Mercure Blackburn Dunkenhalgh Hotel & Spa    

The pool was good

the lighting in the room was poor and the hotel felt tired and needing investment.

everything it was a wonderful break for myself my mum and daughters.

nothing

The towels we were provided with smelt mildewed, to the extent that when you used them it made you smell of stale, damp towels. The staff did change them on request though. Had requested a double room, but the bed was 2 single ones zipped together, with a big rift still down the middle, which meant it wasn't very comfortable. After going out for the day, the cleaners came into the room, and on returning in the evening we found that they had left our room door open. Having left my work laptop and several other valuables in the room, this was a particularly worrying lack of security.

Staff slow to respond. Food very overpriced for the standard. No available internet in rooms which isn't good enough for an allegedly four star hotel.

The breakfast selection. Breakfast staff who were patient with our children. The pool which had good change rooms, pleasantly warm water and the towels which were provided. Proximity to pretty rural areas. Having TV with CBeebies on it for the kids in the morning.

Not being told the pre-booked rate for breakfast when I tried to phone in advance and pre-book it. Noisy neighbours in adjacent rooms both nights who we had to ask to be quiet. The double-bed sized duvet inside a super-king duvet cover on our super-king bed. (2 individual duvets would have worked better). The toilet seat that slipped sideways every time one sat on it. There was nothing on the menu for children in the evening. The floats weren't around one evening at the pool and there was no one to ask without traipsing all the way back to reception in one's swimsuit.

Got a room with no hot water to shower or bath. Checked in late and didnt want to move rooms. Booked a 5.30am morning call, and that never happened. Slept in and was late out.

The spa was fantastic, staff were very helpful, rooms well presented, excellent value for money

Showers in the spa area could be upgraded

Cleaning staff were good.

I did not appreciate my location within the Hotel. We were placed a distance from the reception area and the walk to the room was long and inconvenient.

Spa excellent, gym, great facilities. Food in Bar and breakfast very good as well as service. Room good size and comfortable.

The Only problem I had was the bed, or more specific the quilt cover. The quilt cover seemed to be a lot larger than the quilt and was unable to get the quilt to fit in without the material gathering around the top sides or bottom of the bedding, Very uncomfortable, eventually I took the cover completely off and slept just with the quilt on myself.

pool and spa complex Busy plenty going on Nice building good bedroom food was good; evening meal and breakfast

wine prices, bar prices que for breakfast Didn't see a games room or lounge area

The reception/ bar staff were exceptional

The restaurant staff were utterly useless

Bedroom

Building is nice

Food terrible. restaurant staff very poor

Comfy rooms. Pleasant location.

Rude staff. Terrible service.

The room itself and the bathroom was nice enough. Plenty of space to sit and read at the table with a nice view out of our window onto the trees etc. Breakfast was good.

We were kept waiting at check in for 30 minutes whilst a party of people moaned about not being put in rooms near each other. They only had one lady on receptionist and a guy who was just putting the room passes into the holders. Eventually another member of staff came to do some check ins. Ordinarily I'm sure this would have been enough but they did have a wedding on that day so should have made sure they had enough staff to cater for the demand of guests. When we did eventually get checked in nobody mentioned that we had to book a table for dinner so when we went down for dinner at 7.30 we were told there were no tables available until 9.30pm but we could use the bar to eat if we wanted to. We ordered a bar meal which wasn't really worth the £22 charge. Also my husband ordered me a cocktail which came out of a sachet and was shaken in the cocktail shaker - not what you expect from a 4 star hotel! When I booked the room we had asked for extra pillows which hadn't been provided - my husband had to go and ask one of the chamber ladies for some - she brought one and we asked her for another one so she had to go off looking for one. Also the details of the room said it was a luxury room with robes provided - there were no robes in our room. The towels smelt of baked skin so not a fresh experience when I got out of the bath. We didn't use the swimming pool as it was a very long way from our rooms and also too small - lots of kids in there splashing around - not exactly a relaxing experience. We only live in north Manchester and had chosen this hotel for the distance as we had both recently undergone a kidney donation/transplant operation and didn't want to drive very far. I had also put this in the additional information stating it was a special night for us but that went the same way as the request for additional pillows.

Food was excellent

The hotel was scruffy with out dated decor, room was extremely basic, no wifi signal (so not suitable for a business stay), threadbare carpet, not even a bottle of water (no minibar at all), corridors smelled of damp - previous occupants talcum powder still coated the side of the bath....need I go on?

comfortable

The breakfast was a free for all, could not cater for all of the guests, cold when finally served, poor

The swimming pool and spa rooms are fantastic. This was our second trip there in 18 months and we went back explicitly for this. And on our first trip we had an excellent, well ventilated room.

The room (#70) that we had this time was immediately above the spa facilities and was exceptionally HOT. For this reason we would recommend travellers NOT staying in Rooms 70, 71, 95, 96,97, as they are all in that same area. There were also some less than luxury aspects to our room - poor water pressure, loose tap and toilet roll holder, and the water from the shower split out onto the floor as the glass shower stall was not well sealed.

Everything, lovely room with comfy bed. The staff are so helpful @ nothing was touch trouble. We will stay there again for sure.

Excellent food and service, Comfy bed

Room fittings rather tired, very dim light fittings. Dusty in corners

The rooms were cold and smelt stale and damp

No heating in room radiator did not work

Breakfast was pretty good, particularly the availability of local food produce. Reception area was pleasant and first impressions were good. However..... (See below)....

I booked a double room for single occupancy at a rate of £106 but instead was provided with a very small single room (room 22) which was poorly lit, poorly decorated, had no pictures on the walls ( just picture hooks where pictures had once hung) and had a stained carpet. The room also had a slightly musty smell. No pillow was provided (though one pillow was provided after I made a complaint to Reception). Staff were polite but advised they were unable to provide an alternative room as the hotel was fully booked. I tried several times to access the Internet but my iPad was unable to pick up a wifi signal. I asked staff in the bar / breakfast area if the wifi was working / if someone was able to assist but they were unable to help or find someone else who could.

Our room was cold and we had to complain twice about it before anything was done . It turned out radiators were not working so a heater had to be brought in. The receptionist did not apologise for this after I told her that the windows should have been closed and radiators checked. The room was really cold and my daughter was freezing. Make sure radiators work, it s ridiculous that at this time of year you can't make sure they work. The radiators didn't work in my mum and dads room either and my dad is really poorly and the last thing he needs is to get a cold. Moral of this complain is make sure heating WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Convenient to Stonyhurst

failed to register that I had been offered £10 breakfast each (for 2 people) on arrival and then charged me £33 in the morning. Extremely annoying!!!! Then said that I had had my Amex card swiped so all was ok - I don't have an Amex card. Gave the impression of trying to overcharge me and being disorganised.