Summary - The dirtiest hotel I have ever stayed in!
Dated yes, some furniture & fittings broken yes but it was the cleanliness that really upset and shocked me! I was told by reception on check out that the company 'Brilliant Hotels' have only just taken on the Staindrop Lodge and the pandemic has a terrible effect on the hospitality service. I appreciate these are challenges BUT the hotel SHOULD NOT be open to the public & taking bookings in its current state.
Visiting Sheffield for the university open day. I booked Staindrop Lodge having read the reviews online, without taking into account the date of the reviews. Turns out they are very out-of-date. Since the hotel changed hands the older reviews definetely no longer apply! Neither does the AA 3+stars, in fact the hotel is no longer listed on the AA website.
I was the only adult with 3 childern, 4+ hours from home. If I could have moved to another hotel I would have done! But despite constant checking through out our stay the nearest availablilty was in Leeds.
Our visit:-
We arrived late Friday evening. There were parking spaces in the car park but there was also a very large overspilling skip. I was surprised at check-in, Covid QR code display, no symptom check list or any mention of covid at all. We went to my daughter's room first, on the stairs outside the room door was a pile of dirty towels, crockery and used face mask. Inside the room, it was very warm/airless & stuffy. The toilet had a skid mark in the bowl and only one towel for two people staying two nights. Mine & my son's room was the other end of the hotel and very grubby. The overwhelming mildew smell from the bathroom (the extractor fan did not work). The kettle had water in it that was black & mouldy. In the wardrobe was balled up pair of used trousers that also contained a used pair of underpants & socks. The carpet was heavily stained and very dirty, used ear plugs around the bed. Ther toilet seat was only attcahed by one hinge, so slipped around if sat on. The cold water pressure tap barely dribbled out. The shower lever was very tempermental, so we had to keep pulling it to get the water to come out of the shower head. We also only had one towel (grey & smelly too). In both rooms the TV and kettles were lasted PAT tested in 2018.
During our stay of three days I did not see any staff cleaning the rooms and/or public areas. Other than a box of disposable face masks and a tub of hand gel there was no consideration for covid safety.
Yes I complained as did many other customers and continued to look for aleternative hotels in the area. We booked through Booking.com and paid at time of booking (£345). When I checked out there was finally someone on reception that looked as if he may be able to help - he did not. Other than repeat the hotel had just been taken over and they are planning a refurbishment, he just listened to my list of issues but said he was not authroised to make any refund as the booking was through Booking.com.
DO NOT STAY HERE!!!!!!
I now read that the hotel was leased by the local authority during the height of the pandemic to house homeless people. This would have been over a year ago and the hotel shows no signs of being cleaned in anyway since.
The hotel cancelled our booking after we returned home so I can not leave a review on Booking.com. Wow just WOW!!!! read more