The Burgoyne — Hotel in Great Britain

While this review might appear negative it is not meant to be. While it is critical of some aspects of the hotel it is positive about others. However, our visit was enjoyable and we would go back.

There are a lot of positives about this hotel and it is a work in progress. What the service lacks in polish is made up for with personality.

On entering the hotel one is confronted by a sea of high gloss, cheap-looking laminate flooring: nothing about this signals quality!  This flooring is already scuffed and will quickly deteriorate with wear to look shabby but not in a shabby chic way! While the hotel is currently in the process of being refurbished many of the completed decorative finishes are a bit on the rough side!

The colourways and patterns of the fabrics are, to say the least, eccentric. But not in a quirky playful way: just in an odd way. The contrast between the busy animal print stair carpet and the wallpaper was painful to my eyes. The soft furnishing in the lounge lacks subtly and it is a challenge to one's visual senses. The lounge bar, hall and dining room just look like a mishmash of odd colours and patterns, where someone who believes themselves to have design flare has tried to experiment but failed. Badly. To the point that it is so vulgar it has a certain charm.

While a diss-coordinated design concept might appear simple to execute it is much harder to pull off successfully than a unified design concept. Many people believe they have a "flare for design" though few actually have! The person behind the design of this hotel is one of those people who think they have!

For me, the design does not work but taste is subjective, though recognising bad taste is mostly universal. With all that said we are certainly not the target audience that will make this hotel a success and the visual style cues did not spoil our visit, though it did not enhance it either. However, it did provide a point of discussion, debate and some mirth.

It would be really handy to have some way of knowing when a guest walks through the front door so that they are not left hanging there wondering whether they will be served, as there is no natural area to migrate to. The bar is very small and not a natural focal point and the lounge does not look inviting. Given we were not greeted on entering the hotel it would have been very easy for us to have just left.

It is not clear if the bar tables, which are mounted on "bling" gold pedestals with cheap-looking Formica tops are permanent or if they are borrowed from a banqueting suite until later in the refurbishment. What is clear, is the pedestals are collecting dirt and detritus and could do with a good clean and polish. These tables are also a bit big for two people but too small for four, so they take up room that could be better utilised to create more guest space in the bar area.

The use of a waiter tray to serve drinks to a table not only saves time by reducing the number of journeys between the table and the bar and it looks more professional. Also, when serving two identical drinks it is essential to use identical glasses. It looks incongruous using odd glasses. Though of course, this might be part of your operational standard.

Courtenay possesses an innate skill set that it is not possible to train in: she has natural warmth, empathy and a desire to please. She is attentive and responsive and thinks. All of this means she will be an essential team member and will grow with a bit more training. Look after and nurture her and you will likely have an excellent loyal and productive long-term employee there.

Simon was professional and engaging taking the time to introduce himself when he could so easily not have bothered.

Our food was well presented and represented good value for money. From the taste of my scampi, I believe the temperature of the oil it was cooked in was a bit low and it would have benefited from being a bit hotter!

Good luck and once again we fully appreciate décor is a subjective matter and that we are too old fogies so...

Unusual and interesting. Marketed as a luxury 5 star hotel it is more akin to a dated bnb or even better Fawlty Towers. The building itself and its outlook at the top of the village over the green and surrounding Hills is absolutely stunning. The downstairs lounge is well appointed and exactly what I was expecting, the bar good except the tables a little crammed in, made more to feel like an after thought. The restaurant is lovely, very welcoming and warm. Thats where the good things end. We were in room Thwaite, you can tell it was once upon a time probably a lovely room. Probably when Fawlty Towers was on television, it looks like it hasn't been updated since. Maybe a new link of paint but everything else was so dated, the furniture would be better if they were actual antique rather than the dark 80s mock mahogany. Bed comfy, pillows terrible. Bathroom across the hall, which wasn't a problem, in fact a bit of a fu quirk in an old building, we had robes and only one other room in that part of the corridor. Unfortunately that too looked like something even my Grandma would say is dated. I haven't seen a mirror light like that since 1995. Plastic lino for flooring and badly lamented notices warning of hot water. Ha, water did not get hot and was from the cheapest of electric showers. I understand plumbing in old buildings can be temperamental but the lack of effort for a good shower for the an expensive hotel that's apparently 5 star is laughable. The saving grace of the room is the window seat. It was beautiful sitting there in the evening with a hot cup of tea (cheap, tacky cups) watching the world go by. Dinner service was interesting, the nice and friendly lad serving used the word sir more than I'd ever heard the word in my lifetime, he'd be better off shirking the formalities and just act natural, especially as he didn't seem to know about the food or wine he was serving. It would have also made less of a contrast for when the manager stomped over to interrupt him to shout at him in front of us and other guests. Like Basil and Manuel. At least the lad was nice and trying his best. The manager on the other hand was better off as a land lady at the local. Especially shocking was the next day when we were having breakfast and she kicked our dogs bed, my coat that I hadn't realised had fell off the chair, out the way so she could sit at our table to give our dog treats (much appreciated, but we could do it ourselves, you could have done it standing, or waited til after) all the while shouting over us to talk to the next table. The food we had at dinner was delicious if expensive, my partners lamb especially good. Breakfast on the other hand... I considered having porridge and wish I had but thought I'd go for a fry up as a big walk ahead, I thought about asking for extra. The smallest portions of average food I've ever seen. Actually the black pudding was the best I ever had. The Berry mix I had was out of a frozen bag and had only just defrosted. A five star establishment should surely have fresh berries? My partner had eggs benedict and had shell in each of his eggs. The problem with this place is that if it charged half the price and marketed itself as 3 star it would be brilliant and the managers laid back attitude would be more fitting. But it's not, it cost a fortune and is supposedly 5 star, hence the scathing review. Either lower peoples expections or spend some money on the place to get...

I stayed here for 2 nights, over a weekend, for a family gathering. I was really looking forward to the 5* experience, as advertised on the hotels website. My first impressions of the hotel room were fine, once I got over the height of the beds, there is actually a step in the bedroom to aid with this. However, as the room was set up as a twin and the individual beds were quite narrow, the only way I felt secure in the bed, was to put the mattress on the floor. I didn't ask for a change of room as it had been commented, when I checked in, that the hotel was fully booked. The ceiling in the bathroom was peeling in multiple areas and there was an area of skirting board, just inside the bedroom, that was missing. My duvet was not a duvet, but a mattress topper. I was assured, when I checked out, that no one else had passed comment about these issues and therefore the hotel staff were oblivious. So if you're in the Muker room, check these things out to see if they have been rectified. When I raised these issues, with Renee, the manager and said that it was not what I expected from a 5* hotel, she replied that it was only the restaurant that was 5* and not the rooms themselves.... well that's not what the website states! |I had tea, in the lounge, not even a crumb of a biscuit to go with it. Oh and if you're on the top floor don't expect any portering, you'll carry your case yourself. |All things considered, it was the accommodation that let the place down, as the breakfast was first class and the housekeeping staff were lovely. Dogs are allowed, which is great, but take your own bowls, as none are provided in the room, even though it's £15 per night for dogs. I stayed there, with 2 other couples who had been before, their comments were that the place was not as it used to be and would not return again. This review should not be a surprise to the management, as I did convey my disappointment and the reasons as to why,...