DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Great Britain

We booked our wedding at The Majestic Hotel in 2021, eager to celebrate our special day there. Unfortunately, our experience was far from what we had hoped.On our wedding day, the coordinator, who had assured us she would be there, was absent.Instead, a staff member stepped in to oversee the day. Regrettably, this person lacked basic skills necessary for the role. During our starter course, he approached us with incorrect information about guest numbers, embarrassing us in front of our friends and family. This lack of professionalism created an awkward atmosphere during what should have been the happiest day of our lives. To make matters worse, our guests faced abusive behavior from non-hotel guests. When we raised this serious issue with the reception staff, we were met with surprising indifference. Instead of ensuring our guests felt safe, one staff member advised my cousin not to go outside because of the non-hotel guest was smoking outside the same time she wanted to go outside to vape this is entrapment. The reception staff told her to stay inside and vape, which is not only unreasonable but legally questionable due to smoking regulations established in 2007. The situation escalated further when, during our reception, hotel customers improperly entered the venue and began taking food from our buffet. This was a clear violation of the private event we had arranged. As the bride and groom, we had to stop dancing to intervene and manage the situation ourselves with our guests, which was incredibly frustrating and embarrassing. Instead of having staff to handle it, we were left to confront this unacceptable behaviour we were also having people come in and film guests and us on the dance floor. Following our wedding, 24-48 hours later, we had a wave of sickness and diarrhea sweep over our guests. This unfortunate turn of events coincided with our departure for our honeymoon, where my husband became seriously ill. We were inundated with messages from guests reporting their illness and seeking medical attention. It turned a joyous occasion into a nightmare. In response to the outbreak of illness, we reported our concerns to Environmental Health who became involved to investigate the hotel’s food preparation practices. While we were supposed to be enjoying our honeymoon, we found ourselves dealing with the hotel’s negligence instead, juggling concerns about our guests and the worsening health of my husband. I was left with no choice but to make calls back and forth with the hotel, all while trying to manage my own violent illness. Moreover, my interactions with the hotel management were less than helpful. The manager seemed unwilling to engage with me and deflected responsibility, despite the evident connection between the hotel and our guests’ illnesses. This lack of accountability and support during such a critical time was incredibly disheartening. The environmental health then concluded after investigations evidence and information collected would support Norovirus was contracted within the hotel. Although only guests who consumed the same starter fell violently ill, while those who did not consume it were okay. We found this to be quite a coincidence. Please draw your own conclusions from this. This wasn’t a small amount over 80% of our guests were really ill. The manager of the hotel was trying to be rather patronising throughout all this going on he offered a small compensation for the poor customer service only, of which was no where near to the extent of what we experienced. Unfortunately we felt we were going down a dead end and choice to accept the amount rather than getting nothing. We had hoped for a beautiful wedding followed by a wonderful honeymoon, but instead, we were met with neglect and a complete disregard for our wellbeing. I sincerely hope that The Majestic Hotel takes these issues seriously and makes the necessary changes to prevent future occurrences. No couple should have to face such distress on what should be one of the happiest days of their lives. Please see tripadvisor for my...

We came here as there was a conference being held at the hotel. Our stay started off appallingly but finished off nicely.

THE INITIAL SERVICE

When we arrived at 23:30 (trains were delayed) and when we checked in the young lady at reception looked at us like we were speaking a different language (staring at us with a blank look on her face), we had to start speaking to the Assistant Night Shift Manager who just came to reception (I think to sign in). She told us our rooms were no longer available because of a flood earlier...

Our colleague arrived around 21:30 and at that point, he let the reception know we were being held up and was told all our 3 rooms were available.

The Assistant Night Shift Manager then said they will need to call around to see if there is space at another hotel for us. Why did they not alert our colleague and arrange another hotel earlier??

As you imagine, we were not happy, the commotion caught the attention of the Spa Manager who then asked for us to sit down, have some complimentary drinks while we waited for news about replacement rooms.

30 mins later, we were told that a taxi had been ordered and rooms were available at their Hampton by Hilton in Leeds, we had just come from Leeds (our train terminated there because of a delay)!! The Spa Manager told us she would make sure a taxi would be booked for in the morning to transport us back here for the conference and rooms would be available for our 2nd night.

When we arrived at the Hampton by Hilton in Leeds, we had to wait another 30 mins before we were checked in because the Majestic did not phone them, they emailed them about our stay and with incorrect pricing.

To top it off, the Majestic did not order our taxi for the following morning, we called beforehand to check and ended up having to pay for it ourselves. It was a good job they had a taxi available otherwise we would've been late for the conference!

We were eventually booked in the next day at the Majestic but not until around 15:30, our luggage was behind reception from the morning.

