The Spa At Slaley Hall - Hexham

Robyn P.

My partner booked us a spa day which was a wonderful surprise. However, the excitement soon ended when we arrived and the first thing I could hear were children screaming and running around the pool area.

I appreciate the pool may be open to guests from the hotel however spa days are supposed to be relaxing and this was very far from it.

The towels were old, scratchy and had holes in. There were pool loungers however relatively few.
The changing rooms were very hot, uncomfortably so.

We had a short treatment in the spa itself which was ok and the ladies who did the treatment were lovely.

Once we got to the restaurant we were seated however waited around 15 minutes to even get a drink and we had to ask for it, we weren’t offered one. We had ordered a chicken Caesar salad and I’m not entirely sure what we were served…limp lettuce, poor quality chicken, soggy croutons, anchovies and a Caesar sauce. We also should have received a glass of Prosecco each and despite asking for that with some water, only the water was provided. It was a further 10 minutes before the Prosecco was provided.
The brownie for desert with melon and a single blackberry was dry.

I think for what is advertised as a 4-star hotel, spa and golf resort it is astoundingly underwhelming and very overpriced for the experience and service we received.

I would not recommend to anyone and would advise looking elsewhere if you are wanting a relaxing day with good food and good service.

layla M.

I booked this as a mother and daughter spa day but was disappointed by the experience, especially as this was a gift.

There was a kids club in the pool as we first arrived so the pool area was very busy and loud. The changing rooms were very small for the number of people who were using them, with very little bench space and seating areas to get changed. There was also only one private cubicle to get changed in.

The treatments were very nice and well done and the staff were lovely.

After our treatments we went back to the pool, which also had a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. Unfortunately it was very busy with very few loungers that were all on use. We had to sit on chairs that were set out near the juice bar, which was not very relaxing. We never managed to get a lounger even though we were there for a while and there were other people who did not have loungers as well. This could have been managed better with more loungers or better spacing of spa bookings. Due to how busy it was we were not able to use the jacuzzi, as it was always full. The sauna was standard and the pool was quite cool.

We had a light lunch included in the spa day. This restaurant was at the other side of the hotel from the spa and quite confusing to find despite being given directions. There was a limited menu made up of flatbreads and salads. These were okay but I expected more choice given the reputation of the hotel. There was a brownie for dessert, served cold with watermelon and pineapple- a confusing combination and disappointing.

The price charged did not reflect the experience, despite it being reduced when I bought the spa day.

Overall despite the treatments being good, it was disappointing, not very relaxing and I would not return.

Ian Y.

What a disastrous experience, avoid
at all costs! To be advertised as a 'relaxing' spa break is an absolute joke, there was nothing relaxing about it.
On arrival we wanted a nice chill, cuppa, bite to eat prior to our spa treatments - we promptly ordered food, bar staff were pleasant but very very slow. An hour passed & I chased up our food order, which arrived that late we had to rush it down to attend our booked treatments. What a great start to our stay! The chips were stone cold. When I say stone cold, they were not even luke warm & certainly not edible. A refund took 35 minutes to process, this had to be done by the ‘top’ Manager - really, for the sake of £4.50!
The hotel had supposedly suffered 2 power cuts prior to our arrival & was absolutely freezing cold. We were assured this would be corrected soon. We had a table booked in the restaurant at 19:30pm, it was still freezing at this time & none of us could get warm. We returned to our rooms which were absolutely freezing cold too & even altering the temperature did not help! We were sat in our rooms with jumpers/coats/duvets around us to keep warm!
POOL AREA - What Spa experience allows children in the pool, how is this relaxing for the rest of the guests? The pool area was rammed with lots of young children screeching/screaming & dive-bombing in the pool - not one member of staff noticed or stopped this. Our worst nightmare, we had come away for a quiet/relaxing stay. There wasn't a seat/table or lounger anywhere to be found. We managed to get into the jacuzzi, but this was also not working & had no bubbles! The water in the pool/jacuzzi was freezing; we didn't stay in there for long!
Children had access to the pool area practically the whole of our stay. We would not have booked Slaley if we knew kids would be present - fact!
The massages/treatments in the Elemis Spa were fabulous, however cut short by 10 mins; again this shouldn’t happen!
The following day we decided not to return to the pool area, as children would again be present. Therefore, we decided to go to the bar/lounge area for a chill, chat, relax & a cuppa before departing. There was one person serving on the bar; he had to keep leaving his post to deliver meals to guests & the amount of people complaining about the service was ridiculous. We waited 35 minutes to order coffees/drinks & ended up leaving without being served. Where were the so called management team assessing customer service/demand?
We checked out. Reception staff were very miserable on arrival & departure.
On arrival, outside our rooms were 2 empty dirty glasses & outside another a plate with leftover food. When we exited our rooms these were still there - disgusting!
The drive upto the hotel was absolutely horrific with around 150-200 really bad potholes in the road; this desperately needs resurfacing, as it could potentially damage someone's car, there was no way of avoiding them.
NOT the relaxing break we had all hoped for & we will definitely not be returning.
A 'Spa' break should be a time to relax, wind down & enjoy the experience, it was the furthest from this!
The biggest insult was being given a £50 refund for each room (equating to £25 per person). We will NEVER return. Avoid avoid avoid, we would definitely NOT recommend.
Horrible experience!

