We arrived mid afternoon on Friday, my satnav took us to the hotel with no problems and there was ample free parking.- I had requested an accessible room and was given a nice, clean and well decorated room with a big Sky TV not far from reception. (There isn't a lift in this hotel)
As this was a group visit, the food was buffet style on the first evening and a convention dinner from a previously chosen menu on the second evening.
Breakfasts were a typical hotel buffet type and of high standard. The restaurant is Italian and the food delicious. The staff were very good and attentive. Internet was high signal.

My boyfriend and I stayed at this hotel over Easter weekend as we were attending a wedding nearby. Our initial thoughts of the hotel were that it looked like an 'old people’s home' from the outside, although not the end of the world.

We were greeted by a grumpy looking receptionist who checked us in and took payment there and then (wishing I had held back payment until departure in hindsight).

My first shocking experience was finding SOMEONE ELSE'S BOXERS!!! Presumably a previous guest’s in the bottom of our wardrobe. We then noticed that our 'King size' bed as advertised was in fact two singles (single beds and single mattresses) pushed together.

I addressed these issues with the reception team who explained all their rooms have 'zip and lock' beds this is standard and they have no other rooms to offer us. On second look, the actual zip and lock part of the bed hadn't even been connected properly so my boyfriend fixed this for us (not his job). There was a minor apology regarding the boxer incident and a member of cleaning staff sheepishly followed me to the room to remove these straight away.

After this great start we had a more thorough look around the room and noticed that it looked as though it hadn't been cleaned for weeks; there were marks on the light switches, cupboards and walls. A carpet tile had been taken up and not put back properly and there were stains on the pillow cases that clearly did not come out in the wash. Just why the hotel is happy to provide guests with stained bedding for their stay is beyond me… The curtains were broken and half hanging down, which would have given the whole car park and high street a view of us getting ready for the wedding/or woken us up very early by daylight shining in, had it not been for my boyfriend who managed to fix them (again not his job!). There was also no iPod dock in the room as stated in the advert for an executive double.

The overall appearance of the room was below average for the amount we paid and I was genuinely upset with the service we received. On check out we were not asked how our stay was, which is (I strongly believe) a standard courteous question that should be asked to all guests when they depart. My only presumption is that the receptionist could not be bothered to hear any more complaints as she knew this is what would be coming.

I would not stay at the Best Western Chelmsford again, nor would I recommend.