Darlington East (Morton Park)

After a gruelling 7hr drive down from Scotland, I was given a very warm and helpful welcome by the lovely and exceptionally friendly Tracey. Nothing was too much trouble; my room was very clean, comfortable and I slept well. Both Angela and Tracey made my stay very pleasant and I will be booking Morton Park again soon, for this reason. 5*

Lovely stay. Huge thank you to Tracy on reception for welcoming us and providing us with extra pillows and bits that we had asked for. We had a lovely breakfast and meal in the beef eater restaurant. I can't remember out waitresses name but she was great. Clean, tidy and comfortable.

Our room had a disgusting drain smell. When we opened the door the smell hit us, we noticed the window had been left open. I went to reception and complained but unfortunately no other rooms were available. The receptionist checked out room and she too could only agree that it was stinking. Deoderising liquid was put down the drains in the bathroom and the plugs were closed alas it didn't work. We had to keep the bathroom door closed, keep the window open and switch on a desk fan to try to help. It was impossible to have a shower and we could only use the bathroom if we were desperate because it was really disgusting and made us feel sick. We were in room 239 and we made sure our complaint was noted. We would have left but it was difficult to find somewhere else as it was a bank holiday weekend.

The car park is not safe for motorcycles. During our stay two motorcycles were stolen overnight. On arrival we were advised to move our bikes to a disabled bay by the front doors "incase of issues", which we did. The staff were cages but it appears this is not an unusual unusual occurrence.

From the moment we arrived, nothing was too much trouble from the hotel staff and the bar staff too. We checked in early to our room which we had emailed prior to our stay for a quiet room on a high floor. This is exactly what we were given and this was assured via email response too from the staff which was kind! Our room was spotless! Credit to the housekeepers! They do a fantastic job and are so friendly when we asked a lady for some extra toilet paper and a bin bag as our bin was full. The only downside is that this hotel doesn’t have air conditioning and as we faced Morrisons/B&Q, we couldn’t have the window open due to the noise of the boy racers that frequent the car park. However, the triple glazing ensured we wasn’t disturbed. We did request a fan and we got one which helped keep air moving. The room did have a vent (I suspect we were in the newer part of the hotel) which looked like an air conditioning outlet but only a thermostat on the wall for the heater on the wall. However the outlet did whir away which I assume was an air cooling system when the room got above a certain temperature but we never asked. We had family stay in the hotel halfway through our stay due to them having issues at accommodation they had booked separately. I booked their rooms for them and they paid at the hotel. The booking confirmation that I received was wrong unfortunately as I had requested a double room and an accessible double room, but the wrong persons in our party were allocated the wrong way round. Reception helped rectify this and was friendly and helpful! We would definitely stay here again! Thank you very much for a lovely stay!

Excellent service from Tracy on reception. Quick check in via reception via some newer check in machines I've not seen at a premier inn before - Since we last stayed at one a few months ago. Decent nights sleep too, not too much more to say really....