Thirlmere Lakes National Park

Only one elevator was working in this 20-storey hotel during our entire six-day stay. It seemed the hotel believed that putting up a notice saying guests should expect a **5–10 minute wait** was an acceptable substitute for actually repairing the lift. Throughout our stay, there was no visible sign that any repair work was being carried out, and it had a significant negative impact on our experience. Using the stairs was not a practical alternative. The stairwell exit was marked as an emergency exit, and guests were understandably reluctant to use it because opening the door would trigger the fire alarm. To use the stairs to go upstairs, guests had to ask reception for access through the staff office, walk outside to the street, and then enter the stairwell from another entrance. This was inconvenient and unnecessarily time-consuming. The situation was even worse in the mornings. Not only were many guests waiting for the single working elevator, but the housekeeping staff were also using it with their large cleaning carts. We even saw one housekeeper press buttons for five different floors, peek out on each floor without getting off, and continue riding the lift. On another occasion, housekeeping staff squeezed into an already overcrowded morning elevator with their cleaning equipment. This wasn't just an issue with the housekeeping staff's behaviour—it reflected poor hotel management and a lack of proper operational planning and staff training.