Slaley Hall is a country house golf resort in Northumberland in North East England. It is surrounded by 1000 acres (4 km²) of Northumberland forest and moorland. It hosts weddings, parties and business events in the hotel, which was run by the De Vere Group, but is now run by QHotels.
It has many facilities including an indoor swimming pool, beauty salon, steam room, sauna, gym, sun beds, jacuzzi, and driving range.
We have been staying in Timeshare accommodation at Slaley Hall for many years. This year our villa (Villa 3 on Slaley Park) had been substantially refurbished to a very high spec with a completely new interior, new furnishings and a new Samsung Smart TV (which wasn't configured correctly). This was impressive, however it could have gone even further in terms of improving the villa experience: a table and chairs had been removed from the living room - this needs putting back, it was a good social space for those not watching TV; lighting in the living room needs improving, it's either too bright or too dark, the dimmer switches were removed - these need putting back; the underfloor heating in the lower groundfloor en-suite bathroom didn't work - I reported this; the shower cubicles on the upper ground floor and first floor en-suite bathrooms were dangerously slippery, non-slip bath mats need providing; a coffee table and chairs need putting in the first floor en-suite bedroom near the television - it's too small a screen to easily see from the bed, and there is nothing else to sit on; the lower groundfllor bedroom needs a television putting in it - the aerial point and plug socket have been fitted, but no TV.
The annual service charge and maintenance fee for this Villa is over £900 per week, the electricity for four people staying there (it sleeps eight) came to £100, so the annual charge for staying in this villa is around £1,000 per week, and for many parties well over that amount. When you consider that the Villa is probably rented out 50 weeks of the year, that equates to a lot of money, so the refurbishment that it has had, whilst high-spec, has certainly been paid for many times over.
One of the great features of having a timeshare Villa is that you get the use of a golf buggy while you are there (you need this in Winter for getting from the Villa to the Hotel and back - especially at night). QHotels - the current owners and operators of Slaley Hall are rumoured to be taking this away and charging around £15 per day for golf buggy hire - this would be a huge loss, as the buggy is a value-added experience that really makes the holiday at Slaley Hall complete.
Another value added experience that has been severely eroded is the timeshare owners' welcome meeting. Historically this hour long meeting came with free drinks and nibbles, without limit, but obvoiusly within reason. This year we were limited to two drinks and two nibbles each. There was no host, no speeches, no introductions, the welcome meeting turned into a non-event. To make matters worse a Manager came in, but instead of welcoming us, he told the waiting staff to make sure that nobody had more than two drinks! This was very poor indeed, and if this is a sign of how QHotels will operate Slaley Hall, then it's really quite sad.
Other than the above grumbles, we had a great week at Slaley Hall, the swimming pool is lovely, the golf driving range is fun, the gym is small but decent, and the grounds are just lovely. I would recommend a break here to anyone, but I do hope that QHotels management consider the points that I have made above.
This film features views of Villa 3; a drive around the grounds of Slaley Hall in the golf buggy; Slaley Park; the golf driving range; Slaley Hall hotel bars, reception and lounges; and the lovely swimming pool and spa area.
To see a timeshare review film that I made at Slaley Hall in 2013, click here: • Timeshare Review: De Vere Slaley Hall... .
To see a film I made of Slaley Hall estate in 2011, click here: • Views Around Slaley Hall Estate - Feb... .
To read more about Northumberland, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northumb... .
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