THE FOOD

Day 1 conference lunchtime food was terrible. They had 'salt & pepper' calamari which was simply bland like there was not even any taste other than batter. The whitest chicken with tomato sauce, again bland. The only nice food from the lunch was the salad. On contrast, the dinner was delicious, as well as the lunch that was served on day 2 of the conference (much more choice).

There was a constant supply of tea and coffee which was great as we needed topping up regularly. There were also cakes and muffins.

THE VENUE

I would say it is far from being 'majestic', the lobby, bar area and conference room are in desperate need of looking after/renovation/repairs.

The conference room is dull and needs a professional AV team to install adequate cabling... the audio cable to the speaker at the back was affixed by shamelessly using black electrical tape on the walls and across carpet. With the right equipment and trunking, there would be no unsightly cables.

The rotating door in the bar area is a complete joke. The squeaky-dragging noise it makes as it rotates is unbearable to say the least. I wanted to grab some WD40 and at least lessen the noise!

For such a 'majestic' hotel there were no fresh flowers to be seen, just fake and dust-filled flowers. I noticed a succulent terrarium on the table, the fake plants were upside down. Dusty shelves and cobwebs everywhere.

The toilets from the bar area were well-lit, tidy and clean.

There are 2 lifts (opposite each other in the bar area) that fit up to 4 people at a time. I don't feel like it is at all adequate for the number of rooms, they are also very slow.

THE ROOM

Because of the shambles when initially checking in, our rooms were upgraded to King Bed Deluxe Guest Rooms. The rooms were spacious and included all the amenities you'll need to be comfortable, which included bath slippers and robes, ironing board, hair dryer etc.

THE SERVICE DURING OUR STAY

Fantastic... unable to write more as exceeded...

Reading the reviews left on Google, there seem to be a complete mixture of good/very good and bad/very bad. Thankfully, ours is in the good/very good category.

Booked via Booking.com for bed & breakfast to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary at The Majestic, Harrogate, the same hotel that we honeymooned in back in 1979.

Superb city-centre location just a few minutes walk from the centre of town, Royal Baths, Pump House, Valley Gardens, shops, cafes, restaurants and bars.

The hotel is very grand but in need of some refurbishment. Carpets on the stairs, corridors and in the rooms are looking tatty and threadbare in some places with quite a few stains evident. Our room had a large brown stain in front of the bathroom door and another in the corner by the wardrobe. In the corridor outside, a large light green stain in the centre of the corridor and several more brown stains of various sizes and black (gum?) between our room and the stairs. Quite unexpected in a 4-star hotel. Our room was very warm, such that we had the windows open throughout our stay as there is no air conditioning. For a 4-star hotel, this is rather odd. Room and bed really comfortable, but no access on the smart tv to any streaming service and no terrestrial Channel 4 or 5 either!

The en-suite was large and clean but the shower-end (as a wet room) flooded the floor the first time we used it. Aiming the shower head at the wall seemed to do the trick. There were two sets of face cloths, hand and bath towels and robes. However, we were down to just one clean face cloth on day 2 and no clean face cloths on day 3.

Some inconsistencies in housekeeping and some quite evident penny-pinching. A room for two had only two bottles of Harrogate Spring water in the fridge, by itself a nice touch, however one bottle was still and one was sparking. If neither of you likes sparkling water or still you’re down to one bottle per couple. Since neither was replaced for days two and three of our stay, this one bottle of water had to last two people three days. Not good! Only two “ordinary” tea-bags provided, yet lots of UHT milk. Neither tea bag was de-caffeinated, so we had to ask. Directed to Frederick’s bar where we were given plenty and also a jug of fresh milk. Same story on days 2 and 3 with only 2 replacement tea-bags when room was serviced.

Only one small circular table in the room and no waste bin (had to ask for one). No shelf in the en-suite except for tiny ‘alcove’ above the wc. Nowhere to put clean clothes in en-suite either and tiny low-down sink with a monobloc tap that seemed to deliver either warm or hot water, but not cold, fresh water.

All staff were very friendly and attentive - special mentions for Lily and Ashley on reception, Alice in Frederick’s Bar and Thomas in Carters. Nothing was too much trouble for them.

Huge choice at breakfast and large choice of well-cooked food for a “Full English” and not dripping with fat/oil either!

Car park was relatively empty when we arrived at lunchtime on Friday, but soon filled up so could have been a problem later had we gone somewhere and returned. Also, overnight residents get a discounted parking rate of £15 per day (the hotel's own car park is managed by a 3rd-party). Never before have I stayed in a hotel where they have their own car park yet you have to pay to park. Not even at an airport!!

As such, a rather mixed bag review. Basically good with a few negatives. At nearly £200 a night, I rather...