Lifehouse - Clacton-on-Sea

A relaxing and fantastic break. We went for the NYE gala, booked extra treatments and stayed for the 2 whole days due to being able to use the facilities before check in and after check out. Staff were courteous and attentive without being overbearing. The NYE set menu was varied and exquisite with portion size being generous. A buffet breakfast was included and was fresh and warm. Lunch the next day was not included but the menu was reasonable with several choices. The room was clean and spacious enough considering we weren't in it much. The couples deep tissue massage, facial, and Swedish massage left us feeling spoilt and relaxed, one of the best experiences we've had. It was good value for money, and we shall definitely be returning again in the summer when we can take a walk in the well maintained grounds. Rooms: 5 Service: 5 Location: 5 Hotel highlights: Great view, Quiet

We booked a disabled access room which was so inaccessible it’s ridiculous. The rooms are as far from everything as you can get and as a wheelchair user with a spinal injury there is a very very long way to reception and main entrance/ exit through 4 big doors none of which are automatic but very difficult to get through alone. We swapped our first room (69) as there was a constant dripping noise from the room above. The ‘accessible’ rooms have no lighting around the bed apart from a ridiculous reading light which is impossible to reach with a spinal injury. The only way I could get up and go to the loo was to wake my husband up I don’t need his help at home. The bed side shelf on the bathroom side is much lower than the bed so impossible to use. The bathroom is good but smells. It is dirty under the shower seat. The extractor did not work and there is no shower curtain so EVERYTHING gets soaked including my very expensive electric wheelchair. The room overall is very basic. No drawers, no wardrobe , just 6 hangers on two 6 inch rails. Tea and coffee facilities are standard, a few teabags, coffee sachets and never enough milk pots. The water is scummy and horrible. The chairs in the rooms all have metal ‘u’ shaped legs and are heavy and very difficult to move. Whoever designed this room needs a smack round the head with a reality stick. There was obviously no kind of consultation process as it is so user unfriendly. The cleaners are very noisy all shouting and calling to each other outside the rooms in the mornings. The rooms have little soundproofing so if you want a lay in you’re stuffed with the cacophony. The only meal we ordered was room service gnocchi bolognese. It tasted like fried mince with hardly any other flavour. Grim! My husband ordered sweet potato fries and got regular ones plus the insult of an extra £10 for it to be delivered by the most miserable creature. The condiments, ketchup and mayonnaise were in refilled mini Tiptree jars and was Heinz. One of the refilled mayonnaise jars was dirty on the inside. Very classy not! This room cost over £800 for 4 nights and we booked it on the understanding it was a luxury hotel. It is not. It is a budget hotel designed to cheat you, take your money and do very little else. There is no storage, no fridge, they charge you for everything, one reviewer mentioned a £10 charge for an ice bucket and rental charges for glasses! If you want somewhere luxurious or also have a serious disability avoid this place. It is a total waste of money, it is not what it purports itself to be and it blatantly penny pinches. Edit: I received a reply to this review asking if I’d raised my concerns at the time. Well, Lifehouse Spa, yes, I did and your staff didn’t give a hoot! Rooms: 1 Service: 1 Location: 4

Had a great overnight stay, food was excellent along with the service. Little overpriced for one night stay. Rooms: 4 Service: 4 Location: 4 Hotel highlights: Romantic

I was pretty underwhelmed. The hotel room was quite basic and we found the bed uncomfortable so didn’t sleep well. The Spa treatments were good. The restaurant got several things wrong for example, serving up a starter that was completely inedible and whilst they eventually put things right or didn’t charge us, I’d much prefer if they did better in the first place. Shout out to Sophie who looked after us who was very good. Breakfast was disappointing. This place could be so much more with better attention to detail and stronger management. Rooms: 2 Service: 4 Location: 3

Loved the new wave treatment. All staff very lovely. Rooms: 4 Service: 5 Location: 5 Hotel highlights: Romantic