The Cookbook has 2 good quality restaurants and calls itself a boutique hotel. Unfortunately the hotel is not boutique as this brings to mind luxury and quality when in reality the rooms are looking tired and in need of attention. On checking in, first impressions were very good, staff are very pleasant and attentive, the reception area is modern and attractive. We were offered a drink while we were checked in, which was very welcome. Unfortunately once we got to our room, we discovered that the air conditioning was not working at all, it was running but just moving around ambient air. We called reception and they advised that they would call in the engineer whilst we were out for dinner. On our return, we were advised that they discovered that the unit had broken and we would be moved to another room. The replacement room air conditioning was working as it was a brand new unit, but instead of replacing the old unit with this new one, the old unit was left in place on another wall and the new one added as well. So the room contained two air conditioners which looked a bit odd. The hotel corridors were roasting hot, it appears that either the air conditioning is not working in these either or they had been turned off to save money. Our replacement room was looking very tired in places with doors needing sanding and revarnishing and drawers that were falling out if you pulled them out too far. Using the bathroom, we discovered a couple of issues. Firstly the sink tap was falling apart. Secondly and to be honest, totally disgusting was the wet black mould that I only discovered after I ran a bath and had a close up view of the bath tap. We reported both issues to reception and asked that they be resolved. Staff assured us that they would be immediately dealt with and on our return from dinner that evening, we were told that the sink tap had been fixed by the engineer, the mould would be dealt with by room service the following day. We were reassured that staff were on top of the issues and found the sink tap now fully working in the room. We felt confident the mould issue would be resolved the following day but to our disappointment, discovered the tap in exactly the same disgusting state. As were were spending our last night in the hotel and we had already bought it to the hotels attention, we decided to not bother to report a second time, but just list the issue here for other travellers to decide if they want to stay at this hotel or not! Breakfast at the hotel was fine although there was a bit of a lack of choice which other reviewers have complained about. It seems that there was a chef shortage as the receptionist was also doubling as the cook during our stay at the hotel. He advised us that the only thing he could cook was a plain omelette or scrambled eggs. Luckily we were fine with that choice and he cooked them well. I got the impression that most of the money spent on the Cookbook has gone into both restaurants (which are lovely) and
Very Good
5 Reviews