Alcombe House

9 Customer Reviews

• "We enjoyed our stay and the property has potential to be amazing but we felt the property was tired and let down by a lack of some attention to details ."

  .. pots outside the front door not maintained & full of weeds. Damp on ceiling in at least 2 bathrooms. Mould on the wall in bathroom of room 4 plus mouldy sealant in shower and cracked shower tray. Musty damp smell in games room made it an unpleasant place to be. Also a lack of serving dishes / ovenproof dishes to cook in. Overall it was a pleasant place but could be so much better if the above things were addressed. As it was I just felt it didn't live up to the pictures or the money I spent. Positives were that the overall decor was nice, plenty of space inside, comfy sofa's and beds. Also plenty of glasses and crockery provided. And property was in great location.

  Reviewed by Louise3.8★Jun 2024

• "Good: Good size."

  Good kitchen. Accurate size and description of rooms. Bad: Basement smelled of damp The pool / hockey table was broken - a big loss to the kids particularly No table tennis balls. The blinds in one room did not work The blinds in all the rooms did not block out the sun well - none of us slept well. No stereo to play music in the lounge Many of the windows were difficult or impossible to open. On arrival Room 1 had an odour of faeces - from a stool that had been left unflushed in the toilet. When had this been cleaned? All that said. We had a good time.

  Hi Amitava, We’re glad that you like the size of the property, the good kitchen and had a good time. We wish you had mentioned the points you've just raised when the property manager came around and we’d have looked into them for you. Nevertheless, I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. Thanks Felix Property Owner

  Reviewed by Amitava3.1★May 2024

• "Really great hse ideal for large parties as has 8 good sized bedrooms Perhaps ..."

  Really great hse ideal for large parties as has 8 good sized bedrooms Perhaps a few more Pyrex and oven dishes if you plan to use kitchen but ovens really efficient Overall a great hse for relaxing Thank you

  Reviewed by Andy5.0★Nov 2023

• "Great property in a good location to explore the local area on foot, by car or by scooter!"

  Loads of room to relax and eat together, great all bedrooms are ensuite. The basement games room was a great addition, with the pool/air hockey/table tennis table (a little damp smelling and the carpet was shedding although I suspect it was new). Good amount of crockery and glassware in the kitchen - probably only lacking a couple of casserole dishes and large baking trays but otherwise really well equipped. Would recommend for large groups, good value for a seaside town location - great pub (with skittle alley) and fish and chip shop nearby too!

  Reviewed by Michaela4.7★Jul 2023

• "We had a gathering of 12 family and had a lovely time at the property."

  Very clean and all the rooms are bigger than they look in the photos! The only problem we encountered was with the showers, the showers in room 1 and 2 worked fine but the others all had temperature problems and a few had pressure problems as well. This could have possibly been fixed if we had asked (which we didn't) and we managed through. Otherwise a lovely stay!

  Dear Amy, Thank you for selecting our hotel for your recent family gathering and for sharing your feedback. We are thrilled to learn that you had a wonderful time and found the property clean and the rooms more spacious than anticipated. Providing exceptional comfort and cleanliness is our top priority, and we sincerely appreciate your positive comments. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the issues you encountered with the showers in some rooms. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us, and we have taken immediate action. As of 10th June, we installed a new hot water cylinder and pressure system to address the concerns of temperature and pressure. These upgrades will ensure a consistent and enjoyable shower experience for all our guests moving forward. Once again, we are grateful for your kind words and for choosing our hotel for your family gathering. We look forward to hosting you again for another delightful stay in the future. If there is anything else we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to let us know. Warm regards, Management Property Owner

  Reviewed by Amy4.4★Apr 2023

• "House was clean although due to it being an old hotel every door had a fire door."

  One of the doors broke and the box at the top came off the wall, with nails sticking it which scratched one of the adults face.

