Aphrodites Group — Hotel in Great Britain

We booked two nights away here in the Love Haven Suite for our mini-moon We looked at lots of different hotels in the area and have stayed at other local spa hotels. The hotel looked nice online and seemed to be the perfect hotel for what we were looking for. When we arrived it didn’t look very luxury from the outside however we were not fused about the exterior Our room was a two floor suite with a large bed and sofa style bed downstairs and indoor and outdoor hot tub upstairs alongside the open plan bathroom. I booked our room by telephone, we were undecided on a log cabin or the love haven suite however it was explained that the suite was attached to the hotel but had its own separate entrance... when we arrived this entrance was on the main car park with a full glass door and two windows either side. This meant that unless we had all the blinds closed facing the car park, everybody walking past or arriving or leaving could see straight into our room. Even though it wasn't really appropriate we just left the blinds closed for the stay. On the first night while we relaxed after being out for tea to watch a film/TV there was a loud humming noise started, we worked out that a room in the hotel had their hot tub above our bed. The noise was loud, we had to turn our TV up to hear it. This went on till 10.30pm which it does state in the hotel manual that hot tubs must be stopped by due to the noise. I mentioned this to the receptionist who's response was 'it shouldn't be that loud'. The next day we tried the indoor hot tub, had a TV next to it, however it seemed to have a cap on how loud you could turn it up so you couldn't hear it, I mentioned this the receptionist she just nodded and said yes there is a cap on the volume. So I’m not quite sure of the purpose of the TV unless your good at lip reading. Our last morning, we were woken at 8.30 am by lots of banging and car/van engines. We had not been told at any point that there were any works due to start. My husband looked over our balcony to see a doorway/wall being knocked out on the bottom floor next door to our room. Not long after we opened the front door to see a skip being dropped off literally feet away from our door. This was the day we were due to have spa treatments (bought as a wedding gift) and then leave as it had come to the end of our mini-moon. When I handed in the key I asked the receptionist if the work was planned, she responded with 'what work?’ in shock I just said all the banging outside. She then sat back at her desk and started making a note to say she would speak to her manager but didn't actually answer the question.She said she had made a note and would speak to the manager regarding the problem. On our way back for our treatments we asked the receptionist if she had spoken to the manager and the only response was that the works actually only started at 9am. That was all, no other comment about the other issues, or whether the works where planned or just an issue that had occurred and so emergency repairs had to be done absolutely nothing. At this point we were very un-happy however where supposed to be having a relaxing spa treatment and so just nodded and where left to wait on a sofa. I must say the treatments where lovely and the staff in the spa where fantastic too, however the banging was not dulled by the relaxing music they had playing the corner. Our only point was that we had paid a lot of money with this hotel in the two nights we had spent here, approximated £800 and so expected what we were paying for... relaxing, peaceful and some time to ourselves. This is certainly not what we got. If we had known about the works we could have then made a choice on whether we actually would have been happy to risk the peacefulness of our mini-moon to be dulled a little or to choose somewhere else where we knew we would get what we were paying for. This is not something we would generally be able to do with two small children and full time jobs, it was supposed to be a treat...

Please forgive me for the long review but it has to be told! I wouldn’t like anyone else to waste their hard earned cash! We wasted £738.00

We arrived and to be fair, check in was great. On arrival to the Tranquil retreat which is located approximately half a mile up the road we were a little disappointed by the outside of the building, never mind though. After walking over the very muddy car park and up the stairs to the ZEN suite again the disappointment.. The room was so much smaller than the photographs show. We unpacked, hanging our clothes on a small rail attached to the corner of the room. We decided a nice dip in the hot tub before pre ordering breakfast and heading into town. (Why not, after all this was our first weekend off together since the beginning of the pandemic. On entering the tub, the water had obviously been overfilled ( we are an average size couple) . The water overflowed onto the bathroom floor making it dangerously slippy. Hey ho though, lets put some music on and just relax??? No that wasn’t an option either. The volume had a limit or on so e couldn’t hear the radio because of the noise from the jets!

