“Friendly hotel with lovely staff”
Reviewed 13 August 2012
1person found this review helpful
We stayed at this hotel because of it's fantastic reviews and certainly the welcome and friendly staff couldn't be faulted. The food was very acceptable too. As the hotel only had 1 room left when we booked, we had the smallest one I think and although it was very clean and had all the items we needed, there was nowhere to open our suitcases or put out our toiletries. The decor in the main areas could also do with a little bit of love and updating. There's probably no time to do the work as the hotel is very busy! Pricewise the hotel compares with St Mary's Hall Hotel over the road and in our opinion (as we have stayed there) the welcome beats them but we moved on to the Star Castle Hotel as this hotel didn't have a third night available and although considerably more expensive, the luxury there both in the rooms, service, views and food is in a different totally superior league. You get what you pay for on St Mary's as you do anywhere!
Daniel Lawson, Manager at Bell Rock Hotel, responded to this review
14 August 2012
Thank you for your kind words about our staff. I'm pleased that everyone made your short stay a welcome & friendly visit. We do pride ourselves on being a friendly team.
I've just been looking though our bookings, to try and determine the room you may have been in, as I'm a lttle puzzled as all bathrooms have a toiletries shelf?
Each room has a fold away luggage rack to place suitcases on to make packing and unpacking a little easier; sometimes this is in the wardrobe for storage.
It's good that you have stayed in various places to be able to make a comparison between hotels. As you say, the Star Castle is a totally different set up, and being a 4 star hotel, you would expect prices and accommodation to be comparable to that star rating. The Bell Rock is only 2 star, but regularly exceeds expectations of the star rating through our customer service, delivered by our hard working team.
Maintenance and refurbishment programmes go on during winter months, as it would be impractical during a busy season, as you point out. We have a rolling schedule of refurbishments. The restaurant was redecorated and refurnished during the 2010/2011 winter period. This winter we aim to refurbish the bar lounge.
Maybe we will be able to welcome you back again in the future. The hotel & bedrooms can be viewed on our blog website, which can help in deciding the type of room you would prefer. Booking early is always recommended if at all possible.
