We booked this hotel as an affordable luxury on the first night of a walking holiday (spending the rest in B&B's). I have to say I was a little dissapointed.
To be fair, the hotel was OK. We got the room through Octopus Travel for about £80 B&B (I think the rack rate on a weekend is £120). For what seemed on the website to be a fairly upmarket hotel, this seemed a great deal. The room was clean, the bed was comfy, the multi-jet shower was great!
The main gripe was the temperature, although I did note other reviewers' complaints about the rooms being too hot, I have to admit I chose to ignore this thinking people were being fussy! However these comments turned out to be very accurate. I was awoken in the dead of night feeling extremely hot, and found the room was also airless and stuffy. I eventually opened the window, after resisting for an hour or two because I thought it would be noisy. I found actually it was not too bad and slept well for the rest of the night.
Other little disappointments included that the shower cubicle had mould growing on it and the paint was peeling off the ceiling. These are only small things but also things you would think the owners would easily be able to fix and make the rooms feel more cared for and less worn out. I was also disappointed that the Playstation in the room (another silly little reason for choosing that hotel over others!) was not free of charge (unless you bring your own games with you - perhaps they should make this clearer on the website?).
Finally I did think the breakfast was a bit cheap. I think the buffet style serve yourself thing is fine for a Holiday Inn but for a hotel of this supposed calibre I'd expect something more. It was not made clear to us on arrival that you could order items like porridge or boiled eggs or kippers, which is a pity as I'd rather have had that than the standard fry-up and congealed scrambled eggs that have been sitting there for half an hour. Had I paid for one of the suites, I would have been very dissapointed indeed, and wished I had gone to the Malmaison instead (still the best hotel breakfast I've ever had!).
We didn't use the spa as we forgot our swimming gear, and we also did not eat in the restaurant. The bar was very pleasant and not too busy.
All in all, though this hotel was OK, I don't think it was worth the money and I doubt I would stay here again.









