Hotel berhampiran Sainsbury's Petrol Station, Basildon

This Premier Inn was in a poor state. All the paintwork and carpets were scruffy and needed updating. The outside was dated too with windows, woodwork and paintwork needing some TLC. Good points (not many) was very nice staff, comfy bed and bathroom was not too bad. Bad points were scruffy place, no lift, bit smelly, outdated and broken furniture in room. Beefeater pub, well I would absolutely not step foot in there again. We went for breakfast and it was awful. Had to ask for plates, more continental to be put out and we waited 1 hour for our cooked and it was terrible. Half the food had obviously been sitting there for some time and was not very hot! Also a bit smelly. Your car is NOT SAFE in the car park. 3 cars were broken in to during the night and I think this was a regular occurrence there! We were worried sick the next night and did not sleep much! Glasses from the pub were all over the car park in the morning from the night before. All in all it was such a disappointment as we have been in some lovely Premier Inn’s and really enjoyed our stay. We have even purchased one of their mattresses for our dad in the past . I don’t know if this has put me off booking them in future. 100% NOT RECOMMENDED unless they update it but even then the car break ins are not good.

Warm welcome from staff, allstaff were super friendly. Room was decent, very comfortable bed and good selection at breakfast . Would definitely stay again. Considering the busy area it was extremely quiet. We had trouble with our shower, the receptionist came straight to our room to show us how to get the temperature right on the shower.

Room nice and cleaned Good facilities nice friendly staff at desk as well as the people working behind the bar and breakfast Also good location for restaurants and nightlife

My second stay at the hotel and as before the room and it’s facilities were fine. The only issue being, because of the age of the hotel, there are no plug/USB points close to the bedside. However, Housekeeping is very good and the welcome and helpfulness from the Reception team is great.

We spent the night here and were very impressed with the marquee and had a great time at the party . The family room we stayed in was clean tidy and comfortable. We then all had breakfast and the staff was very attentive and helpful especially for my daughter needs as she’s gluten free , so we decided to stay on for lunch which was also very nice . I would highly recommend

All round excellent Food? In the bar , excellent rooms , nice and tidy and clean Car park outside easily accessible to hotel Receptionist very friendly and helpful.. Bar staff very friendly food excellent Very close to the beach and all restaurants. I mean at least outside the door. Receptionly and helpful.

My husband and I stayed here Friday 17/5/24 and Saturday 18/5/24 in a comfy room. We had other family and friends staying in various rooms, as we had all travelled from the North West to attend a family wedding on the Saturday - around 18 of us in total, including the bridegroom. The village of Horndon-on-the-Hill is stunning, medieval and picturesque, and the Bell Inn is full of historical charm (even though a witch was burned right here in the 16th century!) Now for the rooms. Clean, modern and reasonably well equipped, although the very firm bed in our High Wire room has given me terminal backache! Lovely toiletries provided in the bathroom (we brought our own) - but that was the extent of the generosity! Milk for tea/coffee was in very short supply, 3 small capsules of skimmed milk when we arrived, and a packet of biscuits containing 2 biscuits ( one each)! Our son, daughter-in-law and their two teenaged children were in the family room with the spiral staircase - they had been gifted 4 little capsules of milk for the 4 of them and our daughter-in -law thought it likely that she may become the second victim to be burned at the stake for daring to request extra milk! It was a case of “well how many DO you want?” in quite a belligerent tone. Four of our friends arrived later in the evening, and two of them had just set down their cases in their room when the fire alarm sounded. The same member of staff who had dealt with our daughter-in-law’s milk request came to look for what had caused the alarm, and again, in a belligerent tone, she asked “have you been using the iron” to which my friend replied “we have only just arrived!” This lady (manageress or whatever she is), needs to improve her hospitality skills, and to realise that when guests have been travelling for possibly many hours through the Friday traffic, they don’t wish to be greeted with the type of attitude she has, abrasiveness has no place in the hospitality business. Our cleaning ladies were lovely and provided us with extra milk etc. on request. Breakfast - ours was okay, but one of our group received her poached eggs sporting a large hair. She sent it back, then received undercooked eggs, which she didn’t eat but paid for anyway - she is an elderly lady who didn’t “like” to send her eggs back a second time. The Bell Inn is a lovely, quirky atmospheric establishment set in stunning countryside, and it could be perfect with a few simple tweaks.

We had a nice time at the spa and all enjoyed our massages! However it was abruptly ended and we were told to go straight back to the changing rooms to get changed and then leave as they were then shut. Not sure why they let you book a massage at 5:30 if they shut at 6 and have to rush you out of the building. They took our towels back before we finished our massages, so when I went to ask for them at the reception so we could dry off and get changed I was asked do I actually need them. I’m not sure if they expected us to put our clothes straight on over the oil? Overall we had a good time but felt very rushed at the end and not very relaxed as we rushed to get our clothes on and leave without being able to have a shower.