Sandy Cove Hotel

The main hotel and its situation were beautiful. Apparently there is a nice dog friendly beach nearby if you are able to walk up and down 200 plus old uneven steep steps. My husband went to look but said that neither my old dog or myself could make it.

Our room had to be changed as we were initially in a seperate house at the rear of the hotel which had been converted into rooms. Our room was tiny and at the back of the house facing a yard which was almost like a building site. The front of the house was so overgrown we almost missed the house when looking for it. We let Reception know how disappointed we were. We were offered another room at the rear of the actual hotel which was much better and agreed to pay an extra £20. However. Rather than a window we had French doors which backed onto an open concrete yard and again facing a wall, so people could see into our room as they walked past. We needed to have these doors open when we were in the room as it was so warm. A fan was provided which helped during the night. Or dog was not allowed into the hotel, which is understandable for example in the restaurant area. However for us to use the bar or the lounge we had to leave the dog in our car. Although we were able to walk her round the grounds of the hotel, I wasn't happy that we had to play £12 a night for the privilege.

We stayed in the Bayside, which was clean and functional. We did have problems with the kettle and a light not working but this was rectified as soon as we reported it.

The breakfast service was chaotic and I have serious concerns over food allergen training for staff. We notified the hotel in advance that I required gluten free food and was assured that most menu items could be adapted to suit. We ate one evening in the restaurant, my meal was very tasty but I wasn’t able to have a side portion of chips due to no GF fryer facility but also wasn’t offered any alternative as a side. However, when it came to breakfast, it was a disaster! Nobody is organising seating arrangements, it’s a free for all (something we were told by another guest as the staff just smiled and walked away when we stood waiting at the entrance). This then makes it really difficult for the staff to keep on top of new arrivals for tea, coffee, etc. Twice I had to get up to get somebody’s attention. The first to request coffee and the second to request some GF toast. What I received was 2 slices of GF bread. When I queried that I had asked for toast, I was told “the toaster is over there” indicating the toaster that everyone else was using for standard bread. She walked off before I could tell her I couldn’t use that because of cross contamination. Rather than make a fuss, I ate it as bread even though it was dry and a bit stale. The second morning, was much better run although still nobody was taking charge of allocating tables. This time when I asked for GF toast I explained that I couldn’t use the generic toaster so could they toast it in the kitchen. To which I was told “we don’t have that facility but we can put it in the oven”. I could go on about under cooked bacon, over cooked poached eggs (or rather 1 of the 2 I asked for was) but I’d be ranting forever.