Taunton Deane District Homestays

I cannot imagine what the few nay-sayers here expect for £65 per night, including breakfast. This is a clean, comfortable, modern hotel with friendly, welcoming staff. Parking is easy. The rooms are well-equipped and a wide range of toiletries are provided, free of charge, if needed. The rooms are air conditioned and secure. The beds are very comfortable. The rooms are cleaned daily. The location is quiet at night and the curtains are blackout. I slept well. The bar is well stocked and there is plenty of room. The breakfast buffet, has fruit, porridge, innumerable cereals, toast, fruit compote, yoghurt, muffins, croissants, hot bacon, beans, sausages and scrambled eggs. The hot food was well prepared. There is a range of tea, coffee and fruit juice. There is plenty of seating and the tables are cleaned and sanitised throughout. There is a large, accommodating, reasonably-priced pub next door with a good menu for evening meals. In all I would recommend this hotel.

Male at check in could not have been more miserable, uninviting and hated life more if he tried. After grunting his way through the booking and sliding a piece of paper to sign and then sliding the key to me I wasnt quite sure if we had finished the transaction as there was no guidance from himself. I said are we all done and as he grunted at me I assumed we were there so I left to find the room. The room was on the ground floor. Bathroom was grotty and the flush just poured out water for half an hour a time every time it was used. Bed was small. Room was dated. Phone was dirty and covered in whatever finger juice had congealed over many years. The carpet was threadbare. The room was an embarrassment to be fair. Went into the bar to get food. Asked for the tablet, the member of staff was busy swearing with the ”regulars” and I felt as though I was causing her problems but she obliged. Ordered a Magners via the tablet, an Astril was dumped on the bar. I left it as that wasnt my order, then was barked at by another woman that was my drink ”but she was too busy to bring it over”, granted there were 2 people at the bar at the time. I said I didnt order that, she told me I had, I assured her I hadnt, then lo and behold they apparently had no Magners so I took the Astril for ease. The food was a pizza which in reality was a burnt base with some mush chucked on. Horrible. Back to the room, good sleep. Breakfast in the morning. No knives, no beans. 2 members of staff having a yap, interrupted them and got what was needed, they went back to yapping. Check out the food and everything was sorted by the company. The receptionist told me it wasn't. I asked her to check as I knew it was, she said I have but I will check again. She told me no the company dont cover it. I assured her they do and this time showed her the booking. She called someone else over who told her to bill the company if thats what i wanted. I left and then they proceeded to moan about me not accepting that the booking was not including food so I had to return and have more of the same conversation. As a diamond elite member this hotel is an embarrassment to the brand. The staff are rude. The rooms are inadequate and dated and the check in and check out process is shambolic at best. Need to do better. Wont be staying there again.

Unfortunately our overnight sleep was shortened by the drunk men fighting directly outside our (ground floor) room between 02:45am and 03:15am. They then had a break but came back with reinforcements (more drunk screaming women) at 03:30am. Interesting and informative perhaps but not conducive to a good night's rest. The staff (not surprisingly) didn't intervene and, if they did call the Riot Squad or Water Cannon, these failed to appear. Oh ... and it was 'all Toby's fault'. Apparently. Let's hope he was suitably chastised.

A friend and I stayed at The Castle for a girls weekend away. It was a nice treat and perfectly located for exploring Taunton centre. Bars and restaurants just a stroll away. Staff were friendly. Parking was convenient. £10 for 24 hours. Room was clean but very expensive for what it was as we upgraded but it wasn't anything special.

the rooms aren't bad for what you pay -- albeit the plumbing is really old and the bathroom had a bad odor. But the service in the problem. I booked a triple room for myself and my daughter for a 7 night stay. The room was right over an extremely noisy street – and you had to open the windows at night as the room was hot and stuffy. I couldn’t sleep at all the first night with all the traffic noise, so I asked the next morning if we could move to a quieter room. I told them I don’t mind downgrading, we just need something with two beds and quieter. At first they were very helpful, providing a single quiet courtesy room just for me (my daughter stayed and slept with headphones in), and told me they would work it out for the rest of the stay. But after 2 nights they told me I had to leave the quiet room. I asked again if we can move to another room and they told me no, it’s all booked. . I asked why they didn’t give me a chance to book the extra single room before they rented it and they got extremely rude and evaded the question. They told me it was too bad and if I don’t like it I could leave. I asked if I leave, can have my money back for the unused nights and they said no. I wound up leaving with three nights left of my stay. (no refund for unused nights) I asked for written proof that I was leaving and the the assistant manager started yelling at me. Really unprofessional. Don’t stay here.