The Portland Guesthouse

I stayed at Portland Guesthouse and while the location is genuinely excellent, the overall experience was a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, it’s right in the centre of Cheltenham, so everything is easily walkable. The parking permit system is also convenient and straightforward, which is a real bonus in that area. However, the guesthouse itself feels a little tired and could benefit from some refreshing. The biggest drawback for me was the self check-in setup. With key boxes outside the bedroom doors, it gives more of a student accommodation or Airbnb vibe rather than a traditional guesthouse experience. The most disappointing part, though, was the breakfast. Although I understand the self-service option is quite new, it felt poorly executed. Items were still in supermarket packaging, with no real presentation or sense of care. The selection was very basic – cereal, bread, jam, peanut butter – and lacked any fresh options like yoghurt, fruit or cheese. It didn’t feel in line with what you’d expect from a guesthouse stay. For around £80 including breakfast and parking, I’d say it’s borderline in terms of value. Great location, but the overall experience didn’t quite match the price point

4 months ago · via Google

Room was clean and just like pictured. Host was extremely pleasant and accomodating. Breakfast is self-service with beverages, breads for toasting, and cereal, which we enjoyed so we could start our day early. Being able to get into the room unassisted when we arrived was convenient. Just pay to park across the street. There is no free street parking close by if you're carrying bags.

2 months ago · via Google

Really lovely place. The rooms are super cute and thoughtfully decorated. The beds are really comfortable and the shower was capable of being nice and hot and sufficiently powerful. The breakfast room has a large L-shaped sofa if you want to relax in there or play board games etc. The self check-in worked faultlessly and was great for us as we needed to arrive and depart late evening. Communication was good via WhatsApp and questions were responded to promptly. Best for me, was they allow pets and don't charge a surplus for this as some hotels do. Further, they don't only allow cats and dogs - they were happy for me to take my hamster which was a life saver over the Xmas period. I think the rooms are great value (paid on average about £70 a night for a twin room which I think was pretty fair over the Xmas period and in such a central location). Due to the central location, there isn't a car park attached to the property. However, the location provide a free digital permit upon request (made via the form on their website) for the Zone 10 parking spots on the roads surrounding the property and this worked well. There is an NCP opposite which is chargeable via payment directly to NCP. However, we found it useful parking there for a few hours to pack the car up when we left. The room was spotlessly clean and tidy, spacious and filled with thoughtful extras such as USB charging points on the plugs, handmade mince pies for Christmas, an elaborate tea and coffee selection, a fan and a hair dryer. Only reason I deducted a star was because: 1) Vegan breakfast options weren't provided on at least one of the days, despite me advising them of this requirement twice in advance of the stay. They apologised and understandably there was little they could do about it due to the festivities, but something to be mindful of for fellow vegans. Perhaps don't just tell them you're vegan, but ask them to confirm they have received and acted on the info. 2) The room was lovely and warm when the central heating was on, but got really quite cold when it wasn't. I did ask if they had a portable heater and they responded that the heating was on (it was at that time, but obviously I was asking in anticipation of when it went off later on). Wasn't so much an issue for us, but hamsters can't get too cold or it can become an expensive vet trip. She was okay, but it worried me. 3) I get why they have used hard floors in the hallway rather than carpets. However, you become quite conscious that just by walking up and down the hall as necessary that you might be disturbing others. Other reviewers seemed to find the sound of people walking around on the ground floor annoying. It didn't annoy me when I was in the room, but just made me a little concerned as to whether I might be annoying others. It's a minor point really, but maybe some rugs that might dampen some of the sound but could be easily cleaned or replaced when necessary might be useful. 4) Some of the bedding was synthetic but some was feather and down. I'm vegan and my partner vegetarian, so one of us ended up with the down bedding despite not agreeing with it. It would be better for synthetic materials to be the default and ideally down not used at all, but if it's that important to some guests then perhaps they could request it. I don't doubt they'd have changed it if asked, but they'd have had to come out to the property to do this I presume and I felt uncomfortable asking them and causing hassle. Most synthetic bedding is perfectly comfortable and functional, so we really don't need to be using bedding filled with animal feathers. Credit to the property for using Astonish cleaning products! It's also a social enterprise and they train up vulnerable adults I believe to gain qualifications in hospitality, so it feels like you're paying money to a good cause rather than just another greedy corporation. Anyway, it's a lovely place and we'd absolutely stay again. It was a perfect base for us over Christmas and you can just come and go as you please without any hassle. Thank you Team.

7 months ago · via Google

We had a lovely stay here, room clean and comfortable and a great location. It's a very basic breakfast just toast, cereal, yogurts and little croissants. The parking is easy and all in all great value 🤩

8 months ago · via Google