Down Hall Hotel, Spa & Estate

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Nice hotel let down by extremely poor restaurant menu and service. Choice of six starters seems good but four were seafood, only one vegetarian option same menu two nights running Waited an hour for food on both nights no sign of management. Restaurant decor out of keeping with hotel, cold and harsh reminiscent of staff canteen

Doing their best

It is possibly not fair to assess a place in time of Covid. The staff, somewhat paired down I imagine, did their best under very difficult circumstances and made us feel welcome. The Spa was not in operation, one of the chief draws to Down Hall.

The room was comfortable, clean and well maintained but no bottled water in the room? One would expect that in a hotel of Down Hall standard.

The breakfast and dinner were OK. Nothing wrong but a very limited choice and of average quality. We ended up choosing the Bar Menu which gave more variety and was much tastier than the limited Set Menu.

The grounds are delightful and well maintained.

I imagine Down Hall gets most of its business from Conferences and large Weddings, both not happening now. The stall are doing their best and were helpful though the wait to be seated and for orders could be very long indeed. Too few staff to mount such an operation but I think the Management are trying to keep going until times improve. Some nights a Service Charge was added to the Dinner bill other times it wasn't. All very haphazard.

So if you want a Spa, gourmet food and very prompt service then don't go to Down Hall at the moment. However for a relaxing break with pleasant surroundings and a staff doing their best under very difficult circumstances and at the good rate offered by Off-peak luxury, it's probably worth a couple of days

Unfortunately the service doesn`t match the beautiful hotel and setting, disappointing.

My partner and I stayed here for 2 nights for my birthday. It is a very beautiful hotel and setting offering some lovely walks. Reception staff were the best in our opinion. Very professional and friendly.

I pre-booked the spa for 1.30pm on arrival ( 2 hour slot) with an understanding that we could eat lunch in the outside area of the spa, when I asked about ordering lunch I was then told this wasn`t possible. It does say this is possible on the website. We were a little disappointed because we then had to rush to be able to eat lunch in the restaurant.

The spa was smaller than expected and it could do with a good clean. The doors to the sauna and steam room were quite grubby and they are understaffed which makes for not very efficient service. They were very friendly and were doing their best considering the staff shortages.

We asked for an upgrade on our room and got it which was a nice gesture and I received a lovely Happy Birthday chocolate board in the room. My partner had to ask 3 times to have water in our room which arrived on day 2, we were told that there was a shortage.

We did receive a letter on arrival from the hotel manager to explain about the staff shortages and new staff training, but it wasn`t very nice to have a bath that hadn`t been cleaned. The bathroom could have done with a thorough clean as well as things like the tea and coffee cabinet, it was quite grubby. I did ask for the bathroom to be cleaned and offer my feedback as it was encouraged to do so on the arrival letter. The hotel manager cleaned it for us while we went to our evening meal booking and offered us a free drink.

There is more that I could say but I`m sure you get the overall gist of it. The prices here aren`t cheap and it felt that the service and overall experience did not match these. The Barista coffee machine wasn`t working very well, a member of staff told us this. It was a little disappointing. At times you could feel the vibe of staff morale was a little low and disjointed.

I can understand if there are staff shortages but do feel that having very clean rooms is a must and a little more efficiency and professionalism would be good. After the experience we had we wouldn`t return here again which is a shame as it is such a beautiful hotel and setting.

My partner enjoyed their freshly cooked Pizzas and they had lovely salad options. Some of the meals didn`t feel value for money though to be honest. They were not as nice as we were hoping for.

I hope they can increase their staff and get some good training and efficiency going.