TO SAVE TYPING AGAIN I AM USING THIS LETTER WHICH I SENT TO THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE HOTEL GROUP AS MY REPORT ON THIS HOTEL. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT HE IS ALSO MISSING THE POINT, THAT YES, THEY MOST CERTAINLY DID SPOIL OUR SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY.

"First of all may I apologise for taking up your time, however, I feel it important that you are made aware of my recent experience at a hotel which is part of your group. I will try and be as brief as possible and will only tell you about the main issues even though there were a number of others.

I found the hotel on the internet whilst searching for somewhere for my husband and I to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary. The hotel was offering a large discount if we booked ahead and pre-paid, with no cancellation rights. I was particularly attracted to the hotel as it stated it had separate cottages and being somewhat claustrophobic I like to have a room with direct access to the outside rather than having to go through hotel corridors etc. However, there were no photographs of the cottages on the website and I queried with the person I was talking to as to whether the internal decorations/furnishings/furniture etc. were the same level in the cottages as the pictures on the internet of the internal rooms. I explained to her that we were celebrating a very special occasion and that I really wanted somewhere nice. She assured me they were. On this basis I made the booking and paid.

We arrived on Sunday 5th February. On arrival we were greeted by a receptionist (who has since been identified as Debbie). We went to our "cottage" which we found extremely disappointing. Prior to arrival it was described to me as a separate lounge with a television and a bedroom. I had asked if it was possible to have a television in the bedroom (I have some health problems and usually need to rest in bed for around three hours in the afternoon so a television in the bedroom is helpful). To give the hotel credit, they had moved the television from the lounge area into the bedroom, however, this left a large empty room furnished only with two shabby old chairs and a tiny coffee table. It felt more like a large hallway that we simply walked through to get to the bedroom. The bedroom itself was fine and the bathroom was clean and nicely tiled. However, there was absolutely nowhere to place any toiletries etc. I went back to reception and asked Debbie if it was possible to have something to place things on in the bathroom and also if it was possible to have some sort of chair or bench put outside on the decking for me to sit on. Her attitude was very reluctant, and , oh that is so difficult, however, leave it with me and I will see what can be done. She did, in fact, get the things sorted out but it left me feeling like I was being a real nuisance and asking for the almost impossible. I returned to our room and then noticed a large number of black hairs on my pillow (I have light hair). By this stage, along with a number of other little things, I was getting upset. My husband calmed me down by reminding me that we had paid a cheap price, and we must just accept what we had. The meal on Sunday night was superb, we had great service from Richard and had a lovely evening. Breakfast on the Monday was very nice apart from the service which was a little strange. Again we had a lovely meal on Monday night and when I bumped into the hotel manager on Tuesday morning I complemented him on the level of food in the restaurant but did point out to him that I was disappointed with the room (or the "cottage suite" as described on the internet. He agreed with me that the cottages left a lot to be desired but explained that the hotel was undergoing refurbishment and as many people did not like to stay in a separate building the cottages would be the last to be done.

Unfortunately, things went downhill from there on. The meal on the Tuesday night was so bad we asked the waitress if they had a change of chef from the previous two nights. To give him respect, the chef came out to talk to us, he also seemed disappointed at the standard of food we had received. We explained to him that the next day was a very special wedding anniversary for us and we really wanted to be sure we would have a great evening. If he did not feel confidant this was going to happen in the hotel, we told him we would happily go out somewhere special. He assured us he would be on duty the next night himself and would make sure we had a really special meal. Unfortunately this did not happen (as I am sure chef would be able to confirm by the amount of food that was returned on the plate at the end of the meals). There was certainly nothing "special" forthcoming and we had a really disappointing anniversary meal.

The breakfast service continued to go downhill. Brief examples are arriving in the breakfast room and sitting for between five and ten minutes listening to the waitresses chatting in the kitchen whilst nobody came in to look after the guests. Butter dishes on our table that had already been used. Marmalade on our table that had already been used. However, one of the most upsetting things was my husband and I were having a discussion about whether toast was "well done" or lightly done" being a matter of personal opinion and he joked to me that if he had a hotel he would have a toast "shade chart". When I later had a conversation with the hotel manager his initial reply to me was "well whatever we do here we are never going to please you, your husband told my waitress that we should have a shade chart for toast". This is totally unacceptable behaviour. If a waitress is going to eavesdrop on guests private conversations and then repeat them to her manager, she should make sure that she gets her facts straight!!

As to my conversation with the manager. Having initially made me feel about two inches high by saying what he said above, he also tried to defend his receptionist. However, he did later admit that he had heard from other people that she could be grumpy but she was too set in her ways for him to change her now and anyway there was not the budget these days to spend on training like there used to be. He also explained to me that although the chef was excellent he did not have the budget to make the type of food he would like to. As to my other comments his response was basically we are only a three star hotel and what do I expect. (Not hairs on my pillow and pre-used food, for sure). He offered us dinner and drinks on the house on our last night as way of apology, however, this did not in any way make up for our special anniversary holiday being spoilt. Surprisingly that day (our last) all our pillows were changed, we were given soap in the bathroom and a number of issues were dealt with. As I checked out the manager told me that the head housekeeper was on holiday that week and that is why they had housekeeping issues.

Again, I apologise for taking you time. It is difficult to put into writing everything that happened and I really do not want to sound picky. I know we "paid cheap", however, I understood that we had got an early booking discount and not that we had paid for a substandard experience. I also find it unacceptable that the hotel manager dealt with me by first of all being accusatory and secondly being blindly defensive and making excuses for everything. I would appreciate your comments."






THE MANAGING DIRECTOR REPLIED AS FOLLOWS

"Thank you for taking the time to e-mail me with your description of your recent visit to the Huntingtower Hotel. Your description indicates that there were a number of things which did not meet your expectations and I am sorry that this in any way marred your enjoyment of the special occasion; I am pleased however, that on numerous occasions the staff went out of their way to fulfil your requests and thank you for being kind enough to mention this. There do appear to be a number of shortfalls in the standards which are normally associated with the Hotel and I am pleased that the General Manager gave you a complimentary dinner and drinks as a gesture of goodwill. He has successfully managed the Hotel for a number of years and is by nature a welcoming and helpful hotelier. He wishes to apologise if in any way he gave you the impression that he was being accusatory or defensive as this was certainly not his intention. Thank you for contacting me with this matter."