Old Hall Hotel

Location is ideal. Hotel within walking distance of everything we came for .Breakfast was nice .

No food available in the hotel. However, excellent food in the Crescent Hotel next door. Perfect location and amazing historic building. Staid in Mary Queen of Scots room.

I’m going to split this into 2 reviews; firstly the way staff treated us, then onto the room itself. This is a long one 😁.
So after a wonderful stay in Buxton at another hotel down the road (see my review for Roseleigh hotel) we thought we’d return. Unfortunately couldn’t get that hotel again but found The Old Hall hotel on booking.com and booked it.
On arrival we hovered in the reception area (more like a hallway with a low window) for our turn whilst the receptionist was dealing with an older lady. The lady was complaining saying she couldn’t climb such steep stairs, and when she’d booked via booking.com there was no mention of steep stairs, and wanted a room move. The receptionist told her the hotel was full. We were close by and heard the whole conversation. I instantly thought this was a mistake! The receptionist (Victoria) was very flustered, clearly trying to man reception on her own whilst dealing with people checking in, wanting their luggage, phone calls and people complaining, all by herself. (Come on guys get more staff on reception at busy times).
Then when I gave her my name and booking details she said there was no booking. I had booked this 3 months ago, had the confirmation email and a reminder from booking.com the previous day about the upcoming trip. There is a booking! But Victoria couldn’t find the booking. We were told to wait in the bar! Just at the side. After lots of back and forth another lady (I think from the crescent hotel) came and said ‘there’s no booking, I think booking.com have scammed you’. I’d never heard anything so ridiculous! She told me I needed to ring booking.com. No help- or we’ll find you the phone number, nothing!! She said we’d have to pay for a room. I googled what to do if a hotel has lost my booking, and I read out the reply. She told me she didn’t have to find me any accommodation as it was a booking through booking.com and was their problem., not the hotels. I felt like she just wanted to get me out the way. She said she’d call in a manager.. in comes Lee (I think from the crescent too) he again looks at my confirmation emails and says there’s no booking, all we can do is buy a room. He says there’s a family suit available, says he usually sells it for X amount but he’ll knock off £50. By this point we felt like we had no option but to pay it, we’d already wasted 2 hours stood in reception arguing whether we had a booking or not. Whilst we paid and filled out a form. The room was being “freshened up” as this was the room with steep stairs that the other lady didn’t want.

When we finally found the door to room 12, it looked more like a cupboard door as it had a glass panel you could see straight in. But the key worked and in we went! Well the lady wasn’t wrong about steep stairs! There was a dirty tissue left on them, how the guy “freshening up” the room didn’t see that I don’t know. Any way the so called suite was the most weirdest place I’ve ever stayed. Old and quirky I could’ve appreciated, this was shoddy and weird. There’s 2 bathrooms, no showers btw only baths with a hose that doesn’t stay on the wall, they were very dirty (see pictures) , 1 at each end of the suite. A kitchen which was absolutely disgusting (see pics) a hallway/ random area for a table and 3 chairs, a bedroom with a single bed which we didn’t use, a tv area with a 2 seater sofa, the a double bed and 2 singles, then onto the bathroom with another random room with a vintage vacuum and 4 coat hangers. It was bleak!!! Rough as!! I wish I had gone back to reception and complained, but by this point our evening plans were fast approaching and we really couldn’t be bothered to argue any longer. At 6:30pm (2.5 hours after arrival) Victoria from reception rang my mobile saying she’d found my booking. I asked what room was it for as I didn’t like this one, she said the hotel was full and there wasn’t any other rooms anyway. Absolute shambles!! This along with the state of the room absolutely ruined our weekend away.
Also I barely got any sleep as I kept thinking someone would walk up the stairs and although the radiators constantly made a noise they did absolutely nothing, and I was freezing. The only saving grace was I absolutely pigged out on breakfast, I had to try and claw back the money we’d wasted on staying there!

Friendly staff and a great central location. Very quiet location at night too. Nice large bath towels and clean bathroom.

Fab location. Breakfast was ok....comparable to breakfasts in budget chain hotels. Self serve so eggs etc had been sat a while.

Staff were friendly.

Had a fabulous stay here. Room was clean and beds comfy, had good nights sleep. Staff are excellent and go above and beyond. Breakfast was excellent with good quality food and the chef made me scrambled eggs which was a bonus. A special shout out to Phil the linen porter who saw us reading all the history on the walls. He was a walking encyclopaedia when it came to the hotels history and he even showed us round the room Mary Queen of Scots stayed
In. The hotel is right in the centre of everything. Would definitely recommend and Will definitely go back again. Historic hotel in a Great location, fantastic breakfast and excellent customer service from staff the hotel should be proud of. Thank you for an excellent break x

Staff fantastic. Phil the linen porter was so knowledgeable about the hotels history. He went above and beyond giving us a tour of the room that Mary queen of Scot’s stayed in. Breakfast was fantastic and hotel was right in centre of town. Cannot fault it and would definitely go back again

The room, the beds and the location

Great location in the heart of Buxton. Full of history, quirky wonky floors. Great staff and a lovely menu, great value.

Our room had a beautiful four-poster bed, the facilities were good, and everything was very clean throughout our stay.

Great location, delicious breakfast

Excellent location and really friendly staff
Great breakfast
Really comfy bed

Breakfast, location, bed was comfortable

Loved our stay. Greeted by a wonderful lady receptionist, so friendly and helpful. Parking sorted and we parked directly outside hotel.
Stopped over for one night. Room with four poster bed. Bed and linen very good, really comfortable.
The furniture is old but perfectly functional.
TV has the major channels nothing else. WiFi was hit and miss, more miss than hit, but got a decent mobile signal so used that.
Bathroom was large. Great shower. Towels high class and soft.
Breakfast spot on and included in price. Breakfast room was welcoming, clean and food was more than decent.

You can walk through the hotel and pick holes. Yes the furniture is tired , some walls need a lick of paint. Floors are creaky and not always level.

But for what we paid, with breakfast included I can't fault the place.
If you go in with the right expectations this hotel is perfect.
Location is outstanding. Close to town centre, quiet at night, there's a small park literally right outside.

Would not hesitate to stay here again in future.

Location in the town centre, managed to park Infront of the building but on busy days it's pot luck as it is a public parking area.
The buffet breakfast was really good with quality cooked ingredients.