Saunton Sands Hotel Source Spa and Wellness

We’ve just returned from a 2 night stay to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After sending an email to the hotel, they kindly upgraded us to a sea facing room which really enhanced our experience. The staff are all friendly, professional and courteous. The room itself had been refurbished and the bed was very comfortable. Breakfast was of a very good standard with plenty of choice. We had dinner one night which was of a high standard and the service was very attentive. The hotel clearly sells itself on the stunning view which is the star of this establishment. During our short time there we visited the beachside grill and had lunch. Although it belongs to the hotel it has a very different vibe with dogs and noise. Our visit to the thermal suite was enjoyable but sadly the hot tub wasn’t very hot. All in all we had a very pleasant stay and appreciate the hotels kindness in upgrading our room.

OK so we made two visits in a week to this hotel in one of the most beautiful locations. The inside of the hotel has had a revamp and looks lovely. The spa - I would say save your money and book elsewhere. This was the most disappointing spa experience I have ever experienced. We booked a spa day and was advised to arrive at 10am. Upon arriving we discovered our time table for the day. It had not been thought out well. Very poorly infact. Meaning we had little to no time to use the facilities before going in for our treatment. We talked this through with the lovely Fiona who was extremely helpful. She advised that treatment times are only booked in the day before, I'm guessing to ensure the hotel guests are made priority. We were unable to use the thermal suite. We looked in, nice view but quite a small area. Pool area nice. Spa lacking a tranquil welcome, it is quite a high traffic area. Rushed welcome and they didn't even realise we were on a spa day. We had to cancel a treatment as otherwise we would not have had time for a swim. We did express how unhappy and how poorly planned the whole experience was. Not like us to say a thing. To which they gave us a complimentary glass of prosecco which was nice, a massage in the room with a view and a complimentary mock tail with our lush. Definetly did not make up for the shockingly organised day, nice gesture though. Room with the view was nice but wasn't really any benefit as you spend the massage time face down or eyes covered. The ladies who dive the massage were lovely and it was a nice treatment. Overall, super disappointed, needs someone who is more experience/capable to organise the area. So many better quality spas locally that leave you feeling relaxed, try elsewhere. Food- so we have ate twice in the lounge area one included in the spa day and we returned for our 10th wedding anniversary last night. Both occasions in lounge both occasions service poor. Spa day - the server was unwelcoming, didn't check on us and definitely didn't want to be there. Anniversary dinner - made a reservation. They lost the reservation. They tried to sit us on a dirty table that was not big enough to accommodate party size. Service again was shocking. Food was OK. Slow service. Dirty table. Got brought meals had no cutlery. Got brought desserts no cutlery. Pudding forgot, chased up twice. More like a self service area. Oh also both main and pudding orders were wrong. Clearly a lack of proper management in the area. We got married with you 10 years again and wanted a nice family evening but lacked in every way. Want to put a huge shout out to Marco on here as he was extremely hard working and was the only one who seemed to know what was going on in the area. He welcomed us and sorted out the cutlery and checked on us. Very disappointed with our visit and will not be returning.

Overall a really good stay, had sea view room which was spacious and clean. Bed was ok but pillows were a bit lacking in quality and support for our taste. We were there on a bed, breakfast and dinner package. Dinner had a good selection, first nights waiter was a bit surly, missed bringing the bread basket out and wasn’t helpful in suggesting a wine to go with our meal. Waitress we had the next night was a lot more cheerful and attentive. Service in the cocktail bar was quite slow on both nights, couldn’t work out if staff were trying to complete order for other parts of the hotel or were just slow, the amount of people in the bar wasn’t a particularly high level so service should have been slicker. Breakfast has a good range and quality of hot and cold food types. Swimming pool is supposed to be open at 9am, this was not the case on the second day and had to go to reception to get the spa staff to open up, however they only had one key, whereas there are two gates, it took what I assumed was a regular visitor to the hotel to push the staff to open up ( she said this wasn’t an unusual occurrence, and the hotel had its little idiosyncrasies) All guest have 45 minute access to the spa each day as long as they book in advance, on our first visit all was good, on the following day the sauna wasn’t working and this had to pointed out to the staff (this was at 10am) and no towels in the area. Felt like morning checklist wasn’t being followed. Overall nice hotel with great views, just needs a sharpening up on customer service levels.