Saffron Walden hotel

Poor room experience- dusty skirting. No toilet tissue! Broken shower gel holder. Cooked breakfast was luke warm and appeared to have been ‘hanging around’ Evening meal service was very slow and and as they were accepting only minimal bookings at a time you would think they were doing this so that they could cope with demand- it didn’t work! When I pointed out these issues as I checked out of the hotel the response wasn’t apologetic but just contained excuses - and this was from (I assume) a manager - certainly wasn’t just a receptionist. I will be avoiding this location in future.

I stayed overnight after visiting Duxford air museum. The rooms were clean & the bed was comfortable. We had dinner in the restaurant, my son had the steak which he asked to be cooked medium rare, it came out over cooked & bland, my mum & I had the chicken tikka skewers which were extremely dry, we were all very hungry & tired after a long day, no one returned to our table to ask if our food was ok, the air conditioning was full on although we had mentioned how cold it was to the girl behind the bar when she served our drinks & she said she would look at it, we were shivering & it wasn’t enjoyable sitting there so decided to go to our rooms. The next morning we were all really hungry as we hadnt eaten much the night before & were all looking forward to breakfast, we came down at 9.10, we had paid for the full english breakfast but it was awful, everything looked dry & shrivelled up, it looked like it had sat there ages on a hot plate under heated lamps, the hash browns were rock hard, the fried eggs solid, the mushrooms were totally dry as were the sausages & bacon, if im honest i tried my best to try to eat it as my parents had paid for the hotel as we were away for my sons birthday & i didnt want to make a fuss & upset them but it was so bad that when the manager came over & asked if everything was ok i had to say no. I was already disappointed when i came down to get a table that so many were dirty,although it wasnt busy, i had to wipe one myself & all the cutlery containers were half empty that i went to 3 other tables to get enough for us! As i sat drinking my coffee I watched a member of staff stroll around aimlessly picking up one or two items at a time to go in & out of the kitchen, not once did he wipe down a table or replenish the cutlery containers, he had long shoulder length hair that looked like it needed a good wash & should most definitely have been tied back! I shuddered at the lack of hygiene. The manager refunded our breakfast & apologised, he had also checked us in the day before & there was also a problem with that, i had requested rooms on the ground or first floor as my mum doesnt use lifts, we waited ages for alternative rooms to be allocated. On returning to our room to pick up our belongings to check out there was a male cleaner sitting on his phone on the chair in the opposite room, i said good morning & he looked at me blankly without any response. It suddenly made me realise thats how all the staff were, there was so enthusiasm, rarely a conversation with guests, they were working but it felt like the bare minimum & they didnt look like they really wanted to be there, no team spirit at all

We stopped over between 2 locations to save a long drive We arrived about 8.30pm. Staff very helpful . So pleased we could still get something to eat. Very happy with the light bites menu The room was lovely. Plenty of pillows plus comfortable bed

Great location for our needs, just on the edge of town. Walkable in to town. We ate out both nights. Check-in was very easy, we used the automated process because other people were checking in at reception. We did chat with the lady on reception who was very friendly. Our room (Premier+) was in a different building but only a very short walk across the main car park. The building was virtually brand new, the room appeared to be virtually brand new. Exceptionally clean, adequate size for our needs but not massive well appointed with usual furniture and small appliances (kettle, mini fridge, TV, iron) including a pod type coffee machine. Bed was again, adequate but not huge, although very comfortable. The bathroom was immaculate and the towels clean and surprisingly soft. Soap and shampoo was supplied. Lift, corridors and other communal areas were immaculately clean. We had breakfast on site on our first morning. Plenty of choice and freshly prepared. The Receptionist had advised to avoid the 6:00 - 7:30am period as this was the time most of the contractors who stayed, would be eating and it could be very busy. We went at 8:30, there was no issue getting seated or getting the breakfast items we wanted. Overall it was a very satisfactory stay and we would stay there again when visiting our friends in the area. However, the reason I didn’t give it a ‘5’ was down to the breakfast on day 2. We went down at 8:30, but virtually everything had run out, from both the cooked area and the continental area. There was some cereal, some bread, butter, jam, marmalade, tea and coffee. The staff did apologise and said there was some sort of stock/ordering/delivery issue. So we went to Costa Coffee across the car park.

Popped in for breakfast and it was amazing, Greeted by Andrea who was so welcoming and professional and made sure that everything was just right. Food was lovely and, in these days of high prices, great value.