Hempstead House Hotel, Sittingbourne

very impressed with the hotel, staff were very attentive. not so keen on Sittingbourne

i sent my parents away here for their 25th wedding anniversary, they said they had a brilliant time and the room and hotel was lovely. the bed had a heated headboard and the separate lounge area was warm and welcoming with an open fire. i pre-ordered flowers, chocolates and wine for their arrival. i also ordered a dessert plate with ''happy anniversary'' however they did not honour this. the food was lovely, however very small portions and the brasserie menu was limited to sandwiches only and this wasn't told to my parents when they booked for dinner. apart from those two minor default everything else was perfect.

Lovely surroundings, good welcome from reception, chose firstly to eat in the 'brasserie' however, awful reception, told to sit in the corner! No one came to take our order until we approached bar staff who then said that 'the chef' was extremely busy and we may or may not get food. This however, was rectified by the food and beverages manager. We chose to eat in the main restaurant and the service was excellent. The food also excellent! Superb waiting staff and they couldn't do enough for us. Don't even attempt the brasserie, head straight for the restaurant. Really lacking problem solving skills and nonchalant response. Bedroom 29 very clean and beautiful furniture and en suite bathroom. However the mattress let the overall stay down, very cheap, aching back in the morning, didn't fit 'snug' sgsinst the adjoining bed so kept 'rolling' and sinking in the middle.

Our stay was lovely. Our Border Collie was with us and he was made most welcome by the friendly staff. He is a very well behaved and quiet dog. The Spa was excellent, including pool, steam room and water jets. Nice evening restaurant. For dogs, there is path leading from the corner of the car park for walks, which leads through a farmer's field. The Brasserie has outdoor dining, so our dog was able to stay with us for lunch. He felt comfortable enough to eat his normal food (which has not been the case on other trips), albeit with a little steak bribery. Whitstable is half an hour drive and very dog friendly.

Oh my god, what a absolutely wonderful stay really was the pool was the highlight for me iv never been somewhere so relaxing, the staff was nice but got the odd stuck up one who looks down on you, the rooms where massive just needs a bit of updating. Unfortunately we went when a wedding was taking place. The guests and music was loud at night so couldnt have window open so we put the fan on and fell straight to sleep! Food was great breakfast got a bit muddled up but overall we didnt want to go home. We are booking our anniversary to stay again its really fab! You won't be disappointed x