The Old Swan Hotel

Nothing special

Reception fine, room average. No steak in the restaurant on our first night,asked if we could order from the bar menu as there was no choice on the restaurant menu. Waiter said he would ask the manager. The manger said no. I asked to speak with the manager was told he was not available,as he walked past us in the restaurant to avoid us. Insisted that I spoke with him,after 20 minutes he appears,extremely rude and unhelpful,eventually said we could order burgers off the bar menu. I really thought this was very unprofessional letting a young waiter deal with this and trying to avoid his responsibilities. Really would not return.

Old Swan, Harrogate

I have never seen so many staff who did not smile. All the staff serving at breakfast were po faced and never said Hello or Good Morning (the staff at the welcome desk were the exception) We were never, in 3 days of breakfasts, offered tea and coffee, we always had to go and request the service, sometimes twice and once, 3 times. Bar staff in the lounge area, again no smiles, more interested in chatting to each other than serving guests!
There were several mess ups with our booking, no table reserved for dinner at 7 on first night so we were told we couldn't sit down til 8.40!! They finally "found" us a table but apart from one coach party we were the only people eating - restaurant was probably 85% empty!
My room was dark, dingy, the windows were filthy and it smelled very strongly of grease. They did eventually did find abother room, but only after being told I would have to pay 150 to upgrade because "we booked through a 3rd party". The request for a twin room was not taken on board and a double room was provided - again blamed on OPL
This is a beautiful hotel that has huge potential but was overall very disappointing.
The comparison to the staff at the Crown and Thistle in Abingdon where we stayed for the same break last year was stark. The Old Swan could definitely learn a few lessons from there, especially for breakfast food and service!

Living in a Hot House

Bad start by being informed a payment of 20 was required for parking. Went to the room and the heat just hit you. The staff must have known as there were t wo desk fans in the wardrobe which was on constantly all night. Next morning the bar of chocolate which my wife left out had completely melted that's how hot it was. The meal on the night was just OK with the soup Good but the fish and chips was very poor value. Breakfast decent although some items in the buffet had stood for too long