Overview

The first time that I stayed here with my Assistance GSD (Sept 2023) I was so impressed that I booked and paid for June and Sept 24 before I left. Sadly, this visit was a 360% change and within the first 2 hours of arriving I wanted to go home :-( I have to state a couple of things categoricallyin this review, it is entirely mine, uninfluenced by anyone else and with no hidden agendas. The welcome from the minibus drivers who knew me from last year was genuinely warm and welcoming as was the one from the new drivers. Likewise the lovely serving staff and the housekeeping team offered a warm welcome, catching up with staff from last year and meeting new ones. The reason that my stay was at times poor was sadly and solely down to the Manager who I had met and had little interaction with last year. Last year, I dealt almost exclusively with the Assistant Manager - primarily because she was always available and visible to guests throughout my 14 night stay. Before she left, it had been agreed that I would be accompanied by not only my Assistance Dog but a 12 week old Tonkinese kitten in training as an Emotional Support cat. The Manager appeared to be unaware of this arrangement and was quite abrasive in his comments. I pointed out that she had a secure playpen and would not be free in the public areas, when I was out on trips she would accompany me as part of her training. His "welcome" left me feeling unwelcome, tearful and a nuisance. Throughout, he and I sadly were not to see an improvement in our lackof relationship. I'm profoundly deaf (a change from last year) and Luda barks to inform me of people behind me, or approaching if she knows I'm not paying attention. There was a large party booked in and I was asked to "muzzle" her for the sake of other guests following a complaint. I felt that I had no option but to agree, although I did point out in an email that this stopped her from doing her job as my Assistance Dog, not just alerting me, but picking up dropped items, alerting me to seizures ect. My email was responded to though the several issues raised I had "misconstrued", "misheard", was totally wrong or they were completely disregarded. A new reason was given for Luda's need to be "muzzled" in public places. Apparently a new complaint "that she had tried to bite someone and displayed aggressive behaviour. Professional advice (had been) sought and the outcome was the muzzling decree. I asked in writing for details of the complaint as Luda is permanently attched to my chair when on duty, and never off duty around other people. I asked for details of the professional these questions were ignored. I was unfortunately admitted twice to A&E accompanied on both occasions by Luda and spending firstly 16 hours and secondly 8 hours in a busy hospital with an unmuzzled (and loved by the majority off staff) Luda. We went on Wet Wheels x 2, fabulous experiences and they were delighted to welcome dog and kitten. Throughout, our stay at MDL the fly in the ointment was the Manager who on top of everything else did his best to ignore my requests for conversations to be on record in writing. This trip scores a poor and not a terrible because the large number of times that he was thankfully not present. I made it clear that this would be my final visit and that my friends would be cancelling too. He has made no efforts to rectify the situation in anyway. The rest of the staff were fantastic and I wish for their sakes that this could have been the glowing review they so richly deserve. Sadly however the Manager is the one with overall responsibility for guests welfare and he failed in this area. Apart from my direct issues, I was present when he offered drinks to an elderly lady who had, had a fall resulting in a head injury and subsequently a hip operation as hers was broken in the fall. I'm extremely concerned that he was not aware of this basic in First Aid practise of not offering food or drink to someone with a head injury or the potential for one. Thankfully another staff member interviened. These issues and others have been raised with one of the Trustees but I have no trust in anything being followed up or dealt with.

Transport & Parking

Access

Toilets

Staff