Unfortunate first impressions

I booked this spa as a treat for my daughters 40th birthday as she was not able to have a birthday party that we had planned for her. They have worked all the way through the covid issue which has been very stressful for them as they have a 3 year old. They needed a well deserved break and rest. To my dismay my daughter told me that the receptionist was very rude to her when she checked in and this put a dampner on the start of their weekend. The duty manager did try to turn things around, but i am very upset at what happened.

24/09/20-26/09/20 Opulence Suite

Food was excellent, and the staff were very professional and helpful, set in a very nice part of the country. However, the room, although pleasant enough, didn t really meet expectations for its description and the price charged. A leak developed on the first evening leaving parts of the carpet wet all weekend. Raised this with the hotel staff via the Vamoos App, but wasn t sorted before we checked out. Furthermore, ran a bath on the second evening, only to find that the hot water wasn t operating - I had to fill up the wine cooler with hot water from the sink tap and bail it into the bath (took a while to be fair). Both nights the room was illuminated every few seconds by the light on the fire alarm, which didn t really make for a relaxing night s sleep. Very disappointed. Would return to the area, would dine at the restaurant, but wouldn t book another night s stay, I m afraid.

Nice relaxing stay

I liked the venue and we had a very nice stay. When we first arrived - we received a very warm welcome from the receptionist on site. The disappointment was with housekeeping. We followed instructions carefully when asking for certain items to be replenished (coffee and milk) only to find that the cups and saucers had not been replaced. Separately, I asked reception for some robes and champagne glasses which never arrived and we had a very hard time reaching reception by phone and we even tried the app that they advertise for contact - it s not really fit for purpose (nobody answers). Another disappointment was when we had opted for a spa package only to find that there were no available slots during our 4 night stay - I find it incredible that we were not contacted beforehand to book something and the pool booking system is extremely dysfunctional (pool staff are also very blunt and come across as rude and patronising) - so to not lose the vouchers we were forced to take products we didn t really want - not the relaxing experience I had hoped for. Finally, on the last day of our stay we asked to swap our breakfast for brunch (agreeing to pay an extra fee). The quality of the food choice was awful : food was cold and had bene left there for hours, there was no staff to serve us and when we asked for a description of the food we were told I don t know so dietary requirements were not able to be catered for. Also, we paid for cold below average food. There were no salads and when I asked for some I was told they would have to make it especially for me and made me feel extremely awkward for even asking. Staff were trying their best but there was nobody there to serve us as they were busy with afternoon teas and we felt like a nuisance : we should not have been charged extra when there was literally nothing to eat . All in all, great grounds, a nice stay but they let themselves down

Nice but not perfect

I booked a nights stay for my wifes Birthday, the package said, a bottle of prosecco in the room on arrival but it wasnt there, I had to call reception and they served it with our lunch. Not the nice surprise I was hope for. The lunch was nice, the local sparkling wine was nice and the wine list was good. The 3 course evening meal that came with the package was set for 19.30. The starters were lovely and so was the mains. The desserts were not so good. Iasyly I dressed up for the evening and inbetween mains and desserts we ordered 2 beers and a litre of water which the waiter tripped and completely covered me, I was soaking wet with no spare clothes so after dinner i had to sit drenched in beer until we went to bed. I did notice that my bill for extra drink and food was less than I expected so I am guessing they compensated me by deducting a bottle of wine. I appreciate they did that but being soaked completely ruined the night. Shame

No review title

The food in the restaurant was quite disappointing unfortunately, the cheesecake was particularly unpleasant, very sticky in a gluey type of way, didn t taste homemade at all but cheap shop bought in our opinion, the rest of the food was ok but not amazing. There was supposed to be a welcome bottle in the room which wasn t there although when we mentioned this when we left we were given a bottle to take away. Generally an ok stay but not amazing. Staff were helpful but not particularly warm and welcoming.

Hotel

The staff were very welcoming and helpful.
The restaurant and lounge areas were lovely and very comfortable.
The room was clean and it was a very comfortable bed but the bathroom door didn t close properly, also the toilet seat was lose and the extractor didn t work.

Hotel with great grounds and potential

The staff were very nice at the hotel but they were under pressure. I could not contact the reception through the internal phone or the external phone and had to take quite a walk to the reception in order to request robes. The room was on the second floor but had no lift. The tea and coffee were nice, the bed was comfortable and the view was good but the room itself was quite mediocre. The water in the swimming pool was more cold than was comfortable except for vigorous swimming and the hot tub outside was also too cold. They said the boiler had broken down on the Friday but the temperature was the same on the Sunday. The restaurant was good for breakfast but did not have a good ambience for dinner and the food was not great. Out of the three dishes we ordered. (duck confit, aubergine and mushroom tart) only the mushroom tart was good. The breakfast was excellent and the dining room beautiful in the morning. The staff were unfailingly nice and helpful but the hotel had perhaps come under a lot of pressure during the pandemic.

3 night stay

Great location with lovely views, able to walk into Tewksbury in 15 minutes.
The restaurant service was not great but I believe there was a lot of new staff getting to know the ropes. Reception service on arrival very welcoming and experienced on departure again I think new staff not much customer service.

Overall an enjoyable short stay