After reading a few reviews on this site I was a little apprehensive about staying at this Hotel. How wrong I was. My wife and I booked a Lakeside Room on the Hotels website, for a shopping trip to Bluewater.

From start to finish everything was geared to making our stay a pleasant one. Food was great, entertainment better than great & the staff and management couldnt be any more accommodating.

Make sure you book a Lakeside room as it has a stunning view of the Lake.

I think the previous reviewer who listed a catalougue of problems must have had a personal vendetta against the place as I saw no eveidence of any of the problems listed.



I would say give the place a try. We did and dont regret it

We have just returned home after a fantastic 2night stay at The Inn on the Lake Hotel. The hotel is superb and the staff are extremely friendly.

Check in was a breeze, as soon as we walked up to reception Iwe were served immediately. We were given my room cards and promtly went to our room. What a suprise it was an absolutely beautiful room with an even better view of the lake.

We had Dinner on the first evening which was a lovely 3 course set menu. Every thing was served nicely with the minimum of fuss. After Dinner we had a lovely stroll around the Lake.

Breakfast the following morning was fine and served promptly. I maybe would have preferred a bigger choice of teas but that is being picky.

On the Saturday night we attended the Hotels Cabaret, Dinner & Dance. What a wonderfull event this was. Stunning 4 course meal and a live band & Disco entertained us all Evening.

Ok the Hotel is a little dated but I think people who critisise that are missing the point. Everything is cleaned, in good working order & has a kind of retro feel to it.

I must also say that the staff & Management could not be more friendly, In fact the Manager Jamie took time out on a few occasions to chat with us.

Overall a super experience and one which I hope to repeat soon.

I stayed here for one night with two colleagues, who had spent the previous two nights nights here. My room was on the lake side of the hotel and appeared to have been refurbished. The room was reasonably spacious, although the window was a patio door, which, of course, could not be left open at night so the room became hot. My colleagues' rooms were on the road side of the hotel and did not appear to have been refurbished. Noise from the road prevented their having the windows open. The bathrooms were almost certainly original from the 1960/1970s. The long corridors were gloomy, but the place seemed clean enough. The breakfast was fairly poor and was served in a dismal room. For the price (about £75), I could have stayed somewhere far more comfortable like a Travelodge.

Faulty Towers comes to mind. This place could easily be named the Grim Lake. At first it seems quite a pleasant lake, but halfway around it, I found dead fish floating, creating the most disgusting stench!

ROOMS:

Grotty. A motel type place which was probably once quite decent, but not now. The gloomy corridors lead to a smell of stale smoke as you enter even the requested non smoking bedroom.

I'd requested 2 rooms next door to each other, but we were provided with them at opposite ends of the corridor. Our room didn't face the lake, but what appeared to be an overspill car park!

I desperately needed to get some fresh air into the room, but as I reached the curtains, a sharp ended, broken curtain rail fell on my head! A loose ceiling fan hung precariously low, and wobbled as it was switched on! Needless to say, it wasn't used, it was just too dangerous. Contraventions of Health and Safety must surely be an issue!

The bathroom has peeling paint, and an inch thick of dust on the bath panel. The soap dispenser in one room had long ago come loose from the wall. In the other room, it was dirty!

RESTAURANT:

There appeared to be 2 'dining rooms' in the restaurant. The restaurant 'manager' (a lady who didn't smile ONCE during our entire stay) arrived 15 minutes late, to find 2 groups of people waiting. She panicked, not knowing where to seat them!

The food appeared reasonable, but when I requested a fat free meal due to health reasons, I was served prawns DRENCHED in fat, along with fried fish. When I complained about this, the manager denied it was cooked in fat. I demonstrated how the fat oozed out of a prawn and into the serviette. To eat this would've resulted in severe illness. I was recovering from a hospital admission. The soup was gloopy, in which the vegetables were suspended; I don't think it contained fat, but it looked oily on the top. No fat free dessert was available.

I was served a meal I did not order, and did not touch, other than to demonstrate how the prawns were saturated in fat, and the to lift the fish (hope it wasn't a floating one from their lake!) up to show how much oil sat underneath it. I refused to pay for this meal, but what followed, is surely illegal?

This place needs to learn what A La Carte means!

My meal was left untouched, but the hotel charged me £15, despite having complained and refusing to pay it. Infact, the reception staff issued me with a letter stating I would not have to pay until the hotel contacted me after my departure (the restaurant manager refused to accept payment minus the £15). Although I wrote to the hotel, they DECEPTIVELY charged the £15 to my credit card. Dodgy place! Take care!

At breakfast, I requested water. I could not drink hot drinks, or fruit juices. I was charged £2.50 for a bottle of water. My experience was that this hotel does not cater for people who will not do as they are told by the restaurant manager. She could be heard SHOUTING at the waitresses in the kitchen, because I'd asked for poached egg on toast instead of the hotel's usual fry up! I doubt the waitress could understand a word though, she struggled to understand basic English. I felt sorry for the girl.

RECEPTION STAFF: Extremely friendly, and quite embarrassed by the obvious mismanagement of this run down hotel, in such obvious need of adequate management. The receptionists said they would have not charged for the meal. When I asked the see the menu the following morning, the restaurant mis'manager stated "they've gone". GONE? Do menus get up and walk away? Overnight? Amazing. Where to? Why?

ENTERTAINMENT LOUNGE: A piano lounge consists of a sad piano, which has no front cover. It is sad to see such an instrument in a bad state. My son couldn't resist playing it though. It sounded like an old saloon piano!!! Still, my son managed to make a reasonable job of playing it, and it wasn't long before one of the hotel's maintenance men stood watching, saying he'd worked there several years (I think he said 20 yrs) and this was the FIRST time he'd EVER heard the piano played. He said it brought life to the hotel. Other guests also commented on how the music made the hotel seem a better place. I warn you, this place is gloomy!

MANAGEMENT: The restaurant manager claimed to be the hotel's overall manager, but the reception staff revealed this was not so. When I asked to speak to the hotel manager, he refused. He has not returned any of my calls, or replied to my letter.

Only stay here if you like bad value for your money, and you like to have money taken from your credit card for food you did not order and did not eat!

Good luck - you'll probably need it.