the Sunday lunch at the Three Tuns was excellent. I would advise avoiding the Blue Boar which is the nearest pub to the Swan, our experience there was awful. All in all a great hotel in a lovely town. We will definitely be back to the Swan soon.

Having read the good reviews, we booked and were looking forward to our stay at the Swan, which marked the last day of our Wales holiday. We were mightily disappointed. Whilst very clean and tidy, and nice staff, the hotel itself is very old fashioned. Walking into the bar you felt like you were walking back into the 1970s with its layout of faded red and floral sofas. Our room, which was described as in the annex, was actually in the car park and we had to close the blinds to insure privacy. We didn’t realise until the morning, that the walls were covered in damp, in the bedroom and the bathroom. We paid £180 for the room so we hoped for a lot better. I would not recommend this hotel.

Called for lunch on a busy Saturday in Hay, although unlike the rest of the town the Swan was deserted. I had a steak (ordered rare and came more well done but I was too hungry to complain!). Had a dessert too. Good value and good friendly service. I was almost alone in the dining room but spoke to a lady on an adjacent table. More marketing should be done to get more diners in at lunchtime...?

We had a lovely stay at The Swan. The building and gardens are beautiful, and our room was large. The staff are super friendly, and we had the best breakfast each day. The food is good quality and cooked to order. Parking is a little tricky at the rear, but there is a car park across the lane, a short walk away. We found The Swan to be a great base for day trips around the Brecon Beacons. Traffic noise is always a possibility in properties like this on roads through a village so we understood and tolerated it. The village itself is interesting to explore. We would definitely stay here again.