Hotel Du Vin at One Devonshire

Not sure how this hotel attains the 4 stars it has, as I was not impressed by it at all.

The reception staff are incompetent, was charged £240 room rate when the rate should have been £170, the difference was refunded after pointing this out to them, they explained they got my check in papers got mixed up with someone else who checked in at the same time, as they were friends of ours we asked them if they were charged our £170 but no they were also charged £240 so probably a fib. Was in the lounge for drinks & snacks, bills were left we put the money for them on the table, never collected the bills, then when I went to the desk to ask where my food bill was to pay it, was asked to pay a higher amount as it seems they re charged me for all the bills I already paid.

The next huge issue with this hotel is NO LIFT. The room we were given was on the top floor, and normally that isn’t an issue as it was only 3 floors, but we are talking a large period building that to go up to the 3rd floor is two lots of stairs per floor, so a lot of stairs. The hotel also has too many entrances, which is so confusing, they say reception is at house no X and then restaurant at house no X but there are no house numbers clearly visible only a lot of unmarked entrances. Once in the hotel, it’s an unsigned maze to find anything. The bar shuts at midnight so to get drinks you have to go to the lounge. The lounge of which is very impersonal, lovely looking lounge but they have a member of staff who seems to sit on a desk in there, overseeing things like a school teacher watching the children in her class. We felt very uncomfortable in there drinking while being watched by this member of staff. Not entirely certain why she felt she had to sit at that desk as the two desks on the reception were both empty. A glass of wine from the bar only comes in 1 size.

Don’t even start me on the food for this place. Du Vin are supposed to be renowned for their Bistro & food, I ordered cheese on toast from the 4 snacks you could get after midnight in this place expecting that at least for the £8 it cost it would be presented nicely, maybe with a few salad leaves and some crisps and look its worth. No! My 6 year old could have made this; it was just 2 slices of toast with cheese on it! No garnish, nothing extra just the privilege of paying £8 for it. The next day I ordered the soup from the bar menu, the soup was nice, the measly amount that was in the plate, it looked so lost in the plate and one would have needed a ladder to get down to it in the plate. Think it was around 4 spoons of soup! On the plus side the bread served with it was very nice, home made I think but nice.

The building itself is decorated rather lavishly, as were the rooms, oh which by the way all have stupid names which is hard to remember what your room is when its one you cannot even pronounce, named after wines, wonder what is wrong with numbers? The hotel has no parking of its own, only a first come first served basis street parking.

I was also disappointed that I left my earrings in the room, and called the hotel after I left to ask them if they got them. I know exactly where I left them on one of the tables in the room infront of the hospitality tray, they said they hadn’t been made aware of them having been found, but would call me and let me know after checking with housekeeping. Still waiting, for the call.

I would never stay at this hotel again, having worked in the hotel & events industry for many years; this by my standards was definitely not value for money. I have seen Premier Inn’s better than this hotel!

The only thing I can compliment this hotel on apart from the home made bread is the two porters who were very helpful with baggage and brushing snow off the windscreens in the morning.