sandra b
We stayed 2 nights, with others for a family wedding. Had two disabled wheelchair users in our party, one in disabled room 25 the other in upstairs bedroom.||The disabled room is not easily accessible to wheelchair users. The door into the corridor from which the room is accessed, is immediately in front of the bedroom door. The corridor width is only marginally wider than a wheelchair measured from footrest to handles on backrest. It took 2 able-bodied people to get a manual wheelchair user in and out of this bedroom. The doorway to the bedroom needs widened. Not sure if that would help, possibly not. There was a wet room, and grab handles in the shower area, but no shower stool. |Most disabled people would be unsafe to stand in a shower. The emergency pull chord was fitted to the ceiling approx 2 ft from the bed. Could not be reached if occupant fell, or was seated in wheelchair or short in stature. There was no phone in the room to call reception, or outside for emergency help. There was no furniture with drawers. All medical supplies and medication for our family member had to be left on the dressing table and chair for easy access. Not ideal as it included controlled drugs which should have been hidden away. In short, this room was unsafe in every regard : being able to shower safely, being able to exit in an emergency, being able to call for help and dangerous drugs being open for use by 3rd parties.||Communication and the attitude of staff could be very much improved. Staff, when they were around (not much, from what we saw), were impersonal and sullen. They had a defensive attitude when issues were raised with them which made communication difficult, and made us feel like troublesome guests they'd rather not bother with. The disabled guest with an upstairs room was advised she could store her wheelchair in the lounge downstairs which is normally locked, and safe for storage. (There is no lift). No mention was made at that time, that staff are rarely on hand. At 9.30pm the first evening, this guest looked to park her wheelchair in the lounge and found it locked. No staff were around to open it. Her husband had to bump the wheelchair upstairs. It is motorized and very heavy. He then had to bring it back down next day. When mentioning this to the girl on reception, there was no apology for the inconvenience. The attitude was huffy and defensive, explaining it's a small hotel, reception is not manned 24/7 but they live on site and can be called upon at any time. Said a note was left at reception stating this. It was not visible, and not explained on arrival. There was however a framed message to this effect later that day at reception.||There was no loo brush or waste bin in the bathroom||Very little hanging space for clothes in an open wardrobe. Majority of wardrobe contained ironing board, iron, hairdryer, heater and extra bedding? The only other space for clothes was a narrow shelf at the top of the wardrobe, difficult to reach.||Rooms had TV's. 4 members of our group, all in different rooms were woken through the night, at different times by their TV's randomly switching themselves on and wakening them up. Very creaky floorboards also disturbed sleep.||The wedding reception was held at the hotel. The first course of the meal was brought out while guests were still standing around chatting. This made guests feel pressured to get proceedings started. One of the guests found a shard of clear plastic , around 3cm in size, in her soup. It had a sharp point at one end. The bride went to complain to management, but could only get to see one of the serving staff. She overheard two of the staff discussing the matter - the conclusion being that if an apology had been made, that was okay . No acknowledgement was made of the harm it could have caused if swallowed, and no apology was made to the guest who found it.||The bride had to ask for tea and coffee to be provided when the wedding cake was cut. She was told this was not routinely provided, but said they would bring her a pot of tea free gratis. Any guests wanting tea or coffee would have to pay £3.00. One of the guests stepped in and paid for the tea and coffee for everyone, to resolve this issue.||Breakfast for everyone staying, was included in the room rate fully paid on arrival. There were two entrances to the dining room, both open. On the 2nd morning one of the entrances was locked. It was noticed this was the one closest to the nearest fire escape (the entrance to the hotel).||6 guests, accommodating 4 rooms, two of which were single occupancy, had dinner together on the first night. Room numbers were requested by staff, for billing purposes. On checkout, we were given our bill for dinner. The total cost had been divided equally between the four rooms. An easy way for the hotel to collect their money, but it meant the two single occupants were charged more! No itemized bill was produced.||It's evident a lot of effort has been made to make the hotel more fashionable and up to date, but serious issues need addressing. Reading through previous guest reviews it appears some of the issues raised by us, have come up before. Management and staff need to drop the defensive attitude and be much more welcoming, friendly and accomodating if the investment in this business is to grow. ||There also needs to be more awareness into the needs of the disabled. Perhaps they could all take turns being in a wheelchair for a day, not using their legs? Would give them a better understanding .......||If issues are addressed, this could be a lovely place to stay. As it is currently, it's a bit Basil Fawlty, so perhaps look elsewhere?
