As the Home Office have still not returned our passports while we are extending Dusan’s visa and his right to remain in the UK (Despite the fact we are married), we had to go away on a domestic break. (The Home Office have had the passports over 3 months now and took the £800 fee in July. It still feels like we are trapped in the UK especially over the summer months).
So we had a week off at home. I know they say it’s good for the environment and admittedly it was cheaper. We spent the first part of the week literally just shopping and enjoying a much needed lie in. Especially as starting today I will be teaching virtually every day of the month. We ended the week off with a mini break to Torquay. England’s Riviera. I have no idea who came up with that as a phrase for Torquay, it was more like Skegness. A small bay side town with a strip of shops and then rising above it some hills where literally every other home was a small hotel.
We had seen advertised a new “Gay Resort” called Key West. Which drew us to the area in the first place. It was a small 19 room hotel that looked like the bedrooms had been recently refurbished. It was very Hollyoak’s looking with that kind of funky feature wall wallpaper. But had the sort of electric power shower that the hotter your made it, the lower the pressure would drop.
The features included an outdoor pool, which was almost on the main road, and a newly built, sauna & Steam Complex. We had thought we would end up going out for dinner then maybe a nice steam or spa in the hotel. The advert failed to mention that the spa was “under construction” and that the entire sauna complex closed at 9PM. Seemed a bit weird as it was a hotel resort and who really arrives early on a Friday?
But the biggest turn off to me was the lack of hospitality. We had to go to the bar on arrival as reception was closed and was given our key and told where to find our room. But then in the morning Dusan was in the shower when one of the owners came by and asked if we needed our room serviced. I said we would be ten minutes as Dusan was showering. “We don’t come back”, he snapped. Talk about offish!
You would have thought that considering that they are restricting their market to a “Strictly gay resort” they would be going out of their way to offer something a bit different. If it were me, Hospitality would be top of the list, and I nearly replied to his “We don’t come back”, with a “neither will we”. Especially as they bar was pumping out loud music that came directly through into the bedrooms each night till past midnight.
All in all it was very disappointing as we had much higher expectations and at £80 per night, far from cheap. As for a gay resort, well if a bar and a closed sauna complex make it a resort fine, but next time I want a gay weekend I think I will check into a Mal Maison or a Hotel de Vin where you really are treated, hospitality is outstanding and is almost about the same price with an option of room service or full dining service in their Bistro. Maybe the owners of the Toquay hotel would benefit from a stay in one if they hope to survive in business. I fear bad word of mouth will drive people away as it did us. Although the room was compfortable enough it was very basic.
On a positive note, it was nice to get away, the weather was fairly warm and we found a fabulous Mexican restaurant where we dined Saturday evening. Drove back in 5 hours yesterday and opened the bottle of Champagne Richard and Mark bought us (Thank you) for our holiday. Top the week off in style before heading back to the rat race this morning!
No comments:
Post a Comment