The Darrington by Good Night Inns

Great food, I had salmon with jack and salad, my husband had steak sizzler both meals were excellent. We joined the free quiz and played bingo, great evening. Lovely staff who served us, Erin bought our food Tom was on the bar. Will definitely return

We paid £246 for a three-night stay from Tuesday to Friday, but the experience was so disappointing that we left a day early on Thursday, despite having already paid for the final night. If we hadn't already had pre-arranged plans that obligated us to stay in the area, we wouldn't have stayed as long as we did. The general condition of the room was extremely poor. As the photographs show, there were badly damaged and deteriorating skirting boards and wall panels, peeling and chipped paint, exposed material, rough repairs, discoloured sealant and generally very tired finishes throughout. Some areas looked as though they had simply been patched over rather than properly repaired. The bathroom was particularly unpleasant. There was what appeared to be black mould across the ceiling above the shower, along with dirty/discoloured sealant and deteriorating areas around the bath, walls and flooring. These weren't tiny cosmetic imperfections that you'd have to go looking for – many of them were immediately visible. The bathroom facilities were also completely impractical. I'm 5'7" and when I stood in the bath to shower, my head was almost touching the ceiling. My partner is 6'3" and could not use the shower at all because there simply wasn't enough headroom. This was particularly unacceptable because my partner is a mechanic and was returning to the hotel dirty after work, yet he had no way of properly showering and washing himself. A usable shower is one of the most basic facilities you expect when paying for a hotel room. We weren't expecting luxury – we expected him to be able to wash. The bath wasn't a realistic alternative either. It was so small that even at 5'7" I could barely fit comfortably in it, never mind someone who is 6'3". The communal areas weren't much better. The hallways smelled strongly of urine, which made walking to and from the room unpleasant. The TV supposedly allowed casting from a phone, but the settings wouldn't allow internet access, making the feature effectively useless. Guests were also prevented from changing basic picture settings such as brightness and contrast. I suffer from migraines and needed to reduce the brightness, so this was particularly frustrating. The room was supplied with only one pillow per person. When I asked for additional pillows, staff did provide them, which I appreciated, but they actually had to retrieve them from another unused hotel room. Unfortunately, the food was also disappointing. My partner ordered a rump steak medium-rare and it arrived well done. We also sat down at an empty table with no reserved sign on it, only to then be asked to move because it was apparently reserved, despite there being dozens of other empty tables available. Breakfast certainly didn't feel worth the inclusive price. The selection was minimal and what we received was disappointing and tasteless. My partner ordered the classic breakfast, which was tiny. He described the bacon as so barely cooked it was "like it was still on the pig", while the sausage was flavourless and tasted more like a chicken sausage. I ordered a crispy bacon sandwich with extra bacon and dairy-free spread because of an allergy. I was initially brought a bacon and egg sandwich instead. They apologised and replaced it, but the replacement then didn't contain the extra bacon I'd ordered. When a guest has specifically mentioned an allergy while ordering, I would expect considerably more care to be taken in getting that order correct. Ultimately, we'd had enough and decided not to stay for the final night we'd already paid for. We packed up and left on Thursday. There was nobody at reception when we departed, so we had to put our keys into the drop box and leave. That probably sums up our experience better than anything else: we had already paid £246 to stay Tuesday to Friday and still chose to lose the final night and go home early. Had we not been obligated to stay because of pre-arranged plans, we would have left sooner. I don't expect luxury for £246, nor do I expect an older building to look brand new. I do, however, expect a hotel room to be clean, adequately maintained and to provide basic facilities that paying guests can actually use. The issues shown in the photographs aren't hidden defects – the deteriorated woodwork, damaged finishes and mould-like spotting on the bathroom ceiling were plainly visible. Unfortunately, based on our experience, I would not stay here again and cannot recommend it in its current condition.

I received rare kindness and helpfulness from this establishment. They solved a major problem. Thank you.