Best Western The Dartmouth Hotel Golf & Spa

We spent four nights at this hotel, partly as a Room to Reward break away with extra days added on. The staff were fantastic, room spacious and comfortable with welcoming water and sweet treats. Our room overlooked the golf course with spectacular views to wake up to. Breakfast was plentiful and delicious as was the restaurant meal we had one evening.
We also enjoyed the spa area one rainy afternoon.
Would we stay here again or recommend to friends and family? Most definitely 👏🏻👏🏻

The whole experience is fantastic. Very good value for money for a 1 night spa break with mud treatment and 2 course meal. The food was very tasty. The staff are very helpful and the drift away massage was very relaxed.

I’ve been stopping here for several years it’s a very nice 3 star hotel excellent house keeping standards good food and hospitality what sets it apart are the staff they are all very pleasant especially Nick in the bar / restaurant area highly recommended good gym pool and sauna

Very disappointed as it was our Christmas break with friends, we stayed in one of their lodges on site on face value looked good, on arriving door left open and cleaning materials left in the halls and hall runner needed vacuuming, bathrooms below standard and black mould in the showers and doors didn’t close, sofas full of crumbs crisps & peanuts and the dining table had inset design and crevices full of crumbs we had to vacuumed it to clean it up. Hotel frontage & reception looking very tired but staff very helpful and Christmas Lunch very good., wouldn’t recommend the lodges for a stay especially the amount we paid.

Where to start.....we arrived at the venue in the early evening on Thurs 18th Dec to book into our cottage, to be told there were none!! After some research the (lovely) receptionist Caroline realised we were correct, she had missed the page with the booking on (phew). Caroline confirmed the cottage name and number (Mallard 4) but the key for the unit was missing. Eventually this was found with the housekeeping department who had not replaced it in the key safe. We traipsed over to the cottage in the dark but were unable to find it as the lighting was not great. We found one cottage which our key did not fit, but with an open back door. We went into the cottage but as here was no ID at the rear of the cottage, we weren't sure it was the right one. We called over to reception and the lovely Caroline sent a colleague over who helped us locate the correct entrance (low and behold the key worked) and he helped us with torch light that we could get our luggage in to the lodge without misadventure.

Please note: there were very slippery (mossy green) slates at the entrance to the cottage with a wooden rail alongside the small flight of steps. Wooden rail was rotten, not secure at the base (rotted away) and the top plinth bit fell off! Could be an accident waiting to happen for any unsteady guest.

Finally got into the cottage to find no instructions re WiFi or heating (to mention a few) so another call to reception. A different colleague of Caroline's came over with the WiFi details (which should have been left in the cottage by housekeeping) and also assisted with the heating panel. Lovely warm cottage after a while. Happy guests, all surfing the internet with warm toes from the underfloor heating

Then, we realised there were only enough towels for 2 occupants and as the cottage slept 6 (and there were 3 of us at that time, with more friends to join us) we had to request more towels too. Caroline (and her colleagues) were amazing and saved a massive complaint as I could have had a major sense of humour failure by this time. I do not usually tolerate poor service and poor value for money but the staff were so helpful that they took the sting out of my tail.

Sadly, the problems continued although we stopped bothering reception and Caroline, but made a note of them.

The female changing room in the main hotel (spa area) absolutely stunk of blocked drains. Air fresheners everywhere for people to use but the stench was revolting. This stench permeated the accommodation above where another of our friends was staying - more on her stay to follow. The drains need some serious looking at (yuk). Air fresheners are not doing the trick and there is no way we would pay the premium rate for treatments there, to be laying on a bed trying to relax with the waft of poo going up our noses. Revolting.

No spinner in the changing rooms for wet costumes (no problem we thought) so took out wet costumes back to the cottage to spin in the washing machine - not realising that was broken. No note to advise us of this - front of soap drawer fell off and the washing machine would not stop. We had to unplug it in the end to stop it as is was very hot, smelling and would not stop heating. even though is was only suposed to be spinning, Before you ask - we did check it was on the correct setting! Plastic straps of costumes melted and one costume shrunk! No idea what was wrong with the machine but it was not working correctly at all. It needs an out of order sign and to be serviced and fixed ASAP. Any long staying guests could be stuck without it.