Donna M.

Dire, jacuzzi was broken, showers were cold and the steam room had a really bad musty smell. The treatment, a back massage, was OK at best. The spa package included a light lunch. The food was ok when it finally came. Service in the dinning was exceptionally poor, at times there where no staff present. We waited 40 minutes for our pre-ordered lunch, a chicken salad and a flatbread. There were others left waiting for over an hour. Tables from previous guests where left uncleared and the floor and surrounding area in places was a mess. Staff disappeared off in a group at one point and came back 15 minutes later. We even had to hang about until someone eventual came so we could pay. Never again.

Gella B.

Just not impressed.
Pool freezing . Jacuzzi not working .
No staff for directions anywhere. Lunch took 40 mins to arrive and we had to sit getting cold in our wet gowns . Showers grotty .
Unfortunately did not enjoy this one .
Very small bowl of chips was extra charge
for lunch . Nice girl on the drinks bar ..

tina A.

The one star is for the young staff who never stopped worked really hard
We had to wait 2 hours to go into pool area.
Bar in pool area shut until it gets quieter
Kids running all over causing havoc adults left pool for this. It was like butlins holiday camp pool attendent on her own kids parents told about there kids, not interested
Pool not heated
Rooms were nice
Food nice
Bar after meal tables full of glasses
plates etc. use your loaf and get staff a trolley so they can Clear multiple tables at same time
Breakfast service disaster ran out of bacon pastries and cakes no supervision at all or not seen
Credit to them kids serving 👏👏👏
Not worthy of a posh hotel fir my first experience
Actions supervisors to guide staff
Get them a trolley keep some stock in food areas instead of the
Having to run from place to place
I cappuccino took half hour howay really
Young staff amazing

ashleigh B.

Positives: friendly staff, food was nice and the treatment's were excellent. The restaurant swapped out the free fizz from our deal for cold drinks without issue. There was a costume spinner and bags to take your damp costume home in.

Negatives: baby classes were going on in the spa pool for the first hour of our 4 hour slot (last 2 hours were treatments and lunch). Spa's are for relaxation not baby classes. The jacuzzi is tiny and only enough room for 2 people at a time which meant we got very little time in it. The food was wrong and missing one of the two fries when brought out. We only got given one towel each, which were old and scratchy. There also was a shortage of sunloungers.

Overall we were disappointed and wouldn't recommend or return

Marie H.

Awful,will never go back,They allow 65 people in the spa area,very overcrowded,no seats ,no loungers available we had to stand.They still kept allowing people to go in and when I asked why as it was so full they said they would ask some to leave at 11 am they never did this or removed towels that had been on loungers over half an hour as they said they would.All areas were in need of cleaning,no toilet roll,no towels.Steam room and sauna constantly full so could not use,relaxation room was just for spa collection and form filling in and was full .There needs to be more regulation on bookings for spa days ,maybe only after hotel guests have vacated hotel so that it's not overfull,they still want to take your money but not offer you a good service ,a trip to a leisure centre was more like slaley hall yesterday,but £6.00 at a leisure centre,£102.00 at Slaley hall.