  Hi Rachel, Thank you for your feedback, and we are glad you found the place to be clean. On the issue with the fire door, as previously communicated to you via Sykes, we have thoroughly investigated the matter. After testing the door, both ourselves and Sykes concluded that it was impossible for the self-closing hinge on the fire door (secured at 6 different positions) to come off as you described. We suggest speaking to the other guests to understand the situation better, as we suspect there might have been an improper use of the door. Please know that we take guest feedback seriously and strive to ensure a comfortable and secure stay for everyone. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any further concerns or questions. We are here to assist you and make your stay as enjoyable as possible. Thanks, Management Property Owner

  Reviewed by Rachel3.4★Mar 2023

• "We had a lovely stay."

  We couldn’t find any information on what to do with recycling & rubbish and the bins outside were full so we left it in the kitchen. We also stripped the bedding even though we had no instructions to do so. The house was perfect for a family get together. We enjoyed visiting the beach & Dunster Castle and grounds all very close. The welcome pack referred to the original hotel information which meant we were a little unsure about the leaving arrangements.

  Dear Susan, Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on your recent stay with us. We are delighted to hear you had a lovely family get-together and enjoyed the nearby beach, Dunster Castle, and grounds. We appreciate your comments regarding the recycling & rubbish information and instructions for stripping bedding. We have since updated our handbook to provide more explicit guidelines on both topics, and we apologize for any confusion caused during your stay. Regarding the bins being full, we have addressed this issue with our cleaning team to ensure that this does not happen again. Thank you also for highlighting the confusion caused by the welcome pack referring to the original hotel information. We have updated our welcome pack to ensure that leaving arrangements and other important information are clearly outlined for our guests. We hope to welcome you back in the future and provide an even better experience for you and your family. Thank you Management Property Owner

  Reviewed by Susan4.4★Mar 2023

• "Lovely house perfect for a great weekend with friends plenty of room bedrooms ..."

  Lovely house perfect for a great weekend with friends plenty of room bedrooms we’re comfortable kitchen facilities great thoroughly enjoyed our stay there would recommend for large groups

  Dear Carol, Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback! We're thrilled to hear that you and your friends had a great weekend at our house and that you found the bedrooms comfortable and the kitchen facilities great. We strive to provide a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all of our guests, and we're glad to hear that we hit the mark. We appreciate your recommendation for large groups and hope to have the opportunity to host you all again in the future! Many thanks, Management Property Owner

  Reviewed by Carol4.7★Feb 2023

• "Good points - We all slept very well, the beds were very comfortable and all the rooms and bathrooms were all a very good size, it made room allocations very easy."

