Warner Leisure Hotels
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This was our 3rd visit to Warners…
This was our 3rd visit to Warners Bodelwyddan Castle and overall, it was a good experience but not as good as previous visits. BAD - It has lost its edge; they clearly have problems with staffing levels. There are clearly maintenance issues in respect of two of the men’s toilets (see photos). Worn out furnishings in the Atrium Bar, chairs and settees that clearly need replacing. Settees have stud covers missing on the back leaving sharp studs that can damage a jacket. The underneath of chairs hanging down in both the Atrium Bar and Mulberry’s and stitching worn out and frayed on tub chairs (see photos). We knew in advance that the pool facilities were going to be closed for maintenance until at least March 2025, but no specific reason given for the closure over many months. The leisure facilities were a disappointment as one of the usual two table tennis tables was missing. I enquired about this at the Leisure reception, who actually have the worst, laconic, indifferent, staff at the Castle. When one of them finally got off of the wooden cabinets on which he was seated they told me that the other table was broken some time ago. They could not tell me when or if it was going to be replaced. One of the leisure reception staff was rude to my wife later on in the weekend. A ‘Butterfly Active’ table tennis table exactly like the missing one is £419 inc Vat delivered next day. Warners would save the Vat and its pennies to them to replace it. Our small group was looking forward to the table tennis in view of the bad weather. The gents’ toilets in the Leisure area and the Atrium are simply poorly maintained and foul. They are malodorous all the time. There is no evidence of regular checking during day and evening, The fans and air freshening system do not appear to work. One of the two cubicles is so small you risk becoming trapped if you turn around. Underneath of seat toilet have long term staining... and should be replaced. GOOD- The majority of the staff were excellent, smart, polite, efficient without being servile. 'Tegan' our dining waitress or Tiggy as I called her, was superb. Always happy and we wanted for nothing at mealtimes. 'David', a 67-year-old waiter in the Atrium bar and Mulberry’s was again excellent, a pleasure to order from and always quick with food and drinks. I noticed on this visit to the Castle that quite a number were not wearing their name badges, and it appeared to be from choice rather than mislaid or lost. The same ones always had no badges. It’s hard to compliment staff with no badges. The waiter staff male and female in the dining room work really hard, especially when it was obvious that they were short staffed at times because some staff had no showed that day. The cooks etc behind the buffet self-serve were lovely, ready to answer questions about dishes. All food was superb and faultless. MANAGEMENT - For some reason, other than in the dining section, you do not readily see supervision or management walking around the rest of the hotel facilities checking on both staff and guests. No managers or supervisors appear to be pro-active when it comes to approaching couples or groups of guests in lounges or Mulberry’s or the Leisure centre. I cannot understand why management do not approach guests and seek feedback... it should be automatic if you are in hospitality. No-one asked our group where we were from or if we were enjoying our break. The criticism in this review is outweighed by the fact that overall, we did enjoy ourselves on this our 3rd visit and of course we will go again. But Warners needs to pull its socks up. if it can afford to buy the Museum at the Castle at £500K and then build another 37 bedrooms, it can afford to replace a table tennis table and some chairs and sette
