The Bannatyne Group Reviews 

The robbing guys at Bannatyne gym did not tell me that A) the contract rolled on and B) that the cancellation takes more than a month. What a set of use less, moneymaking prats

I’m very disappointed with how Bannatyne’s handled my medical cancellation request.

I was led to believe that backdating my cancellation could be considered on a case-by-case basis, only to be told outright that it was never an option. If I had been given a clear answer from the start, I wouldn’t have wasted time pursuing it. Instead, I was left waiting and hoping for fairness, only to be met with rigid policy enforcement.

I provided full medical evidence as soon as I could, proving that I had been unable to use the facilities since December 2024, yet they refused to offer any goodwill gesture. I completely understand that businesses have policies, but when customers are misled into believing some flexibility exists, only to be shut down, it feels unfair and disingenuous.

As a result of this experience, both myself and my partner have chosen not to return to Bannatyne’s. It’s a shame, as I had a positive experience with their facilities, but their approach to customer care—particularly when it comes to genuine medical cases—has left a lasting negative impression.

Would not recommend Bannatyne’s to anyone who values transparency and fairness in how memberships are handled.

I am raising awareness to others and a formal complaint against your hotel for the following reasons:

I booked the Bannatyne Hotel and Spa in Hastings as my partner needed a special night away. I could have booked a hotel on the sea front for half the price. But we specifically wanted a spa weekend so I booked your hotel. On arrival, to our dismay we found the gym next to your property was the spa. The gym is not a spa. And due to the 'spa' facilities not being exclusive to the hotel guests, as one would think due to your branding, there is conflict between hotel guests and the local population. We were charged a fee to use facilities that were incredibly busy, noisy and anything but relaxing- which you would expect from a spa.

My partner gave up and went back to the hotel where she encountered another guest complaint about not being able to use the spa due to how busy it was. She and her husband had decided to cancel and go home. Saskia was excellent and endeavoured to help us, which we appreciate.

To reiterate, my complaint is that your branding is misleading and incorrect. If it had been clear that the spa was not part of the hotel or exclusive we would not have booked.

I would like this email to be sent to the owner Duncan. Can you tell me how I give a review to make sure others are aware too.

Yours regrettably

Been trying to book a room at Durham Hotel over the the phone, could not get through to them had to give up in the end ,very poor experience went to different hotel

Five star servcie from Katie Maund at Sutton Colfield time after time

Bannatyne Health Club Darlington is amazing! We had most of the day there with the triple treatment package!
It's a little bit of a shame that my partner and I had the same treatments but two different experiences. I had mine with Lucy and it was incredible, so relaxing and just what I needed. My parter had theirs with (Shareen) (not sure on spelling) and said it was quite unpleasant and she was quite heavy handed and rough. It's a shame but overall the whole day and the facilities were lovely.

The new owners are suspect in the extreme. Their running of a hotel only equals their interior design abilities and with plastic flowers throughout it’s not a great start and you can only blame the previous owners for so long and that time has passed. The hotel is tired and lacks basic attention to detail. The spa is in a very poor state of repair and elements of it are unclean. I’m afraid that the intended boutique experience is nothing short of woeful. There are some keen and very capable young staff which counter some of the inadequacies but they are worried out getting customer signatures for bills as the owners only care about money and not customer service or experience

Cancelled my membership as I've found a better gym, for some reason they need over 30 days to turn off my access and cancel the direct debit.

I contacted them in the middle of the month, they managed to reply within a day, but need another month and a half to click 2 buttons.

Why would they need over a months notice to cancel the membership? Simply to get more money out of you.

"This is all in our pages and pages of T&Cs you signed up to" - typical response.

My wife will also be cancelling as they continued to charge her £10 a month when she had a baby - why oh why would they continue to charge anything during this time?! That's right, simply to get more money out of you.

I paid for an almost full body lava shell massage, which they booked on their system, when I turned up for my appointment they only provided me with a short back and neck massage. I trusted that they would be decent honest people and simply rectify their error. I am stunned that they haven't even taken responsibility or apologised which is basic enough but they also refused to pay me back. Sadly I had to report this to trading standards. This company are dishonest and deceitful. What a shambles.