  All rooms clean and well presented. - Well stocked kitchen - everything was brand new and it was well equipped including kids meal things, we were impressed with the range of cups, glasses and plates. However, the plates were not great quality and we found left marks after using with cutlery. Also we tried to find out from Sykes what we could expect to find in the kitchen but they were not much help at all. Therefore, we unnecessarily packed pots, cooking utensils, even a blender as well as plastic plates, cups and cutlery because of the lack of information we did not want to risk not having what we needed for the duration of the stay. - good location to shops - very helpful that the property is well located with access to 3 major super markets, very handy and a definite plus. - The games room was a real hit. The multiple functional table provided hours of entertainment and was a great addition to the property. Also good that there was TV in there although upon arrival was not set up. - Great size and very spacious living room especially for the kids to play, we were able to set up the babies play pen and it was very thoughtful that a baby gate was provided although we didn't have need to use it. However, for the open fire I would suggest an enclosure/guard around the fire place, we had curious babies who often wondered up to it so we had to use one of the tables to separate them from it. - Very happy with the parking - we were able to get all 5 cars in - Thank you for the beautifully decorated Christmas tree - We also appreciated the very helpful and useful 2nd cooking area outside the games from, essential with a big family and lots of things to cook for Christmas. Bad points/things to improve - We appreciated the history of the house (I read in the welcome pack that it was built in 1780) and can also appreciate the cost of maintaining such a building but there are still some things that I believe can be improved. Some were quite frustrating and I would suggest they are looked into sooner rather than later. - Firstly there was no ground floor WC - I noted the cloakroom on the first floor but it was packed full of stuff and not useable, this meant that if you had go to the loo the only option was in your room, very difficult especially if you are on the upper floors. The fact that there is a cloakroom available it should be made accessible. - Upon arrival it was not obvious (at least not to me and my husband) about how to gain entry into the house. There was no clear instruction in the email which contained the code and it frustrated me that I had to call the helpline in order to get information. We travelled from East London and it was a 4.5 hour drive with a 6 month baby, the last thing I wanted to do was to spend an extra half and hour trying to figure out how to get into the house. Clearer instructions should have been provided, even as simple as, "key pad for entry is located on the right hand side of the door". As we received a code and the email made mention of keys, we assumed we were looking for a lock box that contained the front door key. I did not appreciate the extra effort after such a long journey. - Extreme problems with the internet, it was very helpful that the information was clearly provided about the Wi-Fi but it only worked well on our phones and tablets. It very much needs a boost as it was not able to carry the TV in living room and basement. although the TV was fine in room 4. I can appreciate that there were a number of devices connected at the same time which may have contributed to the problem, but this should have been expected and anticipated. The fact that the house can take up to 16 people and has three TVs, the necessary adjustments should be made to ensure better internet connection. As guests we should not need to compromise on this. - The biggest issue we had however, was with the hot water, some rooms were worse than others, for example my cousin and his wife in room 6 complained of no water and had to use the facilitates in the neighbouring room which had no problems. We should have been told about the tank and how it work, you cannot assume that we would know and again as guests this is not something we should have compromise on or worry about. - Thank you for providing the brand new travel cots as we requested, they were very easy to set up and very helpful that a protector and sheets were provided, however, mattresses were the wrong size and were too big for the actual cot. We were able to use them regardless but it meant that my child slept on a slight angel which was of course was not ideal. You'll need to change this asap for the correct size. - We loved room 1, especially the extra big bathroom, however, it had two major issues, firstly the bathroom is big but has insufficient heating for the size, so despite having a heated towel rail it was not enough to heat the room to a comfortable level. I would suggest adding an extra heater, the one I had in room 4 was very good. The second issue with this room was the heating in the bedroom. It cut off, the heater did look old so it may be it died, thankfully we used the portable heater in the living room, which was fine. However, guests should not to deal with problems with such basic needs such as heat and water. - As mentioned above the kitchen was well stocked and had a lovely new fridge, however, for a house that size with that many people 1 is simply not enough, you need additional one, even if it is not as big I would suggest an extra one. - I had to report that we had issues doors not closing properly and some jamming. In room 8 my cousin was trapped in the walk in closet for over an hour, we were all down stairs and didn't hear his cries for help and he didn't have his phone with him, so he had to break the glass to get out. The other door that jammed was the bathroom in room 3, luckily no one was in it at the time. - Initial instructions should have been provided to explain how to use the fireplace and portable heater you cannot assume everyone knows how to do this.

  Dear Josephine, Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback regarding your recent stay at our property. We are pleased to hear that you enjoyed many aspects of your stay, including the comfortable beds, well-stocked kitchen, convenient location, spacious living areas, ample parking, and the games room. We appreciate your constructive feedback about areas where we can improve. We understand the frustration with the difficulties in accessing the cloakroom (which is now back in full use). We thought the instructions for gaining entry into the property were pretty clear, as no guest had had an issue before or after. Nevertheless, We have worked with Sykes to improve the instructions to ensure a smoother arrival experience for all guests. Regarding the issues with the internet, we have worked with BT to upgrade the internet to full-fibre to the premises and can support many devices connected simultaneously. We appreciate your kind words regarding the games room and the helpfulness of our staff. We will be sure to pass along your compliments to the team. Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us. We value your comments and hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back in the future and provide a more enjoyable experience. Thank you Management Property Owner

  Reviewed by Josephine4.1★Dec 2022

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