Royal Ship, Dolgellau — Restaurant in Wales

Poor communication and disappointing service.

DOG OWNERS - be aware that there is a £15 cleaning charge per night The charge is not stated on their website, it only states dog friendly, which is the reason I booked. I was not informed of this when booking by telephone, nor at check in/check out. However, an extra £30 was taken from my account after my stay and the room was left in the same condition that I found it.

Very disappointed with the service, especially from the manager John. I explained that no one had informed me of the charges and that the room was left in the same condition I had found it. he said that they have to shampoo lino floors after every stay and this is why there is the charge?? I had also booked another room for my friends, we paid the same for our rooms, but mine was smaller and scruffier (marks on walls, scratched doors etc.), I assumed that was because I was in a doggy friendly room and didn't complain.

We were also not offered packed lunches as it states in the room literature if you have to leave prior to breakfast. Yet we had called in advance to say we wouldn't be able to have a cooked breakfast on the first morning, as we were leaving early for a hike and asked if we could store our lunches in the fridge overnight. Not very good communication at all.

I asked John if I could have one of the charges refunded as a good will gesture, he refused and said it was up to me to read the T&Cs. I had a look at the T&Cs on the website after the call and there is no mention of the charges. I complained that I was not told at booking nor during my stay that £30 would be taken from my account, he apologised for that but was not prepared to refund me half. He also said 'go and slag off us in a review if that makes you feel better'.

Appalling customer service. What a shame as Dolgellau is a lovely town, but I would not recommend staying at a hotel where management feel they can talk to people in that manner.

** In response to John's reply below. I do not appreciate you saying that I would give a bad review if you didn't refund me. That is categorically not what happened, I said I would leave a bad review because I was not informed of your policy of a £15 a night charge at any point and because I was unsatisfied with your response.

I was surprised by your unwillingness to refund one of the night's charges, when you had apologised for not informing me of the charges before taking the money. That shows that you understand a mistake had taken place. You also said that at check out someone should have checked my invoice with me. That didn't happen either, in fact there was no around to give the key to and I had to ask. The person that took the key didn't ask how my stay had been.

I rarely write a bad review, I much prefer writing positive reviews, but paying guests are entitled to say if they are unhappy. That is not a misuse of a review service. This is a genuine complaint that you refused to help with. Blaming the customer, rather than taking accountability really isn't the...

Arrived mid afternoon, checked in and went to our room. We live in Portugal, staying in the UK for a while so had quite a lot baggage/clothes, disappointed to find only 3 hangers in the room so I went to reception to ask for some more " we haven't got any " was the reply. Back to the room to find there was no Wifi, downstairs again and I asked when it would be on again, " it's not working, don't know when it will be on again ". Back in the room and superficially it looked OK, but looking closer the carpet in the bedroom was filthy around the edges and the bathroom it was the same story, they obviously do not clean properly, looks like a wizz around the middle and that's it. Dinner in the restaurant was good, no complaints other than a bottle of Chilean merlot was £24, I could get a much better one here in Prtugal for around 3-4 euros. So to bed and on waking the following morning there was still no Wifi, I phoned reception on my mobile to speak to the Manager name of John and asked when the Wifi would be back on, " the routers broken, it will be 2 weeks " I asked why it was going to take so long to be told " I have not got the time to speak to you as we are doing breakfast ". Needless to say I thought his attitude was very unfriendly and I confirmed I would contact Robinsons head office regarding his complete lack of any customer service. Breakfast was also good, they must have a decent chef at least, however I was asked by a member of staff to go to reception and was confronted by John who asked us to leave because of MY attitude. I explained the boot was on the other foot and it was him with the problems we encountered, I even offered to show him the dirty bedroom/bathroom, he refused ! Being asked to leave saved us the trouble of walking out despite having booked for another night, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, we drove up into North Wales and found a fabulous hotel with a spotless bedroom and shiny bathroom and incredible professional and friendly staff, and the Wifi was perfect and yes you guessed it....they had...

This was my second stay however quite disappointed this time. Two rooms booked and a substantial amount spent on a 2 night stay (over £700). We had a small family room and a double room.|Both rooms were quite dusty around the furniture and plenty of cobwebs around the rooms and lighting fixtures. There was a blown bulb in the double room and in the family room there was a blown bulb in the bathroom above the shower.|I appreciate this is an old building, however the water pressure was quite low and the temperature of the water fluctuates all by itself. Especially not good when showering children as you’re not able to figure out when the burning hot water was coming or the freezing cold water. Not a great experience.|In the double room whenever the water was used or toilet was flushed the pipes were making an awful noise - a groaning noise that lasted about 20/30 seconds each time.|Fans were provided and they were full of dust - having dust flecks being blown onto us was not great.|The double room was not cleaned after requesting a clean and no clean towels left for the next day.|Most of the staff were friendly and welcoming however there was an occasion where I parked in the car park to drop my family off for ease (a cancer patient and children) a female staff member came storming out almost yelling at me “you can’t park there that’s a reserved spot” It was the way she approached all bolshy and rude. I explained that the cancer patient was feeling unwell and I was just dropping off and was going to move (there was a road barrier in the spot) as I could tell there were no spaces to park. She then changed her tone towards us but the damage had already been done. Obviously there was no apology for the assumption that I was just going to dump my car in a space that I clearly could see was not usable.|Unfortunately due to this I will not be booking...