The Windmill

The Windmill Hotel/Sambuca Windmill/The Windmill❗ On Google, Sambuca Windmill appears to be a 4* hotel at a T junction in the middle of nowhere, but don't fall for the fake Google reviews, this place is far from being a 4 star hotel. I don't even know this place is called a hotel in the first place. This Windmill Hotel is the same place as Sambuca Windmill- the restaurant. This restaurant has a sign showing its own name then showing an arrow below - hotel ➡️. The whole palace "hotel" and restaurant is managed by the same people so they're using their restaurant reviews to gain more costumer for their "hotel" If you need a quiet night, a nice shower, fluffy towels, sleeping on a cosy bed, if you need a quick service from the receptionist, please, do yourself a favor and don't book a stay in this "4*" hotel. Avoid by all costs. This is not even motel standards. Got there, went to the reception to check in. Waited and waited. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. No bell to ring for attention. Had to walk in the kitchen to get someone's attention. Been checked in by a pub stuff. We had 3 nights booked at this place. Stayed there the first night and it was enough to say this is not ok. Decided to check out early and cancel our stay. Went to the reception, waited and waited. Again, same scenario, had to go in the kitchen to get someone's attention. 5 minutes later, someone wearing an apron - looked like the chef to me, checked us out. He didn't ask us the reason we check out early and cancel our stay, we asked if he wanted to know the reasons we're not happy with the stay, but he wasn't interested to hear it, the chicken was probably almost done at that time. I could go on forever with this "adventure" Worst accommodation ever, I would rather stay in a tent.

We took two rooms for a short stay at this hotel, which is part of and adjoined to a large pub. The rooms were fine for size, relatively clean and with nice enough furnishings, tea/coffee facilities, and a small TV. Here ends what good I have to say. The bathrooms were internal with no windows or working extractors, so they smelled damp and mouldy (and also were visible mouldy). In one of them, the toilet roll dispenser was jammed, and no one was able to fix it because no one had the key to open it. We were provided with a loose, half-used roll to balance on top. I also noticed that several things were in a state of poor repair, for instance the actual handles/locks on the doors seemed ready to tear off. Rooms are not serviced in any way if you stay for multiple nights. And despite being part of a pub that serves food, there is no breakfast service. It would have been helpful if we had been told about this in advance, because you are in the middle of nowhere, so breakfast is not easy to come by. The service was extremely poor. The pub staff are utterly clueless about anything to do with the hotel. The only member of staff that can help whatsoever in regards to the hotel is a single individual. If he is not at his desk, you're stuck. (However, when he was around, he was friendly and helped if he could.) Heaven preserve you if you attempt to call the hotel with any questions in advance of arriving. You can only get through to the pub staff, who, as mentioned, have no clue. You cannot book or amend your booking by calling. Their system is entirely automated and online; no one can help you. I did eventually manage to get some minor information from someone on the pub staff, but they were clearly extremely busy and rushed me off the phone. The hotel is situated halfway up a stretch of the A1. This means it is only accessible if you are coming from the north. There is no overpass if you're travelling from the other direction. You have to go all the way up to the next roundabout, then all the way back down. This will definitely inconvenience you. We requested rooms that were as far away from the motorway as possible. To the hotel's credit, they accommodated this request, and we found that the sound of traffic was much quieter and did not disturb sleep. Car parking was provided. I found puddles of vomit on the paths leading through the carpark, these were not cleaned away during our stay. Overall, it was the cheapest semi-inhabitable place within a few miles of Hartlepool, so if that's where you need to be, your options are limited. For a better experience, pay the premium to go stay at the Travelodge.

Very basic no staff on reception waited 20 mins to check in only one pillow and one towel had to ask for more staff could not find more toilet roll had to take one from the bar toilets had to sit sidewards on toilet due to wrong positioning of an empty large toilet roll dispencer and view from window was old chairs and old disused fridges also very noisy doors banging throughout the night