The Elms Hotel, Retford

1.7 / 5 jJOYCE [Chelmsford, GB] on 20/10/2009 (Mature couple)

Quite good value for money

Room was not service overnight and therefore we had no clean towels, cups etc. TV was very poor and spent most of the time trying to get it to work Inadequate facilities in the bathroom, bath was very deep and yet there was no rail to help a perrson like me get in and out.

Overall: Not very happy  (107913648)

1.0 / 5 Anonymous on 12/09/2009 (Mature couple)

We felt that we were put amongst the staff, and in the staff accommodation, a lot of loud door banging, very creaky stairs, the stable block where we were put has a view of the kitchens at the back, the net curtains were filthy, the shower tap came off in my hand. There were no curtains at the bathroom window, so couldn't put the light on, the bathroom window wouldn't shut.

Overall: It was a disgrace. We had alovely time visiting family, but the Elms was terrible! We would have left after the first night, had we not been visiting family. When you book into a Hotel, you expect to be staying in the Hotel, not put around the back, in the stable block, with the staff and bins!!!!!  (108201616)

1.0 / 5 Anonymous on 12/09/2009 (Mature couple)

Room in stable block, not in the Hotel. Overlooks the hotel kitchen at the back of the Hotel, terrible, unsightly, a disgrace. More like staff accommodation. Noisey, a lot of door banging, very creakey floors, big gaps under the door, and door frame. Shower tap came off in my hand. No curtain in bathroom, so couldn't put the light on. Bathroom window won't close. Net curtains in bedroom filthy. Terrible.

Overall: The worst so called hotel, we have ever stayed in.  (108237452)

3.7 / 5 Anonymous on 01/08/2009 (Same sex couple)

Very pleasant staff

Hotel and rooms could be freshened up. new decor etc.

Overall: Would book hotel again  (108242469)

1.4 / 5 Jeremy [Brighton, GB] on 28/07/2009 (Young couple)

Cheap, friendly staff

The first room we were offered did not have a working toilet, the next room had a bathroom covered in black mould, the shower curtain was filthy. The bed was a 4'6" bed which for two people is ridiculous. The door to the room was rotting, the spyhole actually fell out of the door everytime it was shut. For breakfast there was no coffee supplied, instead hot water was , with a selection of decaffinated sachets with pots of coffemate or 'fake' milk.

Overall: The hotel from the outside must have once been an impressive place to stay, however the appalling state it is currently in spoils any first impression.  (107954554)

2.4 / 5 Gordon [GLASGOW, GB] on 09/06/2009 (Solo leisure traveller)

staff were very friendly and helpful

Room was in a poor state of repair with several shody finishes and no bedside lamp. The TV remote did not work and the TV itself was a poor quality specimen. There were no obvious switches for bathroom heating. Breakfast was advertised as being "full English" but came with only toast, 1 sausage (that was fairly rubbery), 2 rashers of bacon (good quality), 1 tomato and scrambled eggs that had not been whisked properly before cooking - the breakfast was barely adequate, coffee was very bad.

Overall: Not impressed. A very well situated and good looking hotel but the reception is the bar immediately facing on entering - general impression of staying in a pub with rooms. A nice big car park and grounds around the hotel, but no sense that any of these features are used to build clientele. Just a pub with TVs - pity the TVs in the rooms couldn't be even half as good.  (107338896)