As part of a British holiday with our pet, we chose to stay at the Hampton by Hilton Hotel in Torquay, a small coastal town in southern England.
A look back at this half-hearted stay.
Booking
I booked this property a few weeks before our arrival. To do so, I used my business’s corporate rate, and for just over £125 a night I found this property located in the small town of Torquay.
Note that the property dares to charge a £50 cleaning fee. A bit petty, considering that the first floor rooms are reserved for pet owners.
Arrival
I will complete the check-in process via the Hilton app about 48 hours before we arrive at the hotel.
After a journey of more than four hours from London, with a very interesting break at the Stonehenge monument about half way, we arrived at the hotel at the very end of the afternoon, around 5 pm.
Our formalities are carried out by the receptionist, and I inquire if our room offers a view on the port. She answered in the negative, telling me that all the rooms with a view were occupied, but that I could change the next day if necessary. So be it. But that’s not counting the benefit of Hilton Honors status: a small bag of cookies, as well as a bottle of water. Great!
Room
Our room was located on the first floor of the property, a few steps away from the reception.
From the entrance, on the right, is the bathroom of our room. It is equipped with a shower (with a missing door), a washbasin, and a toilet.
Next is a small closet, then the King size bed on the right, a TV and desk on the left, and an armchair near the window. The window, in fact, doesn’t really give onto an interior courtyard, contrary to what the receptionist had told us, but onto a kind of patio with gravel, inaccessible from the room.
Moreover, the window does not open.
We give up changing rooms because the hotel is located on a very busy street.
Finally, the virtual tour in video:
Hotel facilities
The hotel has a fitness room, which we will not use during our stay.
Catering
In addition to the breakfast offered at all Hampton properties, the hotel also offers a short menu of snacks for dinner, which we do not use.
On the other hand, the first evening of our stay, we will have a drink in the lobby of the hotel, which is also pet friendly.
Breakfast service
For the three mornings of our stay, we had breakfast at the hotel. It’s a signature of Hampton properties to offer complimentary breakfast, and here it will be of pretty good quality.
Let us note the very important affluence during our first morning, because we arrived at the end of the service, and on a Sunday morning! It will be necessary to wait more than 15 minutes to reach the buffet, it is rather very unpleasant!
The hot content is pretty good, with scrambled eggs and quite decent sausages. The toasts are also very good.
On the other hand, the pastries won’t be very good, and the different coffees and orange juices are really disgusting!
The waffle machine is not located in the same place as the rest of the buffet, and will not be properly greased, making it very difficult to use. Too bad for a Hampton by Hilton signature.
Lobby Bar
We will have a drink the first night at the lobby bar. I’ll have a gin and tonic made with a local gin, and my wife will have cider. We’ll enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the lobby, and the friendliness of the staff who obviously love animals!
Service
I must note an important point about the service. I found the service to be absolutely abysmal, except for a few staff at the front desk. Few responses to our greetings during the various passages in the lobby, housekeeping missed the first day while we did not put the Do Not Disturb signvery very approximate quality of cleaning, I think that at this price, especially in the UK, we can expect a quality service. This was not the case. It’s really a shame.
Departure
The departure formalities were simple, as they were done through the Hilton application. This was possible thanks to the sending of the invoice during the night before our departure, a practice that should be generalized in all hotels, in paper format or in electronic format by e-mail. This makes the check-out process much easier.
Bottom line
A really mixed stay, that we will certainly not repeat in this property.
