Fowey Hall, Exclusive Hire

We stayed here for 4 nights to celebrate my mum's birthday. I wanted something luxurious, but most importantly, child friendly! This hotel is perfect for couples, single people or families. They cater for everyone! Games rooms with table tennis, pool table, 2x arcade games machines, football table, cinema (showing 2 films per day) and even 2 hours childcare per night of staying included! The staff sat us in a family area within the restaurant for breakfast and dinner so young children do not disturb other guests. It was absolutely ideal as I was able to relax, knowing that a child having a meltdown on the next table was no different to mine 5 minutes later 🤣 The staff can not do enough, and everyone always asked if we were okay or if we needed anything. I commented to the restaurant manager that the service for me was excellent, because usually young staff show no interest or look bored! When you're paying a lot of money to stay somewhere, you want to be taken care of and made to feel looked after. The only negative is that the food served at dinner is nice, but not as good as it could be. It's also overpriced for what it is. We only ate for dinner here once because of that.

There is absolutely no denying that the location, view and hotel are all fantastic and possibly the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at in the UK, however the service was very varied and lacking at times. My partner and I visited the hotel Friday to Sunday with our dog. The hotel is easy to find, very centrally located and the views are more like the French Riviera than the River Fowey. There is no angle of the hotel and grounds that isn’t photogenic and the facilities from the pool to the spa to the dining areas are all at a very high standard and makes for a fantastic place to unwind and relax. On arrival the staff were welcoming and showed us to our room where there were dog bowls, a dog bed and treats for the dog which was very lovely and unexpected. We had the smallest “Cosy” room, which had plenty of space and was by no means lower end with spectacular views overlooking the harbour. There is tea and a pod coffee machine with a fridge in the room, plenty of space to unpack and an iron and ironing board in each room. The bathroom was clean and tidy, however being in the old part of the building the hot water was somewhat temperamental and I didn’t manage to have one good shower throughout our stay. The main downside to our stay was the food service. For breakfast there is the option of continental and cooked that you order that are both fantastic, particularly the continental buffet option which was fortunate as my hot food never arrived on the first morning despite several times chasing staff. This same lack of service was found when we paid for the sparkling wine afternoon tea for the Saturday, we arrived at 2:30pm as we had booked prior to arrival; this was the first available sitting time and even though the hotel was very quiet with few people to serve we were left without food for an hour. This was fed back to the server at the time and all would have been fed back to management when we checked us out but we weren’t even asked how our stay was so we just paid the bill and left. Maybe as the hotel is geared up for family breaks away they’ve lost sight of the small things that make a break away memorable for couples who also wish to visit, but for the cost of the rooms each night and how nice the venue is, my expectation was that the service should have been as good or at the very least to a standard where you don’t wait an hour for food on a paid for pre-booked extra, or for food to never arrive at all? It was clear that the majority of staff were new and inexperienced. All that being said, we will visit again and would and have recommended the hotel to friends and family, just with the caveat that our experience was a little tainted by the service. If you do stay at the hotel then I would highly recommend the restaurant Pintxo Fowey just a short walk away, amazing food, wine and fantastic service.

Visited for afternoon tea, the area used for this was also open to hotel guests for relaxing which made for a slightly awkward atmosphere when we arrived as they were just trying to feed their baby. Lovely items in the afternoon tea and staff keen for feedback as this is a new offering. Somewhat difficult to track a staff member down to pay, this should maybe be offered as an at table service rather than being directed to the bar.