Yes, the photos are grim - shame the AA don't do a negative stars system. On my international travels, I used to grade from -5 to +5 stars, three of the hotels attracting -4 - no worse than that, just in case there was something catastrophic out there. For -4 stars, try the natural air-conditioning in the walls of a hotel in Ouagadougou - yes, machine-gun bullet holes or the bedroom in Kano where I didn't know whether to sleep in the bed, on it or under it, the huge fridge with three bottles of water in, seals broken, in the centre of the room, the collapsed chairs and side unit, the radio hanging off the wall, the heavy green slime all over the shower, the only reason for not giving -5 being that the wash-basin and toilet were 'moderately' clean. The cuisine was something else too and $120 equivalent a night for this privilege - in 1987.