Derwent Manor Hotel, BW Premier Collection

My rating would have been no more than one star had it not been for the efforts of the young staff. The key problem was the almost total absence of even the most basic concerns, including the safety of guests. I stayed for 4nights - 26-30 June - in room 306 and I was extremely disappointed in the care and attention that had clearly not been given to my room. Even the basic elements were missing so that, as the room was in an outhouse building, no consideration had been given to installing telephones or even leaving the phone number of Reception in the room. This meant that I had to go across to the main building to register anything with Reception. The bathroom was the other main cause of concern. There was no toilet brush, no toilet roll holder and the worst area was the shower stall. There was mould all around the base of the stall, grouting was missing but the unforgivable omission was the provision of neither a slip proof shower floor nor a grab handle. These omissions led to a quite serious accident that I suffered on leaving the shower on my last morning. I found myself falling and, to protect my left hip replaced only two months previously, I managed to twist myself round to fall on my right side. My hip was OK but I cracked my skull open when I hit the tiled wall. This, serious as it was, could have been a lot worse, for example leaving me unconscious, but happily that did not occur as I had a 250 mile drive ahead of me. I reported this accident, as I had reported the fall I, and one other member of the party, had suffered on exiting the coach in the rain. This brings me to the more positive aspect of the stay, the helpfulness and willingness of the staff. They had already shone by doing their “proper” jobs well but the reaction of the young staff, when they saw the result of my fall, was total sympathy. Had it not been for them, this review would have been the one star. I sincerely hope that the owner and management of this supposedly 4 star hotel will take notice and, above all, take action to ensure the safety of future guests less

An amazing luxurious hotel in stunning setting. Food very tasty and beds very comfortable. Customer service could have been better from some staff but most staff were helpful and friendly. Gym was good but could benefit from air conditioning. Bring a light for make up as lighting in rooms not great for make up. less

First visit to this part of England, lovely break , plenty of places to visit and this was a Great base to do it from, lovely hotel set in large grounds, very genuine staff who went above and beyond, lovely food from a good menu . Great value overall ! less

We were booked in for a 2 day stay 29 - 31 May 2022 but due to Covid had to cancel a week before. Hotel refused to move the booking to a future date. Bad show especially when doing our best to avoid passing Covid onto others and also giving a weeks notice. So very much a case of buyer beware. less

My partner and I had booked this hotel back in March for a 2 night midweek break. After a long drive we were looking forwarding to unwinding. As we reached the top of the drive there was a massive marquee and as we got nearer the building we saw several funfair rides to the rear of the car park. At reception they had our booking as B&B when we had booked DBB. After checking how much we paid, the receptionist corrected it and booked our evening meal. The hotel itself looked lovely inside. We asked the purpose of the marquee and we were informed that it was student grad ball week. She told us that the bar would be rowdy, but that they had security and we could sit in the restaurant for as long as we liked. We were in shock so headed to our room to digest this information. Our room was on the ground floor and at the end of a corridor with an external door next to our room that was wedged open and led to the marquee. The marquee was outside our bedroom window and we could here people talking. We decided to go for a wander and met 2 men storing a drum kit in the room next to ours. We headed to the bar, which was quiet as the students hadn’t arrived yet and had a chat with a couple of lovely bar staff. The young female was extremely apologetic and they told us that the students leave the hotel around 2am, the drum kit was for the following evenings event and that the fire alarm had been set off at 1am during the previous nights event. After digesting this information we headed back to reception where we spoke to a manager who wasn’t interested. She told us that the marquee would stop at 10.30pm and the fireworks and funfair at 11pm. She then told us that the students weren’t allowed in the bar. We said we would have dinner and assess whether we would leave in the morning. I went to the bar to ask for an ice bucket and a couple of glasses for our room and was met by a wall of students who had now arrived. There was around 50 of them in the bar area and I had to fight my way through them, saying excuse me several times. By this point I was extremely angry with the hotel and their mismatch of information and went back to reception. I told the receptionist that the bar was full of students and asked her to refund our 2nd night as we would be leaving in the morning. We would never have booked if we had known as we were coming away for some relaxation, When I returned to my room, reception called my partner and asked him to come down. She offered to transfer us to another hotel 15 mins away (Slaley Hall) for 2 nights DBB and would cover the difference in price. We took the offer, we’re given a reference number to check in at the new hotel and she reserved dinner for us. The bar staff and reception were more helpful than management, really not impressed, We arrived at our new hotel to find a casino van and a circus van in the car park and a sign at reception saying they were hosting a 2 dat Grad Ball….. The story continues in my review of Slaley Hall. I have contacted Best Western to complain and have asked Slaley Hall for a refund, I won’t hold my breath. less