Pleasant Staff, Food disappointing and Room was very disappointing

The Public rooms are lovely and the staff are friendly and efficient..
Our room was very disappointing, huge bed which meant there was only room for a bedside table on one side. No wardrobe or drawers, just narrow shelves and a small rail ( made me think of a Travelodge)
But the biggest problem was the very close proximity of a towering and very thick hedge which meant the room was dark and felt quite oppressive.

Breakfast choices were good. A hot and cold buffet, however the hot food was generally not hot enough..
Dinner menu in the restaurant was for us quite restrictive, Pizza and Burgers are not our thing, and the other choices for us were quite limited. I would normally check out menus before booking but sadly on this occasion I did not.

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So we had some initial poor treatment at breakfast and the first night at dinner after my husband complained about the treatment and advised that he worked for the hotel group in the past the service improved . The champagne bucket in our room was dirty and the upholstery in the room required a deep clean lots of stains . We work within the industry so for a four star hotel there is some work to be done. The younger members of your staffing team were amazing.

Thank you

Needs a kick up the backside

The room had a peculiar smell on arrival. We opened the window and it eventually cleared, but the source is probably large amounts of water from a broken seal on the shower which means the laminate flooring in the bathroom is probably sodden and rotten.

The room was very warm and the window only opened a fraction but the air conditioning unit was broken. Not a great night's sleep.

The complementary shower gel (big bottle fixed to the wall) was almost empty, it ran out during my morning shower.

On arrival in the restaurant, we were seated and ordered food. We had to ask to order a drink first, which is very unusual. We heard other guests having to ask for a drink too. The food was average, and disappointing given the "luxury" associated with the place. I ordered fish and chips for my main course and was presented with two clearly massively produced, identical fillets which anyone could get from frozen food stores such as Iceland. I think this poor quality food was charged at 17. Every pub in the land can manage freshly battered fish but not here. At no time during the meal were we asked if everything was OK. I was so hungry I ate the food and was ready to give feedback when asked.

Breakfast was fine, fairly standard, but again no attempt by waiting staff to check if everything was OK. This is a real weakness of customer care.

The room key (card [] into a slot) failed after dinner and after breakfast. Both times I had to go to reception to get it refreshed.

On check-out, there was no attempt to ask if everything was OK. Nothing. (We had told one of the delightful cleaning staff that the shower was badly leaking and she said she'd pass this on.) I was ready to give feedback at reception, but it's clear the culture of Bowden Hall was one of not wanting to know.

The booking process with you was fine, the hotel experience very poor and definitely not worth the cost of the booking or food.

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Totally disappointed with this hotel. As we arrived they had a wedding going on. People and kids running around reception and taken over lounge area. This should all be separate and where was the wedding co-ordinator? Not a big menu for dinner which is fine but three items on it were taken off. Breakfast next day disaster all the guests staying for the wedding had cleared most of the food so hardly anything left. I had to upgrade on the bedroom and the classic room so small and one up from a Travelodge. Disappointed as it was my husband's birthday.

Excellent Staff

Excellent, professional staff team who are unfortunately being let down by a tired hotel that has passed its "sell by date" and is in need of a major refurbishment. We do not expect to find stained furniture and carpets in bedrooms and communal areas.
Location and staff are great and this could become a really nice place to stay, but not in its current state.
The restaurant was good, dinner menu was acceptable, but breakfast was exceptional with a wide choice of options, well worth the additional cost.

Hotel needs a revamp...

The hotel is in pretty poor condition - two out of 3 of the windows in our bedroom had rot. We also spotted moths upon arrival and a moth-eaten carpet. Given the state of these rooms I would have expected to have been upgraded to a better room the moment we pointed this out, but only a similar room was offered. Clearly the rooms shown on the website have been updated and they are the more expensive ones. So you don't really get what you think you have paid for.

The food was a bit of a rollercoaster. We were served a mousse that was advertised as a souffle, and a chicken burger that was advertised as a "kimchi" chicken burger. When we asked, the restaurant manager said "no there's no kimchi in the burger as we ran out, is that ok?". It was of course not ok, but there was little we could do at that point given that everyone was hungry. The conclusion is that the restaurant is hit and miss (mostly miss).

The deal on the cotswold hotel breaks website is a good way to get people through the door, but overall I'd rather have spent more and gotten what I paid for. The staff did their best and we very pleasant throughout our stay. They're an asset to this otherwise run down location.

We probably will not be returning.

A normal 3 star hotel

I was not impressed by this hotel.at all.First the reception were not fully aware of what we booked second there was no lift to the upper floors for struggling clients thirdly the room decor was a mess the bathroom door was falling apart from the bottom up.fourth the restaurant menu was the same all week and a lot of the listed food was not available also my wine was the fourth choice the first 3 were unavailable..I would have expected a lot more facilities from your star rating

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We found the rooms very basic and dated. We would not class this hotel as luxurious. The food in the restaurant left a lot to be desired, very poor quality. The hounds were well kept and beautiful so very relaxing setting but we would not stay here again.