An extremely disappointed stay at your hotel. We arrived at 1350 after driving from Yorkshire with the ‘usual’ Friday traffic congestion on the motorways. At the Reception, my reservation could not be found. I was then asked whether I was a Priority Club member to which I answered yes, a mistake! I was then told that my room was not ready and do not know when my room would be ready, bearing in mind that the published and confirmed check in time was 1400. At 1430, I went back to the reception when I was given my key entry card. I had to request a second key entry card for my wife.
The view from my bedroom was ecstatic, it was a brick wall. Looking downwards, I was confronted by several large mechanical devices. Looking upwards, it appears that somebody had hanged a mop head to dry.
It appeared that a hole had been neatly drilled and re-covered under the dressing table. Further along, trailing cables from the television and other equipment were all over the floor. Beside the wardrobe was a trouser press covered in dust. The light comes on, but the equipment does not warm up.
There was the sound of a constant flow of water throughout the night, we were unable to sleep. During the second evening, we investigated and noticed that the noise was coming from the central heating pipes. After turning the radiator off, the noise disappeared completely.
When we checked out, I was asked what drinks we had from the room fridge bar as the bottles were disturbed. We did not have any although we had opened the fridge door through curiosity. The interior smelt like the interior of the kitchen sink pipes which had not been sanitized for years. The bar fridge felt warm and the interior appeared filthy.
The breakfast on Saturday, November 1st from 0850 was terrible. There was a pile of cold, soggy toast by the toaster which obviously had broken down. If the Duty Manager had visited the nearest 24 hour supermarket and bought two four-slice toasters at £15.00 each, the problem would not have arisen. The replenished bacon piled high in the dish was stone cold! The sausages were inedible and the scrambled eggs were waterlogged. I had the ham from the cold buffet, another disaster. The ham was of poor quality injected full of water and other preservatives. There were loads of staff, wandering aimlessly, we were offered coffee 20 minutes after sitting down.
On the evening of Saturday, November 1st, we went to the hotel restaurant for our dinner at 1930. We were met by a young man whose immediate greeting was ‘did you book?’ One would expect a greeting of ‘Good Evening…’ before any other utterances. My wife then interjected and asked whether we can book immediately, bearing in the mind that the restaurant was not even 1/3 full! We were told to return at 2030.
We went back to the restaurant at 2010 and the same young man told us that we were too early and we have to wait at the bar. The restaurant had the same number of people as at 1930 and still less than 1/3 full. We had to wait at the bar for 15 minutes before we were served. Apart from the hotel residents, guests from a wedding reception and a 21st birthday party were queuing for drinks. Despite the overwhelming numbers waiting to be served, there was only two bar staff, PLUS, what appears to be a duty manager stopping behind the bar to serve one lot of drinks and disappeared very quickly. The costs of several vodka with lime and soda, glasses of wine and several pints of draught lager were definitely not worth the wait!
At 2030, we were told that our table was ready. The restaurant was still 2/3 empty like since 1930 when we first arrived. Our food orders were taken at 2050 and our starters arrived at 2110. The carrot and coriander soup tasted and look like a tasteless and bland creamy tomato with onion soup. At 2150, our main courses arrived, by now we were exhausted and our hunger had turned to frustration and disappointment. The breakfast on Sunday, November 2nd was better. The hot buffet was professionally presented and all the breakfast meats were hot. Unfortunately, the service needs to be drastically improved. Again, loads of staff, but wandering aimlessly.
The quality of the experience of our stay was exceptionally poor at this hotel. We have never experienced any of the above at other Holiday Inn branded hotels. At other Holiday Inns we have always received courteous service, equipment well maintained and functioning and, bedrooms never facing a brick wall.
