Hotel Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre (Marlow, United Kingdom)

All the essentials are here in the form of convenience and cleanliness. Only a little imagination is necessary to see that this is a good point from which to visit London's theatres, restaurants and shops - but escaping from that frenzy at the end of the day.

Walk into Marlow and wander round the town and shops, or get in the car and journey the short distance to Windsor and other attractions. A big feature is that it is so close to the M40 and M4 links.

It has the air of a gymnasium rather than a hotel, but once you've gone through the check in procedure, the room is great, modern and comfortable. The bathroom is superb with that automatic light ... so you don't have to get out of bed again to turn it off.

You need to book a restaurant meal in advance ... but they don't tell you this. The cafe stops serving in the very early evening. The hot breakfast buffet stops before many people have even got up. They've got some way to go to achieve hotel status. You, however, have only 150 yards to walk to The Bull public house where slap-up meals are served at sensible times.

It's difficult to believe that there has been any serious thought when deciding to lavish the title of ‘hotel' on this accommodation. Overall it's clean and good value, but with proper planning it could be so much better.

The signage here is appalling and confusing. The incoming guest is placed on the back foot from the word ‘go'.