'Not planning to return any time soon' - Southampton poke fun at hotel with one-star review

Joe Wright

'Not planning to return any time soon' - Southampton poke fun at hotel with one-star review image

Southampton have poked fun at the hotel that cancelled their stay ahead of the meeting with Swansea City by providing a one-star review of their services.

The club were forced to move to the Vale Resort hotel near Cardiff after the Swansea Marriott reportedly told them they could not honour their booking due to the outbreak of a virus.

Manager Mark Hughes was scathing of the venue, which continued to take public bookings after Saints relocated, and later suggested mischievous Swansea fans could have been behind the confusion.

Hotel general manager Michael Downie defended the decision, which did not ultimately cost the visitors, as they claimed a 1-0 win at the Liberty Stadium to put them on the brink of Premier League survival.

Saints have had the last laugh, too, by sharing a screenshot of their review of the Marriott on TripAdvisor.

The one-star assessment, titled 'Last-minute cancellation' was tweeted from the club's official account but not posted on the review website.

"Had been due to stay here for an extremely important business trip, only to have our reservation cancelled 24 hours before arrival, due to apparent virus outbreak," the review read.

"Very disappointing, as other guests' bookings seemed to be unaffected.

"The inconvenience meant we had to make alternative arrangements for our group at short notice. Ended up switching to the Vale Resort. Not an ideal location for our needs – much longer trip to get to our meeting – but great staff and facilities there and would highly recommend.

"Fortunately, the experience didn't sour our trip. Business meeting was extremely productive!

"Not planning to return any time soon."

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.