OYO the Townhouse

I booked a room at The Town House months ago for a surprise for my Husband on our 10th wedding anniversary. The room was pricey at £176 but I had seen some fabulous photos on facebook and I thought it would be worth the price. A couple of weeks ago I contacted the lady at the reception desk and asked if I could upgrade because I had seen better rooms with breakfast added at cheaper prices on their facebook page. The receptionist was very helpful but pointed out that as I had booked through hotels . Com there was nothing I could do but kindly said that if any of the luxury rooms were still available on the 24th August they would upgrade and make it special for our anniversary. We also booked Sunday lunch at the town house. We arrived at the hotel yesterday and was shown our hotel room. It was very disappointing. The room was small and quite frankly grotty . The ceiling was water damaged with plaster and paint missing and it was all very worn . When we went downstairs the guy on the desk asked if everything was ok with the room . I said I was very disappointed as the room was far below the standard we were expecting and nothing had been arranged to make our room special for our anniversary as promised. The guy at the reception apologised and told us that the hotel has changed hands . He also told us there wasn’t a chef now so there were no Sunday lunches. This was the first time we had been informed about this. Later on our shower leaked into the room below.

Great little boutique hotel right near the centre of Durham. Staff are great, would stay there again.

My room had a leak, but I was very understanding about it, despite the dehumidifier running. However, things took a turn for the worse. The receptionist was nice, but it turns out she forgot to give me details of how to enter the building after I went out to get dinner in town. When I arrived back at 10.55pm, nobody answered the out-of-hours number posted on the front door. I rang it for half an hour! I was locked out overnight, my belongings were in there and I was prevented from accessing them and sleeping there, which is not what I needed after a 6-hour journey and another the following day. I had to look elsewhere for accommodation. However, the nearest was fully booked, but I struck lucky with The City Arms at 11.40pm who were very sympathetic. An apology and a refund were offered by the receptionist in the morning with the assurance that the owner, Aristos Aristodemou, would be in touch within a few hours. He never contacted me. I rang repeatedly, and when I finally got hold of him, he refused to refund me, making a distressing situation even worse! Disgraceful treatment and dire customer service. OYO has been useless too. I will be taking this further.

I arrived to welcoming, super friendly receptionist and was instantly made to feel at home! Luckily, there were also able to offer me an upgrade on the day to the penthouse (which I would highly recommend booking - its fabulous!). After a 5 hour journey from London, the freestanding bath and delicious hot cooked breakfast in the morning were a great! Thanks to the brilliant chef, June and her lovely colleague Alex. You made this stay very special, relaxing and memorable. I felt fully recharged and rested! This boutique has a really homely feel to it and I would definitely stay again.

Outstanding room, with everything you need to relax, short walk to city centre this hotel & room give you everything!

Stopped here for one night. Friendly staff, lovely breakfast and thank you to Amy who was very helpful, and o her first day too ! we would stop.again :). Handy to town centre and great for sightseeing. Comfy bed and pleasant surroundings. Great place.