AN INSPECTOR CALL

His mission: To test hotel hospitality to the limit

YOU can’t charge £249.50 for a room and not know which side of the building it’s on. We expressly asked not to be on the busy main road leading to Cambridge station and opposite a massive construction site — yet sure enough, that’s where we’re put.

The woman on reception says she’s only been in the job four days, so we don’t blame her. But where is the manager to make sure everything is running smoothly, especially as this is a new opening and the first venture in the UK for the Dublin-based O’Callaghan Hotel Group?

When we take a seat at the bar and order two gin and tonics, a male member of staff suggests we go straight to our table because he’s expecting a large group to come in. ‘Can’t we just sit here and order while we have a drink?’ I ask

‘It would be best if you went to the table,’ he says.

No large group arrives. And nor do our drinks — until finally we flag down an Italian waiter who takes pity on us. It’s he who helps us when our chips arrive under-cooked (he takes them back); when our white wine is room temperature (he replaces it promptly); when my wife asks for a

bed and marble bathroom. It’s comfortable and spacious, as is the downstairs of the hotel, with a double-height lobby and a welcoming mezzanine level. But, despite some original art and well-stacked bookcases, the whole ensemble feels strangely corporate. Cambridge is not well-served by hotels and the PR blurb calls this the ‘most exciting hotel opening to come to Cambridge in years’ — but it needs to prove it.