Avoid even on a 'deal" hotel is dirty and very noisy.
The entrance to the hotel, the grounds and the communal areas are absoloutly stunning. We arrived and thought fantastic place to spent my 30th birthday. We were very wrong.
For complete transparency we got a 5pm voucher for dinner bed and breakfast for £220 in an executive superking room - not worth even half that.
When I booked I asked for a river view they said no problem put note on account for when rooms allocated 24hrs before arrival. Husband emailed to say it was my 30th birthday for river view weeks before arrival never responded. Checked in.. given room 20 at car park. Dissapointed. Rooms had Stainded chairs, wallpaper coming off, dirty vents, handles falling off. I phoned reception and asked to be moved to river view was told that's the room I was allocated and explained I'm a light sleeper and the car park causes concern to be woken up they said they'd get back to me within 10mins. They did and moved us across to room 25? Or 26 I can't remember. River view. Better view room exactly the same except has a coffee machine now. Still not in the best of conditions. Stains on carpets wallpaper coming off. Bird poo on the windows etc. Not exactly 4 star never mind executive rooms. Anyway we got ready and I went to my pre booked hot stone massage.
I arrived to the spa reception girl was lovely and helpful filled out some forms and was taken to relaxation room. Honestly the girl on the desk was so polite and professional I thought right this will be fab. Taken to the " relaxation room" LOL it was a silent room next to the changing rooms. Now every spa I've ever been in usually has lavender diffusers, spa smells, spa music throughout darkened rooms.. you know relaxing. This was dead silent room no smells etc so I lay on the bed it was nice enough. About 2 minutes later I heard the screaming and shouting kids from the changing rooms not so relaxing. 15mins later the girl came for my massage - thank christ for that.
Girl who did my massage was very polite and professional I didn't catch her name she was very good at what she does. Again the room was OK. Not quite the 4 star spas I'd been to in past but was fine. Again no diffuser or smells in the room and no music. Girl then went away and I lay on the bed and she entered back in with music coming from her mobile phone - I mean how armature hour for a 4 star spa... I got the hot stone massage and she dropped the stones a few times again fine mistakes happen. When it was finished and I was suppose to be sitting relaxing she was tidying up the room while I was in there not very relaxing at all. But the massage was good overall the experience is poor overall but she was good at giving a massage her environment let it down.
Onto the actual spa, a pool, hot bed things, a steam room a outdoor jacuzzi, and a sauna. The outdoor jacuzzi was great big enough great views lovely decking around it very nice. The sauna and steam room were small but did the job. The rattan furniture outside is well past its life as one chair I went to sit in has a hole right in the middle of it... again poor for a 4 star. Also lack of seating outside for how many people were there.
The pool had swimming lessons on I assume or just loads of kids.. not relaxing. There's a theme hear its defo not a relaxing spa that's for sure. It's a hotel with a pool and a steam and sauna room overlooking the pool it shouldn't be classed as a spa because spas are relaxing and this isn't.
Back to hotel for dinner reservations at 730.
So far a few minor issues in spa but nothing to complain about same for the room not the cleanliness I'd expect for any hotel but just in dire need of a refurb so didn't say anything.
Off to dinner we went. Restaurant staff superb, dinner was lovely I'll attach some photos of that too. We asked if we could upgrade from the 2 courses the voucher got us to 3 courses and charged the extra 5 odd pounds to the room. No problems at all doing this. Only thing I'll say is there are limited, very limited options for food and we sat down at 730 to " there is no pie and there's no beef". I got the chicken no mention of it being on the bone. But nevermind I managed to get it out and eat it anyway usually I'd of turned it away as i dont like meat with bones at all the bones give me the boak but didn't want to cause any hassle. We had given the girl all 3 courses at once when ordering. After main she asked if we wanted desert.. we just looked at one another thinking we had already ordered it but not wanting to cause any embarrassment for her or us we just politely said yes please. She brought the menu over " no cheesecake left" 😬 that's what I'd ordered.. so .I had to pick something I didn't like and ask for ordinary ice cream instead of nuttie ice cream. Took order came back 5mins later " oh I'm sorry I had you down as cheesecake already and I totally forgot , the chefs already put some aside for you " excellent service by the chefs and I got the cheesecake in the end. Delicious. Finished our meal happy enough and enjoyed the food.
Back to the room we go. Just had my massage a and spent some time in their ' spa' nice dinner nice and chilled up to the room to relax... the guests next door had other plans.
The noise from the rooms is an absoloute joke, I've stayed in many cheap hotels travellodges etc and many beautiful 4/5 stars I have never ever experiences anything like this before . It was as if they were in the room with us. Shouting, laughing, talking, stomping about.. christ knows what they were doing but there was at least 4 of them in a double room and they were clearly enjoying themselves at our expense. 11 o'clock came and the noise was getting louder I phoned reception struggled to get through with the room phone tried several times asked for advice can they either ask them to tone it down or well I don't know. They asked their room number I told them and someone came up within 10 mins and moved us rooms.. we got out of bed changed and gathered our things and moved downstairs we hoped out the road to get some sleep it's now about 11.30pm.
