Karah Retreats - St Briavels

Do not book this property. No e-mail with the code for the key box arrived. Advised by Hotels.com to travel to the property. On arrival there was no one to help us. The telephone for the property was incorrect. Knocked on neighbours door who did have a phone no which we contacted. The company is Karah Suites- not Karah retreats. After 2 hours of waiting at the property a keycode was given to us but there was no key in the box. Another hour later they said they could not accommodate us and we would be relocated by hotels.com- on Good Friday at 5pm! No phone call came after that and 4 hours after arriving at the property we had no choice but to make the long jouney home. Contacted hotels.com the morning after and spent 4 more hours trying to get a refund and still waiting. Appalling experience.

It wasnt clear where the apt was, you need to go up some stone steps, go round the back along a stoney path (not great for wheels); to a door that doesn't shut, leaving you feeling unsafe. The apt is on the 3rd floor, very good to know if you have a pet with you as obviously it will need going out regularly. The hallway walls are crumbling and the flakes are all in the hallway carpets. The door to the apt sticks so you need to make extra sure its shut and the 'welcome' mat is all frayed. We were looking forward to the lovely bath and shower but there was no hot water for the bath and the shower was a choice between freezing or scolding! The fire door in the kitchen was screwed shut so you couldn't get out in a hurry. You have to pay an extra £29 for cleaning but you are expected to take the rubbish out, the carpet is stained and the wall in thehallway of the apt looks like it had been fixed up recently and has not been painted properly. If you want to use extra linen from the cupboard and there are less than 3 of you, you have to pay another £20 for the privilege. The apt is quite nice but is not a luxury apt by any means. Have photos but can't upload them.

Large, clean, modern apartment with superb facilities in unique hilltop location.

Studio apartment was fine except the heated towel rail didn't work. Access to it, entrance and stairway was as if entering tawdry student accommodation. There is no name on the building anywhere and the given directions were useless. Leading up to our stay the automated email access instructions didn't work. We spent at least 2 hours on the phone to various people the morning our stay was to start trying to get access details. We eventually received these an hour before we were due to arrive. Totally unsatisfactory.

We booked this place as a last minute first two nights to get away after getting married (we both have hectic lives so wanted the outback)...Parking’s no problem, sat nav was slightly off for us (it’s left then left again if your coming down the hill or right then left coming up the hill to get access)...communal area was a bit tired but tbh anyone with any life experience knows they always are. When we got into the property itself we were overjoyed with how clean and well presented it was. Everything we needed was there and it suited us perfectly. Great location and is a beautiful drive across the valleys to do shopping and lunch in Monmouth if desired. Would absolutely stay here again and will be back for sure.