Our stay at Penmaenuchaf Hall Hotel was purely by chance as the lovely boutique hotel in nearby Dolgellau we were staying at was unable to accommodate our third night due to unforseen building works being carried out at short notice. Therefore we received a complimentary upgrade from our standard room (at £170 per night) to a superior room (£200 per night), via the boutique hotels' proprietors. After seeing the website for Penmaenuchaf Hall Hotel, with were happy with these arrangements.
However after we stepped inside the building, about 5pm on a Sunday evening, we were met, after a considerable period of time by a member of staff who was both unwelcoming and unfriendly. She showed us to our room without saying much at all, and then asked, or rather almost demanded to know on the spot whether we wanted to have dinner that evening.
We had been walking up Snowdon earlier that day and were tired, and couldn't give an immediate answer without seeing a menu or anything - there was no offer to show us that. We went down after a short time to look at the menu which seemed rather overpriced. We decided against it, as we wanted food quite quickly and chef wouldn't have been in for an hour, so we drove into town for a light snack, thinking that we could get a sandwich or something later that evening, the documents in the room clearly sated room service was available from 7am to 11pm. Turns out this was wrong, as there was only 1 other couple staying there, the chef went home after dinner and so no-one could provide any food at all. This situation caused a heated conversation which was met with little apology or concern from our wonderful receptionist from earlier. It even seemed to much effort for her to serve us a drink from the bar, as she would have to 'open it up'. After eventually getting our drinks sitting in the main drawing room which does have a nice atmosphere, and admiring the splendid bouquets of plastic lillies, a while later we were presented with a 'bag of mini cheddars and a kitkat' each which was all she could find. There was a 'mild' apology that this was the case, but upon checkout the next day we were charged £2.70, so not very apologetic after all.
The next morning we ventured down for breakfast, and made our way straight from the dining room and sat by the window overlooking the gardens and a stunning view of a frost glazed winter wonderland - it looked beautiful, until we were interrupted from our dreamy gaze by a voice telling us that this room was laid up for dinner and so could not be enjoyed by the (total of) 4 breakfast guests. There was no good morning, no apology for not showing us where we should go, just that we had to come through to the 'breakfast room', a tiny room with no personality at the back of the dining hall, with no view. After making our order, and realising that obviously this staff member had graduated from the same charm school as our hostess the night before, we just started to tuck in to a peaceful breakfast when all of a sudden a hoover fired up in the adjacent hall. After I shut the door, there was no apology for the 'intrusion', and I couldn't be bothered to say any more.
If Penmaenuchaf Hall Hotel doesn't want to be open in the winter / out of season, then they shouldn't be, they should not accept £200 per night from guests if they don't want to treat them as they would anyone in high season. I felt like were were inconveniencing them the whole time we were there.
Apart from that the rooms are extremely old fashioned, they are clean but no mod-cons, no wireless internet, an essential at all hotels these days, internet was charged at £5 for the first hour, there was even a charge to receive an email of about £2 per message! If you are 85+ you might love this hotel, otherwise stay away, the buidling exterior is wonderful, as are the grounds, but inside it is like someone has eaten a stash of 80's interior design magazines and then been sick all over the place. The decor in the rooms is awful, upholstery is stained on the furniture the bathrooms have clearly been in place for 10-15 years, and who puts knitted blankets with sheets on beds anymore? Anyone with common sense could run Penmaenuchaf Hall Hotel 100% better than whoever does at the moment. The 'customer always comes first' is definitely not their mantra.
