After word got out that a luxury guest house in Cambridgeshire received a zero star hygiene rating, we began to wonder what paying customers had to say about their stay.
The Nyton Guest House in Ely was criticised (and praised) by dozens of people on TripAdvisor, who said it was a real life Fawlty Towers experience.
If you're not familiar with the classic sitcom, Fawlty Towers is about a man named Basil Fawlty, a bonkers English hotel manager whose incompetence, short fuse and arrogance ensures that accidents are never too far away.
The comparisons to the comedy show were so frequent that we decided to approach the guest house about its loony reputation.
Unfortunately, after several attempts, the owner declined to comment.
Each time Cambridgeshire Live has contacted the establishment, a man who said he was the owner's brother answered the phone and said the owner wouldn't be speaking to us.
However, not all guests were not perturbed by its similarities to the BBC2 show, many said it actually added to its charm.
Some even refer to the hotel's owner as Basil.
"We were woken up by Tina Turner and Michael Jackson"
Gasman22 wrote: "This place is good for a laugh, no permanent reception or bar, we had to have bar opened to get a cold drink.
"Breakfast was edible but just ok, when we had full English and poached eggs next morning, they were hard and overcooked.
"Plenty of shouting from the kitchen by owner who is just like Basil Fawlty.
"Worth bit for us though was a house next door had a garden party till gone midnight and were very noisy, not hotels fault I know.
"Then just after 7am we were woken up by Tina Turner and Michael Jackson being blasted out the sound system by the owner who was obviously starting breakfast in the kitchen."
"We were greeted by Basil Fawlty"
Steve5610 wrote, under the heading, 'Fawlty Towers is real!': "This was a first time in Ely and we were really impressed with the city but less so with our hotel.
"The Nyton is tucked away down a tree-lined gravel drive and promises much, but oh dear, once in the door we were greeted by Basil Fawlty.
"The first words out of his mouth were, 'you are too early' but the sound of loud music drowned most of what he said out.
"He then offered to 'see to music' with copious sorrys thrown in but only managed to increase the volume not reduce it - and he never did explain why it was playing in the first place.
"Anyway, 'Basil' suddenly realised that our rooms hadn't been let the previous evening so we weren't too early in the end.
"Before showing us to our rooms we had a whistlestop tour of lounge-bar-restaurant at which point we enquired about lunch, but Basil quickly shot that one down with 'sorry - not possible' and off to our rooms."
Staff were nowhere to be seen
j0spurr wrote: "Pleasant room, nice views over the garden. Bathroom, though small, looked recently refurbished and was adequate.
"Absence of staff on reception on arrival was forewarned, however we were somewhat surprised and concerned to find no staff in the hotel on Sunday morning when we arrived downstairs for breakfast to find the dining room locked.
"We discovered the owner had been away over night and met with travel disruption on his return journey causing delay.
"It would appear that the hotel was left unattended all night apart from paying guests.
"Thank goodness there were no emergencies or accidental activation of fire alarms as occurred on previous night."
"Even the reservation was a fiasco"
User Hachiouji-brit wrote: "We arrived with whoever was manning the reception desk's car nigh on blocking the front entrance when we clearly had a disabled person and elderly person in our group.
"The car never ever got moved.
"That was the last we saw though of the person manning reception who had very poor knowledge of the area and computer skills.
"Even the reservation was a fiasco with the phone not working properly and getting "cancellation" emails nothing to do with our reservation."
"The fire alarm kept going off"
Archy wrote: "The references to Fawlty Towers in some reviews is amusing - one night the fire alarm kept going off.
"It wasn't a fire, or even a drill."
"We were enchanted by the Fawlty resemblances"
Overall, there were more positive reviews than negative, including 32 excellents, 51 goods - as opposed to 27 poors and 45 terribles.
Paul K wrote: "Interesting reading both the positive and negative reviews. They are all accurate.
"But we were enchanted by the Fawlty resemblances and could never quite figure out if it was deliberate or not ('You want a drink with dinner. So I'll have to open the bar then?')
"We returned in 2018 after staying in 2016. Location, parking and surrounds are great.
"Rooms are adequate if you don't mind stairs. Dinner, if it is not too inconvenient to arrange, is good and breakfast is great. All in all nice dining room.
"But there was a loud argument on the phone audible from the kitchen. Next morning we helped sort out the bill - nothing had been written down.
"But we were then offered parking by the manager if we couldn't get any in town.
"We'd go back again. Quite pleasant with the right attitude."
Fawlty Towers revisited
Daranifamily wrote: "We were here for two nights and although there was a slight mix up with the price on departure, overall the hotel was clean and the owner very friendly, and did refer to himself and his staff as Fawlty Towers revisited.
"Even introduced us to his female version of Manuel."
To find out why The Nyton Guest House, received a zero star hygiene rating click here.