Right just get out and we will sit on the balcony. NOPE! On opening the door we got soaked due to the ill fitting rain water drainage pipes. Honestly the view wasn’t worth getting wet for either! Pictures to follow . Adamant we would enjoy our stay we decided what to order for breakfast for the next morning. It was then that I realised that all there was to dine from was two backless, plastic, low level stools(they must have been part of the balcony furniture) and a piece of glass attached to the wall. At this point we had just about had enough, we rang to order breakfast and explained our concerns about everything we had noticed so far. Saturday 19th February After very little sleep, due to an awful beeping noise, we later discovered it was the ice making machine, we tried to make coffee using the fab looking coffee maker. Heated the milk, looked for the coffee beans to grind, oops!!! There isn’t any. Once again, never mind, we will use the small sachets and the travel Kettle…. Mmmmmm, only available socked is situated on the floor under the piece of glass, attached to the wall. (DANGEROUS) Breakfast arrived with a knock on the door and two trays were handed to us. MMMMM, lovely, now, where do we put everything? Table or should i say glass was way too small. In fact just about big enough for two plates, cups and a coffee pot! lets get out of here and stay out as long as possible. Sunday 20th February, After turning off the ice machine the night before and much better nights sleep in the luxury bedding? We once again ate breakfast and got ready to leave. This is when i noticed the holes in the pillow ! I had already e mailed the manager, RYAN PARKER on the Friday so as we were checking out I asked if I could speak to him…. NO, have a nice journey home, was the receptionists reply!

It’s been over two weeks since our stay and reluctantly I have agreed to a 25% refund today. I did this because as a very hard working family we do not have the time to be key board warriors and all we ever wanted to do was speak to the manager! These issues could have been resolved in one single phone call. Instead, Ryan refuses to converse.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be assured that if you book the Tranquil Retreat, your views and indeed the building is not what was advertised at our...

The reception staff were polite, lovely and very helpful. The room was lovely, but the bathroom definitly has a strong chlorine smell. The room itself was a little stuffy, and we did not want to open the front door as it faced the parking lot, only the balcony door and one window could open. We had a expirience bath in the suit with a TV on the wall, which did not work, even after calling reception and asking how we turn it on. The information site that we got to learn how to use the hottube and showers and such metioned buttons on the remote that were not present, so it definitely needs updating.

Secondly, I don't believe the bubbles worked, there were three buttons, one for lights, one for jets and a third one which we assumed were for bubbles as there were little holes on the floor of the tub which did nothing, that third button did nothing, with water in the tub and without.

Finally,we did have a steam shower as well, the steam does smell like pipes and damp and the shower took some time to heat up.

The breakfast was okay, i would recommend the pancakes, which come sweet or savory, depending on the toppings which you can choose. However, my partner did order banana to be replaced with strawberries, and we were assured it is a common request and it will be done. The next morning it was not as ordered. We did mention it and it was redone (my partner could still taste banana, so I think they might have scraped it off and replaced it with the strawberry, luckily it is just the flavour he doesn't like, and is not allergic) we mentioned it at reception, and were informed it was noted down, but must have been missed by the chef, which is a concern. I also had the continental breakfast one of the mornings, which consisted of toast, a yogurt, croissant, and a bowl of cereal of your choice. I choose weetabix, which I like, however it tasted a bit sour, and I later sniffed the milk that came with the breakfast and it was sour, eventhough the expiration date was on the 25th of June, and this was on the 22nd of June, I'm not sure if it was stored wrong, or delivered like that, it felt cool to the touch so I assume it was kept in the fridge, but it was off, luckily I did not get ill from it. I haven't raised it with reception as we were already later than I would like for the outing.

When breakfast got delivered to the suit we were asked by the staff if we needed anything (as the room only get cleaned per request, which i have no issue with), we mentioned towels on the first day, and sure enough we got some delivered, two days after we got asked if we needed anything and we asked for some more loo roll, and it never came, we picked some up from reception after our outing. Which is a little bit annoying if you get asked in the first place and told it will be delivered.

The location is beautiful, it is a nice short walk to town, but you will need to walk on the road for a while as there are no walk paths from the property, which isn't as bad as it sound as it's a fairly quiet road, however it's quite windy and I would recommend walking on the left to be seen the best.

Overall we enjoyed our stay, we had a nice holiday and did enjoy the spa area upstairs, especially the hottub. We did enjoy Netflix which got provided and was part of the package. But from our expirience we definitely overpayed, especially with some of the service mistakes, and some of the amenities not working...