Arrived just after 3pm, we were greeted at the door and asked if we would like help with our bags which was a lovely touch. There were 3 receptionists on and no que for check in so we didn’t need to wait,the receptionist pointed out we had not booked with breakfast and would we like to add it on, we said no as we wanted to eat out, her tone seemed to change as if she then couldn’t be bothered with us, she wrote down our room number and handed over our room key cards. We headed for the lifts and our room 812 to find we hadn’t been informed how to work the lifts, the lift will only go up to floor 4 unless you use your room key card and then it will authorise you to go to the floor you require. The concierge could see we were having difficulties and came over to help, the receptionist should have informed us we required the use of the card, but there was a lack of information given. The room was basic but clean which is the highest priority, the mini bar was empty apparently you need to request the mini bar when booking, not an issue as we wouldn’t have used it anyway , it meant we could pop to the Sainsbury’s down the road to buy G&T’s and use the fridge to keep them cool. The bathroom fan does not turn off , even when closing the door at night I could still hear it through the door. The room seemed quiet apart from this. There seems to be work going on in the hotel at the moment, electrical works so we had drilling and banging going on on both mornings after 9am. I understand they need to do work at some point but if you wanted a lie in after 9am you wouldn’t have been able too! The location of the hotel is fantastic for shops and restaurants and we found on the first Sun of the month there was a local makers market round the corner, a chance to buy a couple of XMas gifts. The hotel claims to be eco conscious however each cup , each spoon ,each glass etc. in the room was wrapped in plastic, the towels were replaced on the second night and the linen was straightened up, our bedding had been tidied up , the cleaners use a mist spray bottle to remove the creases in the bedding, I think our cleaner had , had an accident with her mist spray bottle as our bedding especially one of my pillows was wet through, the glasses, cups etc had been replaced and when I opened one of the glasses up there was a huge crack in it, I called down to reception and the head housekeeper came to look at the bedding and to replace the glass, she explained they slightly dampen the bedding to make it look fresh again, but she did agree the cleaner had used too much water and new bedding would be provided. This was done and we enjoyed the rest of the stay.
There are two bar areas to choose from, neither of which we found to have a flavoured Gin on offer, knowing how the trend for flavoured Gins is at the moment this surprised me, we were told it was due to space, they did have about 5 standard branded Gins so surely one of these could be replaced with a flavoured one, just an idea!
The swimming pool facilities were clean, there was one small jacuzzi so if there was someone else in you had to wait til they had finished and then you could have a quick turn! We thought we would be the only people using the pool as it opened but there were several people in, the lounging seat pads around the pool were great and I loved the tropical rain showers.
I Would stay at the hotel again as the customer service when we had a slight issue was remarkable sorted out straight away.
