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More like a club 18-30 experience. The hotel was fantastic, food excellent and staff went way, way beyond. However, the main function of a hotel is to have somewhere to sleep. The hotel had two weddings on the night of my stay and between 12:45 and 14:30 I was unable to sleep for the screaming, laughing, partying that was going on throughout the corridors. I never heard any staff trying to resolve the situation, just plenty of noise. I had to pay £20 surcharge for my dogs to stay and they were not allowed In the restaurant - which is very reasonable, but have to say that they were better behaved that the other animals who were not required to pay any surcharge or not required to follow any basic behavioural rules. On checkout, I was not even asked if I had a pleasant stay. I assume the staff did not want confirmation of their mismanagement. If this is the sort of establishment used but Trip.com, then I can only say first impressions go a long way and I will stick to other hotel brokers in future.

I arrived at the hotel at circa 17:30, the receptionist was a lady called Sharon, who told me that she had been trying to contact me all day, to inform me that my online card payment had been declined and that I would have to pay with cash. I knew that this was incorrect, as I had the credit card confirmation that the payment had gone through in the app on my mobile phone. I showed her this and she said that they didn't have anything from Trip.com on their system. Therefore, there was no evidence that I had actually paid on their system, even though I had the credit card confirmation. So, I had to give her my credit card details as a guarantee until she had sorted the booking out. Sharon then gave me a guest information form to fill out, I noticed that there was already about 50% of the form filled in with my name (Richard Brown) but a completely random home address and email address plus phone number. I told Sharon that this wasn't my information, so she took the form off me and told me that the room was booked for someone else of the same name. The hotel was fully booked that night, so she was worried that I might not have anywhere to stay. After phoning some of her line managers, she was able to let me use a room that had been taken out of service, due to a blocked toilet. It was far from ideal, but I was grateful for the chance to take a shower and unwind after a long drive (192 miles) Around 19:30 I went out for dinner with my son and whilst out, Sharon phoned me to tell me that she had been calling all late arrivals to see if anyone might cancel, so I could use their room. However, the gent with the same name as me, called to say that he had never intended a 2nd night therefore, had only paid the one night. which meant that I could have that room after all. On returning to the hotel, I was given the keys to room 17 and transferred all of my belongings into that room. Then I was notified by my mobile phone app, that another payment for the room had just gone through, meaning that I had been charged twice. This time it was direct to Days inn Durham. Sharon has assured me that they have instructed a refund of the 2nd payment, although it hasn't arrived yet (Friday 8th July) So, in truth, I was impressed by Sharon and her commitment to making sure that I had somewhere to stay that night, but I'm not impressed at all with trip.com who somehow. didn't get my booking in place with Days inn despite taking payment for it. I won't recommend Trip .com and won't use them again. A complete farce from start to finish. I'm just glad that this experience didn't ruin my time in Durham, for my son's graduation ceremony.