I have stayed at the Ibis in Reading before, and have always been mere than happy with the experience. The staff have been friendly, the breakfast fine and of course the situation is very convenient. On this occasion, the "New Menu" was not available on the hight I wanted - I was told I would have to go out, or have food delivered, as the kitchen was closed (possibly because of large numbers of guests staying.) That was slightly disappointing, but not too much of a problem. However, I was allocated to a room - 1011 - in which BBC1 and BBCNews were both unavailabe on the TV. I reported this at reception early next morning, and the gentleman said that he thought he knew what the problem was and would send maintenance. Two hours plus a maintenance man arrived, saw what was wrong, departed to fetch something and returned to spend an hour fiddling, to no effect - other than to reset the date to Jan 1, thereby eliminating the programme guide. In fairness, he was not the person who normally dealt with TVs - the expert had hurt his eye and was off work. He eventually departed, with the explanation that he would ring his colleague for instructions and return. I had to go out briefly, but nothing had changed when I returned. On Saturday I found that the card-in-the-slot master switch for the lights was no longer functioning. This too I reported at reception and a different gentleman said that it must have been too near to my phone, so reprogrammed the key card. Returning to my room, I found that the delightful lady housekeeper had discovered the problem and had sent for maintenance. I had to leave shortly after and when I returned in the evening that problem had been sorted - and the TV reset to the actual date, thereby restoring the programme guide, but still without the missing channels. The next morning, after breakfast, I returned to my room but could not get in, as the man who reprogrammed my key the day before had not checked how long I was staying. Problem quickly sorted. Still no progress on the TV front. On checking out, I again pointed out that I had been without the country's major channel - this at a time of the Women's World Cup - and that it needed to be sorted before the room was let again. The lady politely thanked me for letting them know, but as far as I could tell did not really apologise - let alone offer any courtesy points on my Gold card account, which would have been a small gesture. I understand that problems can arise, but I noticed that one reviewer had experienced a similar lack of BBC1 back in June. Not the same room, I trust? Or is it throughout the hotel? I take it that this disappointment was possibly a one-off, but I hope that they will indeed rectify things, as it considerably affected my enjoyment of the four night stay.