One of the bedrooms on the first floor at the back of the lodge had not been cleaned properly - photos attached of the back of the toilet seat. Absolutely disgusting. Not sure if / when that part of the toilet had even been cleaned, mould in the shower and broken flooring tiles in that en suite too.

Upon leaving the lodge on the final day, removed the one small (size 12) jacket from the coat hooks and the whole unit fell off the wall (at one end). Looks like many previous quick-fixes have taken place on the wall behind the coat hook but none done properly as it would not have fallen down otherwise.

Friends room in the hotel: stunk of fetid drains - the window had been left open to clear the air but not only had it not worked, the room was cold and damp. A cot had been requested and a child's bed put in the room. Child is 8 months old and needs a cot, not a bed. Cot eventually replace but without a mattress. No safely mattress provided, no mattress at all - just another quilt to fold under the baby so they weren't laving on the rigid base of the cot. Ever so slightly dangerous for a small child to sleep on a folded quilt as they can roll over and suffocate without a correct mattress. By this time we were all sick and tired of complaining and finding problems. Honestly- it was like an expensive Fawlty Towers situation but not very funny.

As a group of friends, we go away several times a year - we have camped and glamped, attended spas, hotels, B&Bs, and festivals, used festival toilets and showers etc but nothing as poor as the facilities in the Best Western Dartmouth Hotel, Golf and Spa. We did not pay a reduce feel to stay there. No voucher deal - no money off. We payed a not insignificant amount of money to stay in a cottage (and also a separate room) to celebrate a friends birthday and quite honestly, we should have saved our money and got a tent. It would have been cleaner I am sure.

The ONLY saving grace for this venue are the staff. Caroline, her two male collages on the evening of Thurs 18th and the bar staff, were helpful, polite, patient and made us see the best of a bad job. If these staff members leave, you have nothing and I mean nothing, to save you from completely dire reviews and demands for refunds.

I would never recommend this accommodation to anyone unless it was been substantially refurbished or the rates on a par with budget accommodation as this venue does not represent value for money nor a comfortable stay. It could have completely ruined our long awaited birthday trip. You need to do so much better for your guests because it appears any investments have been put into the golfing areas and not anywhere else.

This is a review of the Spa only. I am a member of The Spa and the reception staff both at the front desk of the hotel and the spa are a credit to this establishment. However, this is where the wheels fall off! I am registered disabled and for several months the lift down to the spa has not been working, forcing me, on crutches to use the stairs! The main hotel car park has one space for disabled visitors, then two for the Golf Captains, then a further two for disabled people. Surely the Golf Captains don't need to park so close to the main entrance, as presumably they are able bodied? Also disabled parking is abused as cars without displaying blue badges park there. The ladies changing room has no designated disabled facilities, with most of the cubicles being a tight squeeze unless you are able bodied and the shower cubicles are small and dark as the lights above the cubicles don't work, presumably due to the water leak they suffered a few months ago. The lockers are not fixed to the wall, so if you pull too hard, they might collapse on to you. I have had several near misses! Water cups, both full and empty, are left under the seats in the pool area and in the changing room, and seem to linger for days. One of the toilet doors has a broken lock and a hair bobble has been left on a peg in one of the showers for several weeks. Today the bin in the changing room hadn't been lined. The jacuzzi was tepid, with low levels of very cloudy water. I specifically became a member of this spa because of the lift. it seems this spa pays lip service only to disabled people as the lift to the accommodation was fixed some time ago yet the spa one is still not working! I need to swim to keep my mobility at a reasonable level while waiting for surgery, and yet I am forced to climb up and down the stairs, which is hard work and also painful! Lack of attention to detail lets this establishment down as does its attitude to disabled people.

