The Castle At Taunton, Exclusive Hire

I'm reluctantly posting this somewhat unflattering review, but it's only fair that others are made aware of the deceptive website before parting with a lot of money for a "luxury" night or weekend away. First the good: The staff, both behind reception and in the "restaurant" were pleasant enough, and it is nice to stay in a historic setting. Both rooms were clean. Now the not-so-good (bad, really): The website is very deceptive, both in the standard of the rooms and the "restaurant". Our initial "deluxe double" room was extremely spartan with a cramped, tiny bathroom. The "king-size" bed was two single beds pushed together with very soft mattresses so you disappeared down the middle if you turned away from admiring the 1970's-era polystyrene tiles on the ceiling with their authentic patina. A lovely view of the rear of the concrete multistorey carpark in the middle distance completed the "deluxe" £300-per-night experience. We asked to be moved to a better room, which was an improvement, being one of the "refurbished" rooms. This "refurbished" room did have a proper bed, double glazing, and was better furnished. It also had air-conditioning, although this didn't actually produce any cool air, no matter how low you set the temperature. Sadly the refurbishment doesn't appear to have included nailing the floorboards down, as every single step you took around the room was accompanied by loud clanks, creaks and groans and there was some shoddy repair work in the bathroom which just reminds you that you are overpaying for the standard of the accommodation. Speaking of the bathroom, there are no nice soaps or shampoos, just a "fixed-to-the-wall" dispenser with some generic shower gel. As regards meals, THERE IS NO DINING ROOM. The round tables with tablecloths depicted on the website are NOT the dining room. You will be eating dinner and breakfast in the noisy and dingy public bar/restaurant just like everyone else on bare wooden tables with cheap crockery and cutlery and a standard pub menu. The bottom line is that other than the historic exterior of the building and the central location in Taunton, this hotel is no better than a Premier Inn but costs over 3 times the price, whilst Premier Inns actually have better beds, free parking (did I mention that's an extra £10/night here?) and nicer bar/restaurants with actual windows you can look out of. I would also argue the Premier Inn breakfast is better quality and has a wider selection buffet and certainly nicer fresh coffee rather than the stewed brew offered here. We were very disappointed with this whole sorry episode and felt particularly cheated as we were supposed to be celebrating a recovery from a serious illness with a special night away and dress-up dinner, but hey ho. Lesson learned. Pay more attention to reviews like this.

Stayed at hotel for 1 night and this was by far the worst hotel stay I've ever had. I travel a lot for work and have stayed at The Castle previously so I had an idea of what to expect. It's a little dated but central and close to where I needed to be. As I type this, I'm sitting in the room and hardly slept because of a horrible whooshing sound in the next room, like a washing machine or pump of some sort. Let's not forget the creaky floors upstairs which are not my neighbour's fault really. Eventually called reception around 5:30am about the whooshing noise and the gentleman said there shouldn't be a noise. He offered to come up and listen to investigate and I took him up on the offer. This was mostly so no one else goes through a sleepless night. He said he would be "2 minutes" and he never showed up! Now, I don't know much about hospitality but I do know that it's not an easy job so I am always polite and try to be understanding. When I do have an issue, I like that to be resolved, especially when there's money in exchange for a service. When my concerns are disregarded, it leaves me with no choice but to warn others as I am doing now. DO Not stay at this hotel if you want a good night's sleep. Stay at a bland chain hotel or a B&B because I can promise you that the rooms and service will be a lot better than this place. I usually stay with a team. Thankfully, I'm travelling alone on this occasion. I can certainly say this will be the last time I or any of the team will stay here. Such a shame really because, small hotels like this are worth supporting but The Castle have not made it easy to support. I hope they'll have better luck with someone else.