Riverview Lodge - Rochester

Julian S.

I was booked in to this hotel for a three night stay, the proprietor was nice enough and he gave me the key to my room. ||||It’s an old building with plenty of character and although my room had a view of the river it was awful. My shower had hair on the walls, mould round the tray and clearly hadn’t been cleaned for some time. There were cobwebs on the walls and interestingly at some point it had had two locks, a Chub type and a Yale type which had been removed/broken off and nobody had bothered to conduct a repair. ||||Pretending I was camping I spent a fretful night in my tracksuit waking up with a back ache so rose early to check the breakfast room; the state of the sink in one corner, the fridge in another and the cutlery in a cardboard box frightened me away. The landlord lives elsewhere and there are no staff on site to make a complaint so leaving without a shower I sought breakfast elsewhere. It was a pleasant walk past the castle to the high street and there was plenty of choice. I bravely spent a second night; my back killing me got me up and somewhat dishevelled not having had a shower or a shave for two days elected not to spend a third and went home. ||||I normally have no reason to doubt trip advisor reviews but to give this establishment excellent, very good or even average is a falsehood. During the period I was in the hotel (which I use loosely) I did not see another human and I would only recommend it if you are looking for a Munster experience. Consider this; the management photo of the bar is not of this hotel as there isn’t one.

Chris H.

Myself and a colleague were booked into this B & B by my company, as our regular B & B was fully booked, and stayed for 5 nights. ||We were met by the proprietor who then showed us the breakfast arrangements. The dining room looked like the tables had been set in the 1970's and not touched since. There were some sad looking Weetabix in a glass jar on the sideboard (which looked suspiciously like the type museums keep specimens in) to which he gestured and said 'help yourself to cereals', before opening the fridge. Inside was a single carton of orange juice and another of milk, along with some cheap brand yogurts. He then took us downstairs to show us the kitchenette and the view across the River Medway. 'Look at lovely view' he said. There was indeed a great view over the river, spoiled slightly by 2 scrap cars and a dilapidated camper van on the hard-standing, but if you craned your neck slightly.... He then gave us our room keys before disappearing back upstairs and into his office, which was stacked high to the ceiling with bags filled with god only knows what.||||Moving on to my room, the first impression was the smell of dust. That was because it was everywhere; stuck to the top of the walls, on top and inside the wardrobe, and trapped in dirty cobwebs in every corner of the room. There was a dilapidated wing back chair in there that looked like it had been thrown out of an old peoples home.||The headboard on the single bed was the velour type and was heavily stained. Pulling back the duvet, the bottom sheet looked clean enough, and encouraged by this, I made the decision to check the mattress. Wrong move. It looked like an 18th century map of Africa, with old overlapping brown stains. The bathroom wasn't too bad, some mould on the shower tiles, but the shower curtain was old and stiff, with black crust along the bottom and with the appearance of never having being washed. The power unit of the electric shower was on a different wall to the shower head, so when using it, you had to be careful to point the spray away from the unit.||The TV was tiny, old and constantly buzzed when switched on. There were no tea/coffee making facilities in the room, and the kitchenette was so dirty that I refused to make tea in there.||After the first night, my colleague reckoned that he had heard mice in the stud walling in his room. After the second night, I had really block sinuses because of the dust. ||In the 5 days we were there, the rooms were not serviced even once, and I never saw any staff, as the proprietor lives off premises, and can only be contacted by mobile phone.||||The only reason we didn't walk out on day one was that payment had been made by our company in advance.

G D.

We stayed at de Riverview Lodge for 4 nights, but wished we didn't book so many nights in advance. The building is old, this is not bad but when no maintenance is done in the last 10 years... ||We brought our own yoghurt and cereals because there was nothing more than cheap, tasteless bread, no yoghurt. There was some old, not fresh cereal but we didn't dare to eat that.||The manager was nowhere around, only in the beginning to collect his money. After that moment,... there was no one besides other guests who complained about the accommodation during breakfast.||The rooms were not fresh and we had the feeling the sheets were more than 30 years old. Also the bathroom wasn't cleaned once during our 4 night stay. ||Normally we don't really take our time to commend on B&B's where we've stayed, but this was so bad that we had to share it with other travelers.

martin C.

Me and my friend had a lovely holiday in Rochester. Had lovely view of the River and the Countryside. The owner was kind so were the staff who done our washing for us. We enjoyed the stay rooms were lovely and en suite was outstanding. Every thing wasnt to munch trouble.

Scrumpy J.

While flat hunting in 2009 I stayed here for 7 very happy weeks at 25.00 a night (great value) The room was bright & airy if a little last century (nothing wrong with that), the breakfast more than adequate for the price of the room (+ a superb river view) & self catering kitchen spotless. The "handy man" was a hoot too, which really added to the experience! The main bonus is the place is far too far out for the rowdy bunch so you are not going to be disturbed here.....90% I encountered were respectful tourists, the other 10% friendly contractors (who left their muddy boots out the back entrance.....nice change!) The shower on my floor wasn't big enough for me - but few anywhere (inc. my own gaffe) are so I was directed to the FIRST RATE basement bathroom after a day. When the flat hunting stalled around a month, the owner offered me a good size room for 600.00 p/m............& the place was such a home from home by then I seriously considered it!!!||||Want value, comfort, friendly atmosphere & no yobbo's? Willing to "put up with" a little 'quirk'?||||Look no further!

Emma M.

I normally try to find a positive with everything, but with this hotel, I found nothing to be positive about. We arrived on the Friday to be greeted by a freezing cold room, no working lights and no hot water. When we tried to find someone to complain there is no one around. Saturday morning, we woke up to find a continental breakfast of half a loaf of bread and that was it. No yoghurts, no cereals, no orange juice. We went out for the day and returned Saturday afternoon. The heating had been turned off and once again, there was no hot water. Once again, with no one around to complain too we decided to come home a day early. Once returning, we complained via email to the manager, who was not only rude and aggressive in his email but laughed off our complaint and said that he was not willing to refund our second night, even though we didnt stay becuase of all listed above. Avoid if you can!!!

King D.

A complete and utter monstrosity. Not one of my service or standards requirements were met.

IN THE ROOM:

1) The beds where dirty with headboards, which use to be pink turning brown.
2) The room looked dirty, full of cobwebs and dust (which resulted in me having a sore throat).
3) The shower didn't work. It wasn't able to generate enough water pressure to pump water onto my body. Instead it trickled out like rain of a window pane.
4) The pillow stank of sweat.
5) There was an unsightly dirty, old, decrepit chair which appeared to be from the 11th century in the room.
6) No sockets near the bed.
7) No TV remote for the temperamental TV.

THE REST
1) There was no staff in the accommodation when you needed they. You had to call his mobile number for him to come back.
2) Breakfast was rubbish. He left cereal and bread on the side and said help yourself.
3) The fact that the place was so dirty, put me of from eating anything for the whole stay.

Overall it was a poor experience, and I would not stay there again if it was the last place on earth. I'd much rather find a pig sty somewhere to stay.

P.S, I remembered to wipe my feet on the way out.

Beccie E.

I stayed here with family and friends for a wedding and chose it due to its location but wish I'd chosen somewhere further away and footed the bill for a taxi instead. ||The cleanliness of the room was ok but everything about the place was old and tired and pretty much knackered. ||The beds have seen better days and the bedding wasn't fit for purpose. ||The breakfast was awful. I just about braved a slice of toast. ||All in all a very overpriced stay for what can only be described as a Grim experience. I couldn't wait to leave.