Reviews of Devonport Hotel, Darlington
Review by Peter on 5th August, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 5/8/07
If you're planning on staying here, then just hope there are less than 5 other guests in the hotel, as they seem completely incapable of looking after any more people than that. We arrived for breakfast at 9:30 and finally got it served at 10:30... because 2 of the other guests had helped to clear tables, take orders and make tea and toast. Well, they did until the manager found out from her safe haven hidden upstairs, upon which she had angy words with the staff for allowing them to help!
To be honest though, it soon became very clear that the crux of the problem lay with her inadequate managerial skills. Any complaints (and there were several from various guests checking out that morning) were met with a large degree of skeptisism. When I informed her that I found my room unacceptable and refused to pay full price for a service that didn't warrant it, she basically told me to my face that I was just a chancer looking for a cheap stay. When confronted with actual evidence of my problem she told me she wasn't interested in seeing it!
List of actual issues encountered within our party:
-Waiting over an hour for breakfast, even with guests helping, as the waitresses vanished for half an hour and the manager sat in her cosy room upstairs.
-The chef threatening to walk out because he had to make breakfasts for the whole hotel of guests (?)
-Window with no curtains letting in direct sunlight to the bedroom at 6 am.
-Showers reduced to a trickle of water over the course of the whole morning.
-An attic room with a door leading to the rafters, and with giant sharp hooks on the ceiling beams (this room can't have possibly passed any kind of inspection that hotel rooms require?)
-Staff taking advantage of a very drunk guest (who they even admitted wqas incapable of even walking, he was so drunk), allowing him to buy them drinks into the early hours.
I eventually told the manager that I was flat out refusing to pay over £60 (for a £75 room), and she told me that she wasn't there to barter and I should pay in full. When she eventually realised that she was not going to convince me otherwise, and new customers at the bar were overhearing the string of complaints, she backed down and told me "You can have it for £60 just so I can get rid of you". Pleasant lady!
Review by MR M THOMAS on 17th June, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 16th june 2007
we highly recommend the devonport hotel.
we were very pleased with the room which was very clean and comfortable, all staff were pleasant and helpfull, the food was first class. we will use the devonport again when we are in the area.
Review by Gary on 1st October, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 30.10.06
Well where do I start the Devonport? with the omission of actually staying at the hotel but eating in the restaurant...don't do it! unless you are in a party of 3 or less you can not officially swear your food would be piping hot or served to you this side of the 20th century! booking for something special with a large party? forget it! you may e-mail them/phone them your requirements, you may have the most wonderful pre-customer service only to find you turn up to a perfectly set table with the most beautiful settings (complete with lipstick marks on best glasses!) and you sit...and you sit...and you sit...then low and behold a face appears at the kitchen to bring a variety of starters (nothing to get excited about!)...then the main courses...you sit .....and you sit...and then they come out at drips and drabs, some cold (but youngsters in party too polite to say so!) then the rest arrive minus veg chosen so staff have to go back and find missing veg! in meantime the main dish gets cold...and colder...and colder!! You want water on the table?....not going to happen you ask for it! you want bread...again ask for it!, such poor standard of customer service it makes Faulty Towers look like Masterchef ****, But what about customer service?...forget it you can complain and have the joy of strange 'sleeping partners' behind the bar pulling faces at your expense because you had the guts to tell them how it is. So you want good food? you want great hosts? you want a fantastic night out?? well if you need to eat near Darlington choose somewhere else, I promise you will never regret it!!...
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