We did the Mud/Salt spa package today,and honestly from when we arrived to when we left all the staff were lovely and very friendly . We then went up for lunch where we received the same brilliant service and lovely food . The only downside was after our food we went back down to the pool to relax for another hour and instead of the peaceful atmosphere we left at lunch ,we had returned to screaming children everywhere… So we did leave before we would’ve liked to.

Other than that it was so worth the money !

Room nice and spacious with comfy seating and table. Good size bathroom. Decor plainbut ok. Staff all helpful.
Used pool, jacuzzi and steam room several times. No staff about but ok.
Breakfast better than average for a buffet. Pastries not good, otherwise fine.

Brilliant for out dog. Didn’t use the spa on this stay but have in the past and that Wes lovely

Over priced food
Limited menu
Very out dated rooms
Heating in rooms no thermostat (your very hot or very cold )

The food was really good and the room was clean and comfortable.

Truly unpleasant. My room stank damp and fusty and all my clothes stank of damp.
There was no breakfast available the next morning due to no chef and no gas.
All in all a well below par experience.

Warm welcome and bar staff were friendly.
Ideal spot for a work trip and use of the pool/sauna was ideal.
Breakfast was ok but not exactly flash. The ‘continental breakfast’ was pretty lacking but enjoyed the cooked options

We booked a self catering pet friendly holiday barn via booking.com. When we arrived the management company coastal cottages arrived & asked us to put 3 of our dogs into boarding kennels. We had pre paid the pet fee as we were sent a link at the time if booking to do so. The advert on booking.com said ‘pets allowed.’

The hotel is very run down. It smells of damp. The carpets are filthy, badly fitted and old. The lift was out of order so had to struggle up and down stairs with cases. The location is dull if you don't like golf and it's miles from dartmouth. The decor is dated. The hand rails on the damp staircases are sticky as are the carpets. The rooms with views don't have great views. The tea and coffee facilities are minimal. No bottled water provided in the room. No plug sockets next to the bed so had to ask for an extension. The one redeeming feature was a new bathroom. However the room was advertised with a bath but there was only a shower!. The staff are indifferent. I cannot believe this hotel is owned by the best western group. It seems more suitable as temporary housing for 'home office clients'.

Could be updated

Even though the people were friendly & helpful in the main, the bedroom comfortable & a lovely location we won't be back. The dinner menu was limited for GF choice, plus other options unavailable & was over priced for what was served. Breakfast area was untidy & dirty - dust visible on top of the coffee machines where the mugs were stacked. Bedrooms weren't cleaned during your stay unless asked for. Brown carpet throughout the hotel covering a multitude of stains! Bedroom comfortable with nice view, but drain issues & as the week went on the smell of sewage coming into the bathroom wasn't pleasant. The whole Hotel was tired & in need of an overhaul. We checked out x1 night early.

It looked more like a hospital entrance room’s not totally clean hotel overall could do with a major overhaul it’s in lovely area could have been so much better it’s a shame but we won’t be staying there again

We stayed last year for our holidays and booked again for this year. We had two rooms and had been upgraded.Thank you for that. However our greatest delight was to be recognised by Megan as soon as walked in. This is so pleasing as it means that we meant something to the staff. Megan was fab all through the holiday as she was last year and I would like to add that the bar staff and restaurant staff was top notch. Attentive, friendly and made our holiday so much more enjoyable. The staff are a credit to Best Western and I hope they are recognised as such. I had to write a poor revue of another Best Western a few weeks ago but this one is way above its expectations. Thanks to you all and look forward to next year. Keith Birmingham

Lovely setting and views from the hotel public areas and our room. Quiet and peaceful. Staff were all very helpful and friendly. Room spacious , clean and comfortable. Breakfast was self serve offering a good choice of hot & continental. Swimming pool was closed whilst we were there unfortunately but hot tub jacuzzi and sauna were open and available along with other Spa facilities. Would definitely stay again.