Rookery Hall Hotel

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Rookery Hall is situated a couple of miles outside the historic market town of Nantwich and approximately twenty miles outside Chester.
I feel that the hotel complex is aimed at the upmarket cliente, though I know that there are lower cost deals via Lastminute.com; perhaps there is some under occupancy?
The hotel comprises of old and new build accomadation, the old has character but is in need of some updating and modernisation programme, which I am told is currently in progress.
The room I had was only a few months old and had a fabulously up to date bathroom and television, yes there really was a TV in the bathroom! The room was good quality too.
The service was at best inconsistent and at worst inefficient or poor. There were lots of staff bustling about, sometimes ignoring you, or at times there were no staff at all. I did see some dishes stacked in a corridor from breakfast time-I saw them later the same afternoon having not been moved from the corridor.
The food at breakfast was adequate but there did not appear to be any formal order in the dining room; I did not see any dining room staff until 8.30am and I had been in there since 8.00am.I had afternoon tea, which was absolutely delicious and an experience not to be missed; beautifully served and the food was fresh from the oven.
I used the Spa facilities which were also nearly new, which gave a feeling of freshness about the place. The pool and the sauna were a great asset and I found them to be really relaxing. The overall experience was again let down by staff service; which was inefficient on the whole. I was not given a thorough induction which left me feeling a bit confused about how to get the best use out of the facilities. For example there were exercise classes that I was not informed about, appointments were available for beauty treatments, again I was not told about this, I was advised not to have my dinner in the brassarie as there were already a party of ten in at dinner time; that I should eat later to avoid waiting, I do not mind waiting in the least but a party of ten? Surely they could manage to cater for more than that in one sitting?
I had a Rasul mud treatment which was ok, but there was no adequate staff input into the experience’s was pretty much left to get on with it myself and when it was time to come out of the treatment area I was promised a look round the rest of the facilities, but this did not happen and the staff member in question never showed up!
Last but not least the staff on reception in the Spa seemed unwilling to speak, unless to huddle round in groups together, again ignoring the customers-I did manage a goodbye out of them but it would not have been forthcoming if I had not spoken first.
I did like the hotel but feel that the prices they charge are really not warranted unless they get their act together. It is expensive...under the circumstances not worth it to me.