Modern Spa Hotel on the banks of Lake Windermere
BookMember since 2023
NOT IMPRESSED
stayed: June 2026
Our stay at the Lakeside Hotel and Spa was very disappointing. We arrived at noon, before official check in at 3.00 pm. Of course, the hotel receptionist said that our room wasn t ready but she d contact Housekeeping to request it was prioritised as we were already there. While we waited, we had a drink in the area beyond the Reception desk. After one hour I returned to ask if it was ready and it wasn t, so we then decided to have lunch in the Lakeview Conservatory to pass the time.
My husband went back to the desk after we finished lunch and was told it still hadn t been prepared; a further lengthy wait ensued. At 2.40 pm someone came and said it was ready. We had been advised before booking that the garden room (406) was the furthest from the entrance and had three steps up, but I could use by mobility scooter there and park it below the steps, which I was happy to do so. A staff member accompanied us and said he would check the room was prepared. It was a large room with high ceilings but the Ensuite bathroom had a step down into it that we hadn t been warned about in advance. I went to use the bathroom and found it had no towels. The room telephone wasn t working either and my husband ended up having to go back to Reception to ask for these (a good 4-minute walk as I later timed it). Fifty minutes later the towels were delivered; I asked the young man to put them in the bathroom and then discovered there was not a single towel rail to be seen! He put one on the bathroom wall heater and the rest on our bed. I mentioned that the hotel phone wasn t working and he responded that they often didn t work and had an intermittent connection. It didn t work at all while we stayed there. Our garden room faced out onto the road and there was no garden view.
Food and drink were expensive and the food very average. Discovered that the Lakeside Restaurant was only open for dinner at the weekends and it was mid-week when we stayed so had to eat at Ruskin s brasserie. The first night a staff member told us we could walk around to the brasserie outside to avoid my negotiating several steps into the brasserie. It was torrential rain the second night and to avoid the long walk outside, I used the steps up to the brasserie. Overall, the hotel staff seemed not particularly professional or bothered about the shortcomings we experienced. On checking out, we were not asked if we d enjoyed our stay and they tried to charge us 25 per night for our dog, when we had already paid this to Off Peak Luxury when we booked. All in all, I cannot recommend this hotel.
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