Thesquirrels say we have a ‘superb restaurant’, they ‘enjoyed a very comfortable super king size bed, bathrobes and a bath as well as a shower.’ ‘The breakfast was superb with as wide a range of cooked options’ they had ever seen. ‘Wonderful!’ so what is their problem? We believe the TripAdvisor community will look at his two reviews for us and wonder just that, certainly compared to the majority. He has submitted this review three times – it is almost the same as the first review but with its content swapped around. The restaurant review has been submitted twice. He is trying to have a personal vendetta against us, it is very sad.

To answer the points in the review; are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin:
The comment about British Hoteliers is unfair. We purchased Oak Bank and soon entered the worst recession (so they tell us) that this country has ever seen, so some of that time it has been hard just to keep our head above the water. We are hopeful that we are finally starting to see a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. We do use local tradesman/craftsmen to carry out renovation/repairs. We do have regular programs. The carpet on the ground floor is a quality 10 row bespoke and should be in good condition it had only been laid 2 months at the time of thesquirrels visit, with a quality underlay of rubber and felt with fitting this cost £11,500. The flooring in the kitchen was replaced mid March with a cost of £3,400. The purple edged cover plates that are on the tables along with other crockery cost £3,000 at the end of December last year. The corridor leading to different areas of the hotel was re-boarded and or re-skimmed and redecorated with new lighting installed with a cost of £2,200. So not including regular repairs and renewals we have spent £20,100 in three months.

From the 2 emails that have been exchanged Mr Squirrel accepts that their room carpet was not ‘grubby’ it is worn and unfortunately for us that wear makes the carpet not look its best. We have never stayed anywhere that the bathrobes are not either in the wardrobe or on the bed when you first enter the room. How hard would it have been for thesquirrels to say ‘Did you know the hook was missing off the bathroom door?’ The answer would have been no, we didn’t. That was replaced as soon as we read the review. We ask guests normally both verbally but certainly in the conclusion of the guest information to let us know if anything is wrong as it gives us a chance to put it right, that normally means whilst you are here so that you hopefully leave happy. We don’t scratch paint so it is flaking, nor remove silicone from the bath or move bath panels to expose bare wall, but these will be remedied. The comment about the toilet roll holder is true, but no good place to put a toilet roll holder in there – we do intend to move the towel rail that some guests use as a handle to get up and down off the toilet, hence the repair there and we may then be able to mount a toilet roll holder. Could they not have mentioned about the hook on the back of the bedroom door? The furniture in the bedroom may be old but it is not ropey. It all functions just as it should, we’ve checked. We are sorry about the throw on the bed, again, could it not have been mentioned in conversation? We think it was either coffee from the colouring or oil, it certainly wasn’t blood or other bodily fluids and has been cleaned. The wall by the window is dry from the reasonably good weather we had been enjoying, we haven’t managed to find the cause of the damp, which sometimes can just be very strong wind with rain were the water gets through the gaps in the Lakeland stone which is just down to the way these building are built. The TV is a 22” flat screen. We know there are much bigger (and smaller,) but not a bad size for our standard of hotel charging the tariff we do. Which leads us to question why they believe we are only worth a poor for value? At the time of their Dinner Bed & Breakfast stay they paid £75.50 per person per night. The Dinner had a value of £35 per person, £37.95 if you have coffee and petit four but it is all included and breakfast has a value of £15. This leaves £22.55 per person as the charge for the room and as they say they enjoyed a very comfortable super king size bed, bathrobes and a bath as well as a shower. Don’t forget that 20% of all those figures goes straight to the taxman in VAT! (£12.58 per person per night) That room is in the Lake District probably only second to London for the cost of running a business although food costs are higher here. Contractors are more expensive here. (Incidentally these following scores have changed over the three reviews that the squirrels have submitted for the worse.) Poor for value? Poor for service? Average for cleanliness? Poor for the rooms? Really??? The good thing about TripAdvisor normally is that people score relatively by the cost of the stay against their experience. We offer incredible value particularly when you stay with us on Dinner, Bed and Breakfast terms. I’ll speak on behalf of any hotelier who is good at what they do, If there is something wrong tell us – it gives us a chance to put it right. Incidentally that is what it says in the guest information, if no one tells us, unless we see it ourselves, we are not to know. thesquirrels did not mention one, not one and not once the things they have faulted us on in conversation as they ‘weren’t sure what our reaction would be’. We would have taken note and resolved them, some whilst they were here. We are the ones that can’t have a reasonable conversation but they didn’t mention any of the faults??? We still cannot get over that they didn’t even mention about the hooks!

Food: We offer a different menu to any vegetarians staying or dining with us.
We are not really sure what the music reference is referring to whether it is the orchestra/band or the audience, the musicians would play the same piece over and over, over many years. The audience can choose whether to listen/be there or not. There are reasons that we wouldn’t really like to go into with guests and wouldn’t really want to put on TripAdvisor in our Management Response why there was little change in the menu, thesquirrels are aware of those reasons from our emails. However, they stayed with us for four days, if they like food as most of our guests do, irrespective of whether the menu changed at all it would still allow them to eat a different starter, main and dessert each dinner. Would you visit your favourite neighbourhood restaurant 4 nights in a row? or even the best restaurant in the world if you could?

We are offended by the personal comments. It’s like having your job appraisal published worldwide would either of thesquirrels like that? Anybody else? To say we are “a little too reserved and taciturn to run a hotel just shows they do not know us and have no understanding of where Oak Bank was when we took it over seven years ago, where we are now and where we are heading over the next seven years of our tenure. We have even had regular guests contact us by email and phone as they cannot understand how they have formed their impression and come to their conclusion. Their snub: Glynis may have been talking to Simon over the bar one evening, it certainly would not have been about what to watch on TV or her next pair of shoes it would have been about that nights dinner service. So they would certainly not have been ‘ignored’ as they seem to think, we would probably have been talking about arranging guests drinks or wine or about a problem and solving it. We are a little bemused that they felt they could not get a reasonable conversation, we try to ‘read’ our guests, some guests like to be left alone, to the other extent where guests like a conversation any time you see them, to guests who will interject with conversations that are being held with others. If we read them wrongly then we are sorry.

thesquirrels say ‘they might return, if things change for the better’. We know the first time they would be able to return to Oak Bank and The Dining Room is when we are no longer here. We are very sure about that.