Stoke Rochford Hall

Not for anyone expecting satisfactory...

Liked: (I’ll use the like dislike boxes together for my review- it may not all fit in.)If your primary objective is a stay in a gothic-looking stately home-type hotel including a great exterior and grounds, and your secondary aim is the quality of hotel facilities then the Stoke Rochford Hall Hotel (SRHH) is the place for you. Having said that I was disappointed on arrival to have to use the entrance to the side (with ramp, which is good for mobility equipment users) rather than the grander main entrance. However the lift to the upper floors was welcome.As for the hotel facilities the importance of online guest reviews is rarely put into sharper focus than with SRHH.As long as you’ve clearly got the message that apart from a kettle and the usual sachets in the room there is absolutely NO other food or drink available then it’s pointless criticising the hotel in the context of food and drink. No glasses either nor teaspoons, just plastic ‘glasses’ and wooden stirrers, which suggest a throwaway setup rather than staff having to wash up, although there were proper porcelain mugs.My bedroom’s look was in slightly disappointing contrast to the photos on the SRHH website, but I found the room clean, the bed comfortable and the TV was fine. I didn’t check in till about 9pm on a Tuesday. The room temperature on arrival and throughout (in late September) was a bit cooler than many guests would wish but for the few hours I stayed I didn’t enquire about how to up the heating. There was condensation on the inside of the room windows in the morning though.Initial impression of the renovated bathroom was good in terms of decoration quality considering the hall, I understand, is 200 years old. But … as one reviewer said … an 8+ minute wait for hot-ish water from the shower is about right. Some guests will wish the water was hotter and the shower head flow wasn’t strong with rogue erratic jets of water. The shower control knob leaked. (Continued below)
Disliked: There were a couple of dark stains in the bath. More stains, actually quite offputting stains, were clearly evident below the water level in the toilet bowl, and (guests’ nightmare) at least two flushes to clear solid waste. You’re praying ‘please don’t make me have to contact someone to sort unflushed you know what’. The cold tap was not smooth, be careful with sudden surge and splashing. A heated towel rail was present but not on.I don’t know how many bedrooms are made available but there was only one other room booked the night I stayed.There was a musty smell in the corridor between the lift and my second floor room and there was a need for painting and decorating in that corridor.As for the other online reviews I read: personally I don’t see the point of including reviews from two years previously, Sep22 featured a lot, though none from 2023. The night staff member suggested that pre-2024 the hotel had an immigrant/asylum seeker government contract which may explain no 2023 reviews - but that’s my guess only.Also having booked through booking.com at around 6.30pm I tried to call SRHH en route from the car 3 times in the next 30 mins with no pickup and no voicemail greeting. To be fair the night staff member did call back while I was driving mainly to make it clear about the hotel’s room only status ie no food or drink. When I met him at check in he did say he had other duties which I assume excuses the no phone pick up. I said nothing but it doesn’t excuse it at all - a ‘normal’ hotel charging £140+ should have landline diversion to mobile phone if there’s limited (eg here only one) staff on duty. I understand there are only 5 staff members, including a cleaner and a gardener, plus I guess 2 covering reception shifts. The 5th person? Maintenance maybe?Trev 25 September 2024