Room number 3. Directly below the room we just complained about.. honestly what an oversight from the hotel. A complaint of noise so just move us from next door to down below it. Ridiculous and amature. Literally sat on chair in the room within 2 minutes it sounded like elephants preforming in.a circus above I called again. Can't get through, noone answers their phones after 11 it seems. Tried several times from the room phones I ended up using mobile phone and got through eventually asked for them to come again and we needed move elsewhere. Now room number 3 was dirty. The carpets were stained the wallpaper was coming off at bits the chairs all scrapped and just so run down. The girl came andsaid she cannot keep moving us because the rooms had to be cleaned after we went in them even if it was for 5 minutes- I find this hard to believe due to the cleanliness of the 3 rooms we had seen at the hotel so far. Anyway the girl said unless she can hear it then there's nothing she can do. I have no doubt they could hear us complaining about them as I heard them talking, their phone calls, them laughing moving etc. So when she was there they were quiet as soon as they left the noise started again. We got the girl to stand for 10mins to hear it- how embarrassing they dont believe you and make u stand in a noisy room before moving you as if we wanted to be unsettled at midnight in a hotel Ridiculous. Anyway she heard them and went away to phone her manager as no management on site at night- left to night porters to deal with complaints is a joke. The girl was nice enough but clearly well out of her depth shocking position to put their staff in. Felt so sorry for that girl not her fault and we made sure to say to her our frustration isn't at her but the hotel. I basicsly said they either move us away from the people we are complaining of or I was going to leave it was that bad. She came back and moved us to room 35. Down a couple of stair cases in a different part of the hotel. By this time its about 12.30am we are exhausted and so angry at the whole situation.
Room number 4 of the evening. 100% not been cleaned. There was 2 bottles of water in every other room. This room had 1. It also has a dirty used robe in one of the cupboards ( pictures below) hair on the cabinets, black Mold or stains or whatever on the pillow, the toilet units well dont even know how to explain photos below. The floor board every single one creeked and need replaced 2 stairs inside the room. It was absoloutly discusting. Room 4 or 4 that are dirty. We couldn't be bothered with the embarrassment to phone.again we were so tired we just went to bed. Worst nights sleep I've ever had not sure if this was a basement not usualy used room or whatever but executive it 100% wasn't. The beds are so uncomfortable but the filthiest place I've ever stayed in but that's not even my complaint the complaint was the noise. Now hAd we been abroad the noisy party would get 1 warrning then be chucked out instead we had to go through 4rooms to get away from it. Honestly the hotels a disgrace.
Breakfast this morning was OK. The man with the beard who sat us down and explained the buffet his customer service was exceptional he had already heard about our nightmare night but still asked how we slept. And when I said " I'm glad to be going home" he was so polite and attentive he was superb.
Breakfast was fine selection, hot and cold etc. Well luke warm but typical of travellodge style buffets. Wouldn't be bothered by it if rest of stay was nice. Most things need another 5 minutes cooking but again personal preference. Man mentioned above wished us safe travels home on existing breakfast. Great member of staff what we expect in a 4 star.
Then to check out. Before the hotel reply to this saying they did x y and z I can't reply to their reply so I'll tell you the truth. We had paid £50 deposit on check in. We the added my hot stone massage and 2 beers and a lemonade and 2 courses to the bill totally £72. They kept the £50 and asked for us to pay the final £22.
We said we aren't paying a single penny more for the stay the girl on the desk was mortified and the manager I presume was stood on a laptop took over and asked us why. We explained it was the worst night's stay at a hotel we had ever experienced. His passive aggressive attitude didn't help the situation tbh. He had an excuse for everything. No ownership for a management position. He basically said even though the hoyel wasnt close to being half full we paid by a voucher and in turn were only getting the pick of a few rooms ... the rundown dirty 220 quid a night rooms it seems. He made it very clear he wasnt interested in us as we got a 5pm voucher seems he would maybe have bothered had we paid 400+ for a suite or something. No way to treat guests at the end of the day the hotel put the deals on 5pm.com to get guests to come. We can see why now. We said we weren't paying our bill we weren't paying a single penny more. He agreed in the end to refund our £50 deposit and waive the bill. Now the hotel did not offer to do this we fought for it. They aren't interested in there guests at all. We were told a handover would be done and reception would be informed for check out - he hadn't a clue what we were on about so much for a hand over. So if we hadn't said anyruing they'd of wanted the extra money and nothing would have been done or said. Shocking from a hotel nevermind a 4 star.
Honestly the outside of the hotel and the reception area are stunning. The rooms are so far gone it's discusting. But once ur in the rooms they already have your money they don't care.
The staff did their best with our complaint in the middle ofthe night but not equipped for it atall need more leadership in.the evenings to deal with issues instead of leaving it to porter who hasn't the authority to do anything- her words.
Avoid at all costs a well a truly waste of £220.
Im capped at 10 photos to include to included some photos of the dirty rooms and a picture of the 2 main courses at the restaurant. less
James Anderson, General Manager at Gleddoch Hotel, Spa & Golf, responded to this review
Dear Sk1245y, - Thank you for taking the time to get in touch. I’m sorry to hear that your stay and experience with Gleddoch hotel wasn’t good. We try hard to make every experience positive, but sometimes we miss the mark. Thank you for letting me know about issues mentioned. I’m going to talk to our team and hopefully resolve the issues. Please know that this is not normally how we do business, we want all customers to feel welcome and appreciated, and we’re sorry that this didn’t happen for you. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention. Regards James