The Tollgate Hotel

It is advertised with air-conditioning but this is a lie, there is not. The room was stifling! The furniture is dark & old fashioned. It is being renovated & there was scaffolding outside our bedroom window. The windows only opened an inch so it was like an oven, very uncomfortable for sleeping. Its advertised as an executive room?The televisions didn't work. The coffee machine didn't work. There were missing bulbs in the light fitment so it was dark & dingy. It was very expensive for the quality of the room & when I complained that I had paid more for an air-conditioned room which didn't have air-conditioning i was offered nothing from the hotel & booking.com gave me £20 back, I paid £178 for 1 night in a 30°++ hot stuffy room, we hardly slept. I specifically booked this hotel because it said it had air-conditioning & the hotel is still being advertised with air-conditioning even though I've told booking.com that its being mis-sold. I could've booked something much cheaper but chose this hotel because of the heatwave. Very disappointed I wasn't compensated properly 😕 The size of the room was big & could be nice with modern furnishings, white paint & bulbs in the light fitment & of course air-conditioning as advertised.

I couldn't sample the breakfast , as it doesn't start early enough... plus a member of staff hadn't turned up on time. If people are here on business...breakfast needs to start earlier than 7am on a week day, as you are in the middle of nowhere.

The Room was a bit 'Chintzy'. Lots of dated dark wood furniture. There were no USB plug sockets for charging phones etc.... not an expensive fix. Too many those silly cushions on the bed, that you always have to take off and dump somewhere.

The breakfast food-quality was not very good at the sister-hotel (Castle Inn Hotel), nearby, where we had to go, as the Tollgate was refurbishing its dining facilities. They had 'run out' of marmalade and all the bread for toasting was 'papery', though the brewed coffee was very good.

When we arrived the Tollgate Hotel was all closed, covered in scaffolding with no signage. We wandered around in the blazing heat with our suitcases ending up at the Castle Inn. They reassured us that it was open and we had to walk back in the heat with cases. Some of the rooms were in fact open in a separate building but all felt a bit odd. Our window barely opened due to the scaffolding. There was no milk for tea. The shower was cold.
Breakfast was back at the Castle Inn and the kitchen appeared overwhelmed- we waited an hour for our cooked breakfast and it was dry and not very good.
As breakfast had taken so long we asked if our checkout time could be extended and was told we would be charged an extra £20!
The staff were doing their best but this stay was NOT worth £145. Perhaps when all the refurbishment is finished it will be a good place to stay

Everything

Description said there was air conditioning- there was not any in our baking hot room - I complained and was offered a fan which never arrived. As there was no air conditioning we had to have the windows open through the night and the road although it looks quiet is surprisingly noisy. The shower got dangerously hot really quickly even when turned down to the coldest setting. The toilet didn’t flush properly. The code pad to get through the main door is temperamental- had to try 5 times to get it to work (other people staying there also had issues with it). Very poor value for money.
No decaf options provided in the room and the cups don’t fit under the coffee machine

The new management are in process of refurbishing and redesigning so reception and dining areas are at their other property a short walk away. Ok in fine weather..obviously a temporary measure. Breakfasts mainly good and tasty but sundries were a little sparse.

The building is going through some renovations which it needs and once the place has been updated then it will be amazing. At the moment it just feels too much like a hostel rather than hotel.

arrived to find hotel surrounded by scaffolding and closed.found a builder and asked him what to do.he said go down to the castle hotel and ask there.there was no message on the main closed door,i thought we had been scammed.went down to the castle and was taken back up the road and was told that some of the hotel was open and he gave us a number for entry and was given a room.breakfast was at the castle ,so walk back down the road.breakfast was pretty poor and not well cooked.bread was too large for the toaster but was told to do half at a time..

Breakfast took ages as they were understaffed on a busy bank hol... but it was good when it eventually came.
(Breakfast was at the Castle inn as there were renovations underway at the Tollgate)

nothing really, only one eletrcical socket in our room was not well attached to the wall