Terrible the worst experience at a spa I've ever had ! Charged £80 for two ' luxury' pedicures - rushed through in way less time that i paid for, they were short staffed and left me to go and deal with people at reception and then cut my foot they were in such a rush and so aggressive with the pumice file - never use again! Plus impossible to feed back to them no customer service available at all, other than through website which is all just skewed to make bookings and enquiries not complaints !

Terrible. Worst gym I’ve ever been to. Terrible customer service and facilities for the price. Avoid at all costs.

Not good.
I stayed for one night 23/12/21.
First I should say that the front of house staff were great. They were helpful and attentive.
Now the not so good. My double bed was not a double bed it was 2 single beds pushed together with a “double” sheet and duvet. Fine for couples, not so good on your own. In my opinion it’s for the convenience of the hotel not the guest.
I don’t think my breakfast was cooked freshly. I think it had probably been kept warm for some time. Especially the bacon which was hard and tough. I also asked for no tomato, which was ignored.
The curtains in my room were tatty and torn.
My shower had dirty marks running down the shower wall.
The light switches were ridiculously complicated. To be fair I’m in my 50’s and need glasses to read so younger person might be able to fathom them out, but still unnecessarily complicated.
I had 3 glasses of wine, brought to me by the barman, at a table near the bar. When I left I gave the barman a £20 pound tip. I found out later that they had charged me £5 “gratuity” for, my drinks. I can only assume that was for the barman delivering my drinks to my table, all of 2 meters, even though I had given a good tip.
I thought whether I should give another star because of the staff being helpful. In the end I thought 1 star was right because the hotel was far below what it should be for a 4 star hotel and the price.

At the beginning of December, I booked and paid the full cost of a 3 day Christmas break including all Christmas and Boxing Day catering, for three adults at Charlton House. Unfortunately due to the Government's sudden Covid 19 lockdown I was forced to cancel on December 21. Although over 4 weeks have since elapsed, my monies have still not been refunded, nor has any date been given as to when this repayment will be made.

This level of delay is now wholly unacceptable. No-one is answering my calls, responding to emails or to customer service inquiries; all my attempts at communication have simply led to a brick wall.. All the other companies forced to return funds to me for the same reason returned them to my account before Christmas. I expected a better level of customer care than this from Bannatyne hotels, and had planned to book again as soon as these restrictions were relaxed. I would certainly not do so now.

We recently stayed at Charlton House Hotel in Somerset. Having checked out and paid our bill we later found that the hotel had helped itself to a further £168.27 for no reason and with no authorisation. We are now in lock down and Charlton house are not answering phone or emails, Customer Services and their legal department are ignoring attempts to contact them. The Durham hotel is open and two members of staff have offered to help me but so far with no result or update. This was the last straw, as our one night stay included dinner, my husband ordered the venison special which consisted of a piece of meat the size of half a sausage and a small spoonful of some sort of garnish. His request for vegetables was forgotten and we had all finished eating before the manager apologized and offered free cheese and port. There was no hot water in our room and the heating didn't work. They even had the cheek to add a "discretionary service charge" to our meal. Disgraceful.

Overpriced, massively disappointing - booked for a special occasion which was ruined. No customer services - complete indifference to us. I have tried their gyms - equally disappointing - Bannatyne must do better!

Gyms

Overpriced
Toilets are discusting
Hardly any gym equipment
Classes are always full
Rubbish opening/closing times
Pts are rude
Staff don't know there jobs

Excellent hotels & gyms. We use both regularly. You will be happy with the service here.

Went there for a wedding reception, lovely hotel and the staff as mentioned in other reviews were great. However tiny bar area and lack of staff meant queues for beverages.
Cost. Wow! 3 single measures of whiskey, a small wine and x2 lemonades £34.55!
Had I not been buying drinks for friends I would have left them on the bar and not paid! Pure rip off quite frankly which spoiled an otherwise good night.
London prices here in the South-West.

I brought my wife here for our anniversary dinner and what a place. We were over the moon with our dining experience; great food, amazing service, and an anniversary to remember. We will definitely be returning.

I took my niece to the Charlton House Hotel at Shepton Mallet for lunch.
I was looking for perfection of Service, good food & ambience: I was not disappointed.
Yes, of course it wasn't cheap: However the Service was Excellent, the food Delicious & the setting Immaculate.
Say as you will about Duncan Bannatyne: Oh boy, his company does a good lunch.
My compliments to the staff.