My Lockdown Retreat

A review of Hotel Home, by ‘babygirl19’, aged 5.5 months.

I’ve been staying at Hotel Home for 5.5 months now (and so of course am stuck here during lockdown) and have been asked to provide a review. I’ll start by saying that overall I’ve been pretty happy here, and with a few tweaks (especially at the restaurant!) I’ll seriously consider extending my stay beyond lockdown. I’ve broken my review down into a few categories, so below are my thoughts on various aspects of Hotel Home.

The bedroom
For the most part it is a very nice room, with some quirky dinosaur pictures on the walls and an excellent view of hotel grounds – an impressive oak tree and a quaint pond are of particular note. The bed is comfortable, although there must be a slant or something, as I keep waking up on my tummy – I call for management every time and to their credit they are very good about coming to fix the problem at any hour. There is a lovely little sofa and some pleasant soft lighting. However, and I don’t want to seem ungrateful here but I think it is worth saying, I seem to have been given the smallest room in the place. When I first arrived here I had to share briefly, which wasn’t so bad as it was a lovely big room with an en suite and the person I shared with was happy to provide me with drinks at any time, day or night. But I’m now in my own room and while it has all I need, I don’t really see why I had to be given the smallest room. The boy in the room next door appears to have considerably more space!

The bathroom
It’s a sort of 2-pronged approach to the facilities here it seems. There is a lovely big shared bathroom next to my room. It has a generously sized bath and the staff will happily run it for you. I’ve even managed to persuade them to start offering massages afterwards, which soothes tired muscles after a hard day and really helps me to relax before bed. And then there is a small area for changing ones clothes and “using the facilities”, which has everything one needs. You get excellent service there too – there’s always someone available to help me with whatever I need.

The laundry service
This is very efficient – you can get your clothes washed every day of the week, with about a 24 hour turnaround. My clothes don’t always seem to be put back in my wardrobe very neatly (something about being short-staffed), but other than that I have no complaints on this front.

The restaurant
This is the main problem area. I can’t seem to get served! I’ve only recently managed to get a seat at the table, but they just give the food to everyone else. I’ve made a pretty big song and dance about it, but to no avail. I once even resorted to trying to take the bowl of the gentleman next to me, but he noticed and took it back just before I managed to swipe his ice-cream! They have assured me that in a couple of weeks they will be able to start serving me. We’ll see if I manage to hold out that long.

The bar
Now this is probably the best bit of the whole establishment. The drinks have been available any time, day or night, always served at just the right temperature and I can have as much as I want. Some sort of all inclusive deal I suppose. They never seem to run out of my favourite tipple! Lately they have implemented new opening hours so the bar is closed at night, but I’m managing to fill up enough during the day to keep me going.

The function rooms
There are a number of function rooms in this hotel. The cinema room is fascinating but I rarely manage to get a seat there, and when I do there’s nothing good on. Just an odd looking man with a huge head of white hair, talking about R and “the science”, whatever that is. There is a small games room, which is very well equipped. I spend a lot of time in there. One of the other guests usually joins me, and is fun to watch. He does have a slightly annoying habit of taking the things I’m trying to use, but is gradually agreeing to share. There is a large dining room as well, but it doesn’t get much use as we all eat in the kitchen restaurant. And there is the business centre but I’ve not explored that properly yet.

The staff
I’ve actually only ever seen one member of staff at the hotel. But given the amount that gets done, I can only assume there is a whole army of workers behind the scenes! The one lady who helps me out is very kind and makes sure I have everything I need. She spends a bit more time than I’d like with the other guests, and often appears a bit frazzled, but I guess it’s quite a demanding job, running a place like this.

The other guests
There seem to be 2 other guests at the hotel. An older gentleman who spends most of his time on his phone in the business centre, but joins the rest of us for meals. And a young man who joins me for many of my daily activities. I really like him and am enjoying getting to know him better. I think he is a permanent resident here, so hopefully this is the start of a long friendship.

Overall, I hope you can see that this is a hotel with a lot of potential. If they can sort out the dining experience I would give it 5 stars. I’d recommend taking a trip here as soon as you get the opportunity.