The Swan At Hay

A comfortable, well situated hotel. Helpful, polite and well informed staff. Rooms fairly standard. Beds comfortable.

Location. Free parking if available. Clean comfortable. Staff were pleasant and friendly. Large room and bathroom. Pizza was fab.

Decor a bit tierd. Set up as a twin but no sockets by one bed.Attention to small details required. Poor choice of drinks on hospitality tray.UHT milk and limmited supply. Only shower jel provided in bathroom, if not providing shampoo etc make it clear on website.. Cobwebs on ceiling. Fan did not work. Only able to open upper sash window.Stain on carpet . Missing curtain tie. Bathroom needs refit shower very poor broken and didn't fit in the fitting could only use hand held. Choice of music in dining room dire. Breakfast cooked food average bun for a bacon roll hard and dried out had to complain. Stayed end 2025 bit disappointed this time.

Perfect location for exploring this beautiful part of the world and for the Hay Festival.

I have stayed at the Swan twice. I love it for its location and great restaurant with a garden.

At breakfast, the cooked breakfast is always good, but the buffet / continental never really seems to be restocked so if you arrive later during breakfast hours, many items are gone.

This review is a difficult one, because it was not all bad, but events marred the experience. The room was in the old stable block, not an issue, and was fine, good size and comfortable bed, nice spacious en-suite. The hotel is well located just on the outskirts of the town and only 5-10 mins walk to town centre and the old bookshops for which it is well known. There is a lovely garden area for a sundowner, well anytime really. There is parking at the hotel but very limited, 8-9 tops and very tricky to get in and out; relies on everyone parking well!! we were lucky and got a space. Luckily there's a public car park nearby which is free from 6pm to 8am. Receptionist was good.

The problems started at the bar when it became quite obvious that they were short staffed. Two G&T's took rather a long time to arrive as there was only one barman serving 2 bars. He was actually very good, but just too much to do with taking food orders from the casual bar as well as drink orders from the casual side and the lounge. We had booked dinner in the Dining room and while the Menu's were delivered quickly, ordering was slow and delivery even worse. We waited 55 minutes for the main course to actually arrive and when it did both meals were inedible. We obviously refused to pay other than the wine which was quite nice!! it became apparent that the "Chef" only knew how to cook Burgers and chips! Probably a trainee to satisfy bar snack requirements but no idea about main menu courses! We were somewhat concerned as to how the cooked breakfast would go, but it was surprisingly respectable and quite quick. Obviously the "real Chef" was back on duty. The young waiters were OK, but a little bit too chatty with each other rather that being attentive to the client's.

Sehr gute Lage. Wunderbares Himmelbett!