Saltmoore

Nice location for a short break

We enjoyed our stay here but felt that the service was disappointing, took a long time to order and get drinks. Communication prior and during our stay was lacking. We only found out by chance we needed to book a time for breakfast and met a couple who were made to have room service breakfast because they had not booked. We were told we had to go on a waiting list to get a table for dinner then discovered we had been allocated a table because of our package, just confusing!

Short break

Overall our break was disappointing. We were allocated duplex style accommodation, the configuration of which was impractical with just a bed at first floor level and a sitting room bathroom and wardrobe on the ground floor,. Also, we were next door to someone with a dog which barked constantly early on a morning.
The menus for breakfast and dinner were limited and {dinner} expensive.
The garden is superb for a relaxing drink but the bar area is nor somewhere to linger - no comfortable seating/furnishings. Couldn't use the Spa owing to covid restrictions, which we understood but there are some lovely walks around the hotel through the woodlands and towards Sansend and Whitby.

Throughly underwhelming

We booked this hotel as part of our honeymoon and thought that we would be in the lap of luxury. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Bearing in mind that the hotel worked out at 240 per night, a Premier Inn/ Travelodge would have offered similar facilities for a fraction of the cost.

Our room was comfortable and spacious, however there was a clear lack of attention to detail for a hotel of this standard. The bed had long, dark brown hairs on it (my wife is blonde and I have short hair) and the carpet was covered in crumbs and more of the aforementioned hair. When we complained, a very helpful receptionist told us that our room would be cleaned during dinner that evening. It was not. The carpet was dirty throughout our stay.

The spa was utterly lacklustre, with the jacuzzi broken and only the pool and sauna open. The pool was tiny and our image of relaxing by the pool with drink in hand was quickly replaced with noisy children and policy of No alcohol in the spa . While we accept that this is their policy, we could not even have drinks in our robes on the terrace/ near the outside spa area. This is most unlike spa hotels we have visited in the past. One of the biggest draws of this hotel is the spa facilities and it felt like false advertising to us.

Then we come to the food. Evening food at the brassiere was fantastic. Breakfast was quite the opposite. We had to book a time, and then we were presented with mouldy food and a 55 minute wait for a hot breakfast TWICE. I appreciate that in a world post COVID, there are staff shortages, but on the two mornings for breakfast we had to wait an hour after ordering for hot food. Coupled with the mouldy pastries, it didn t leave a very pleasant taste in our mouths, especially as we had been told a time to arrive for breakfast.

When we complained to reception about our experience, all we got told was that they would pass our comments onto management.

Overall, we expected a much higher standard at a hotel of this stature and price, and this only added to our dismay as we had booked this for our honeymoon and expected something special.