Doulton Fountain Tours

The breakfast food was delicious - a great range of choices and a very nice airy, spacious dining room. The staff in the hotel were unfailingly lovely - friendly, polite and helpful - very likeable. The room had a lovely view out across the ocean and over to the islands. The room had a nice carpet. The bathroom was clean. Check in and check out was easy and problem-free and the room doors had proper lock-and-key locks rather than hideous card keys. The room was well equipped with mirrors, which was very useful. Very cosy bed covering (duvet). The, the room was very hot and airless and I did not find the bed comfortable. The pillows were pretty cheap and uncomfortable to sleep on. Despite going to bed at about 11, I didn't manage to get to sleep (due to the poor pillows and stuffy airlessness of the room) till well after 2. Check in to the hotel was not till 3 - which we felt was a bit late. The little kettle in my room took absolutely ages to boil the water. The TV only had two or three channels which worked, which was disappointing. I could not get the water in the shower to heat up so had to shower in cold water - not fun. However, both my friends were able to get hot shower ok, so maybe I did something wrong. An idiot's guide to how the shower works would have been useful for me. Also, I hated the soap and shampoo dispensers. Overall, the hotel has very many strengths - but needs to spend some money - mainly on the basics.

This hotel was conveniently located and the hotel itself looks impressive from the outside. We stayed in a family suite which is in more of a motel-type building behind the parking lot. The room was spacious, but felt like it needed updating. The water pressure in the shower was not great and the water temperature was pretty inconsistent - the first morning (very early) I had a cold shower, the second day (later in the morning) it was just warm enough, and on the third day it was a good temperature for me, but my husband's shower wasn't hot enough. There were ants in the suite. They provide the makings for tea and hot chocolate in the room, which was really nice, but when the cleaning service came in they did not switch out our dirty hot chocolate mugs and spoons for clean ones. There are no fridges in the rooms; however, the staff were happy to store some food we bought, for a day trip the next day, in the hotel fridge overnight which was really nice. Our door would not lock on our first day and a repair person was called and there within 10 minutes. So service was good when you approached with a problem, and front desk staff was friendly. We had the breakfast buffet on our last day and it was excellent! The pool was also a really nice feature and we used it twice. It was quiet and safe and we had a pleasant stay.

The staff were fantastic and helpful. The room was adequate. The refurb is not great