Vacanze Barnard Castle

I stayed here previously last year but since then, standards of cleanliness and general upkeep seem to have fallen. In the bedroom, three of four pillows on the bed had brown marks on them; the dressing table chair had a long brown streaky stain on it (looked like 💩) and in the bathroom, there was no rubber seal on the bottom of the glass shower screen, so water poured out onto the floor when showering. Other minor cosmetic issues included missing tiles under the bathroom sink, and scuffs on walls and furniture. When I checked out and made the staff at Holiday Inn aware (not sure if they own or just manage the property) they were very apologetic and said they would look into it, so I cannot fault their customer service. If the apartment had been properly cleaned and maintained, I probably would’ve not even noticed the minor issues that were there, but it’s hard to overlook basic cleanliness and maintenance.

Room was extremely clean and modern. Slept really well. Very comfy bed and pillows. Good pressure on shower, floor to ceiling windows and clean modern communal areas. We didn't order breakfast as there is a weather spoons next door and far cheaper to pay £6 there, than £20 (£15 if you pre-book) at the hotel, but again that's down to personal preference. It was hot weather, and the air con worked very well.

So so stay in hottest week of year. Room size good but design of room let it down. Restaurant not opened on Monday/Tuesday evening ( in a 4star hotel!) and bar in hotel disappointing. could not get room to a comfortable temp during whole stay, whatever we tried, and fan in room was completely useless.

Great location and good option for a family apartment