Gatwick Moat House, Horley

...most recent stay at the Gatwick Moat House Hotel on the night of the 7th August 2003. I paid £104.00 to stay one night bed, breakfast and evening meal at this hotel and feel let down by the whole experience. (You pay per room not per person and there were two of us staying for that price. To understand why I am not happy then you should read on. I have had a rough time with hotels and other holiday travel plans lately and this is just another one ...
...The Gatwick Moat House is advertised as a three Star hotel (and even four Star on some websites), but its décor is shabby, and many of the features you expect to experience, such as air conditioning though out the building, are not present. This hotel does however offer seven meeting rooms as well as designed to accommodate a maximum of around one hundred and eighty delegates. The hotel also boasts a fitness centre, which I have not been able to ... more

what chance has the hotel?

I am writing to tell you about my most recent stay at the Gatwick Moat House Hotel on the night of the 7th August 2003. I paid £104.00 to stay one night bed, breakfast and evening meal at this hotel and feel let down by the whole experience. (You pay per room not per person and there were two of us staying for that price. To understand why I am not happy then you should read on. I have had a rough time with hotels and other holiday travel plans lately and this is just another one to add to the quickly growing list.

The Gatwick Moat House is advertised as a three Star hotel (and even four Star on some websites), but its décor is shabby, and many of the features you expect to experience, such as air conditioning though out the building, are not present. This hotel does however offer seven meeting rooms as well as designed to accommodate a maximum of around one hundred and eighty delegates. The hotel also boasts a fitness centre, which I have not been able to use, as it is not suitable for disabled people! (I wonder for how long, with the 2004 disability laws soon coming into effect?) If you wish to use a pool, you have to use the pool in a neighbouring hotel for the cost of £5.00 per session per person.

This hotel is located about five to ten minutes drive away from one of Britain’s busiest airports. Gatwick Moat House is found at Longbridge Roundabout London Gatwick RH6 OAB, London United Kingdom. A shuttle bus service runs the hotel to Gatwick Airport and the railway station. It is free from the airport to the hotel but costs £2.00 to travel from the hotel to the airport with no discount for children. You need to be made aware of this fact as it maybe cheaper to book a taxi. If you use a taxi like I did, expect to pay around £6.00- £8.00 depending to the taxi company. This hotel claims to be perfectly situated to discover Kensington World of Adventures and all the attractions of central London can be reached within 25 minutes on the Gatwick Express.

At checking in I was told that I had been allocated an executive room on the fourth floor, and not near to a left as was requested or confirmed by your staff on booking over the telephone, due to being disabled and not being able to walk more than twenty yards without experiencing acute back pain. (No discount was offered to me for having to book a "larger" room out of necessity rather than choice.) I was told the room was bigger than a standard room, but it appear no different to the standard rooms on the fifth floor. Both rooms had a double bed, work desk, chair, clothes hanging area, and bedside cabinet. I feel like someone was not telling the truth entirely as they were exactly the same. There was no music in our room either as advertised on the website for executive rooms. The bed was comfortable and the linen was fresh and clean, but the carpet had a large stain on it. The ensuite bathroom was clean and there was no black mould, even on the shower curtain so the cleanliness was quite good. My only complaint about the maid was that she opened the door without knocking. Not very nice, when you are trying to get dressed. I did express my concerns about this fact on checking out.

I had also ordered a crown package but on arriving to my room not all the package was present. I did not have the selection of specialist teas, filter coffee, orange juice, or cafetiere, as shown on the up grade leaflet in our room. We were not offered a free paper either, although one is suppose to be included in the crown package. The bathroom did not have Virgin Vie products in it either. (This is also stated in the package). All in all not a good start to our one night stop over stay.

The ‘individually controlled air-conditioning’ central heating did not work and as we needed to have our windows open due to the temperature in our room being above 27oC; we had a disturbed nights sleep due to the aircraft noise. As I was having difficulty in breathing due to my asthma too and the room was extremely hot, we had to ask for a fan because of the poor air quality.

As our stay included an evening meal within the package, we went to the Harriet’s Restaurant on the first floor. There is also Harriet’s Bar, which seems uninviting and dark, so we did not try it out. The service in the Harriet’s Restaurant was very slow, even though the restaurant was not overly full. We had to wait twenty-five minutes between the ‘starter course’ and ‘main meal’. This was not very satisfactory. My husband had ordered the ‘Rib Eye Steak’ but what arrived was a piece of sirloin arrived with not explanation or apology. I had ordered the ‘Penne Pasta with Tomato Sauce’. There was no mention of cheese on the menu, but what arrived was awful. It was a plate of dried out pasta and sauce topped with a burnt rubbery cheese. I sent this meal back, whilst my husband decided to eat his meal. I had also asked for a side order of fries. These were cold but were left on the table instead of being removed too. The garlic bread, which accompanied the dish, was cold by this time as were the chips.

Ten minutes later a new plate of pasta arrived. I asked for some ground pepper and olive oil to have with my pasta. Not too much to ask when this was suppose to be a restaurant in a three star hotel: I had to wait another ten minutes for the waitress to bring me a dish of unground peppercorns and a jug containing vinegar instead of oil. There was no way of grinding the corns and I was curious why she had brought them to the table in this manner. I had poured the vinegar on my food before I realised it was not oil. I was so unhappy by this time I asked to speak to the person in-charge of the restaurant and expressed my fury about the poor service.

I was extremely annoyed and asked for a fresh order of food to be sent to my room. My husband had eaten his food by this time and only required a sweet course. I asked for his desert to be sent to our room instead, using room service. This was done, but we had to wait a further thirty minutes to get our food, now well over an hour since finishing my starter. This is not very satisfactory and not what I expect from a restaurant of a three star hotel. I feel the restaurant had taken advantage of me instead of me being able to ‘take advantage of the hotel restaurant’. For me the promise from your website and I quote ‘Harriet's Bar & Restaurant offers you the chance to relax and enjoy superb food’, did not meet with my expectations.

I was not charged for drinks during my meal, a total of about £7.00 I found out on checking out, but I was at not time offered an apology for the for service. I have stayed here at Gatwick Moat House before and over the past six month the hotel’s standard visibly has deteriorated. I was therefore left with no other course than to write to the “Queens line” (booking agents for the Moat House Group) with my concerns and dissatisfaction with my and my husband’s stay. I am currently awaiting a reply and will amend this opinion when I do with their comments.

NB. Quotes come from the Gatwick Moat House website directly.
 

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