I booked this hotel at the very last minute to go on a golf break with a friend. I usually always use this site before making any bookings but this time I was in such a rush I went ahead with it without doing any searches. Having read some of the reviews here soon after I was sure I'd had a shocker and was dreading the weekend, especially having looked at the rubbish photos of the golf course on the Botley Park website. Well I have to say we were both very pleasantly surprised. On checking in (four hours before we were supposed to) we were given a very friendly reception and a room immediately. The room was very nice and absolutely spotless. A great start. The golf course was in superb nick, both fairways and greens were excellent (though the rough is a golf ball swallower) and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Dinner was part of the package and having read about the slow service we didn't expect much. The food was fantastic, the service excellent and we can't have waited more than five minutes between courses, if that. Breakfast the next morning was as you would expect, standard buffet stuff. The only gripe we had was that the number of bar staff during the night was insufficient for the number of people staying and drinking late into the night from a wedding. Having said that I felt very sorry for the lad that was on the bar as one obnoxious client demanded "Champagne! Champagne! Champagne!" Overall we thought the place was excellent, and believe me, I was prepared for disappointment. The price was reasonable and I would recommend it.

Stayed at Botley Park for one night over the bank holiday week-end. Overall the experience ranks amongst the worst hotel experiences we ever had (between us we spend 80+ nights in hotels each year). What was meant to be a relaxing short break left us exhausted and tired. I had booked a D,B&B rate /Executive Room on the hotel web site the day before our stay. The positive aspects: -nice decor in room -responsive house keeping The negative apects: -misleading web site: photos of rooms refer to Classic and Superior room, the booking engine offers Classic, Executive and Specialty/Feature rooms. When booking an Executive room what room type do you end up in? If you guess Superior you are wrong. -booked executive room but found no upgraded amenities, decor or view in the small room we got -on enquiry front desk told me that there really is no big difference between Classic and Executive. Merely better view (of the tennis court?) and upgraded amenities. Essentially I should have paid a premium of nearly 20% on base room rate for nothing. -had to order bathrobes and slippers although they should have been provided as part of the executive package. Mineral water - which was also touted as an Executive room benefit - turned out to be free in all rooms. -smell of urine in Leisure Club showers (both male and female) -went to restaurant shortly (20 min) before our booking, told them we were going to have drinks in the bar and they could tell us when our table was ready. We were seated approx. 30 mins after our allocated time after insisting on getting a table. In the meantime other couples arriving after us had been seated. -service was very slow and unprofessional. No refills of water, brought wrong items, cleaned/sprayed tables nearby. -after dinner it was suggested that we should not have breakfast in the restaurant the next morning since the hotel was vey busy. Room service was suggested but the additional tray charge was not mentioned (I could have lived with this suggestion if it had been made with a promise to waive all additional charges - on the other hand we don't like to have breakfast in bed anyway) -during the night there were multiple disturbances in rooms close/adjacent to ours - shouting, breaking glass, knocking. To be fair - the issue was eventually resolved but it took about 1 hour. -dirty crockery provided at breakfast (all cereal bowls not cleaned properly) -no breakfast menu provided. Since breakfast is part self-service part waiter service it would have been adequate to provide a menu of additional items available like so many other hotels in the UK do. -overall slow and chaotic service again. At check-out some of our complaints were acknowledged and part of our drinks were comp'ed and the Executive room charge removed. I think this actually was the bare minimum required to address the issues - it was adequate but doesn't motivate us to ever return to this hotel.

I stayed in this hotel for a conference in May 2007, I had large ground floor room that was spotless with large bathroom that contained a bath and shower. The pool is quite small and is overlooked by the hotel lobby and bar. The restaurant and quality of food was superb for my stay and considering that the hotel was full the services was excellent. I would recommend this hotel for a quiet get-away.

My husband had been staying in this hotel for business, and I decided to go along with him. When he booked he was informed that no standard rooms were available, but they had an executive room for another £50 per night, which he accepted. For the extra money we were expecting a really upgraded room. What we got was exactly the same room as he had previously had, same size, bed etc., the only difference being two small bottles of water, a small box of sweets and two rather tired bathrobes hanging in the wardrobe. For £50 I would have brought my own tired bathrobe with me! Even more annoying, the hotel has 130 rooms, and judging by the numbers at breakfast I would estimate that about 20 people were staying there, - so I don’t believe for a minute that there standard rooms were booked out, - I feel they just used the opportunity to grasp another £50 from the booking. While my husband was working I tried to avail of the spa and pool facilities. They had notices posted throughout the hotel advertising a special spa offer for £60. I contacted the spa first thing on Monday morning to book this for any time during our stay. I couldn’t believe my ears when I was told that I couldn’t avail of the offer, - but I could have the treatments separately at the full list price. Obviously I queried this but they were absolutely firm about it. They would do the treatments but not at the offer price! A case for false advertising if ever I heard one! I declined their kindness and headed for the pool. The pool is actually quite small, - the photos are deceptive. A good third to a half is very shallow, OK for children. The whole area is very tired and badly in need of a revamp. The showers in the changing rooms are poor, mostly just a dribble, - whereas I must say the shower in the bedroom was fine. The pool is surrounded by quarry tiles, which feel very slippery when wet. The steam room has definitely seen better days, a number of the plastic seats had broken and were clumsily repaired with rigid plastic and mastic. There is no Jacuzzi, despite the photos on their brochure showing one.. There is an area that obviously used to hold a Jacuzzi, but this has been converted into yet another children’s paddling pool. I was talking to another guest in the pool who I mentioned the lack of a Jacuzzi and I was informed that there had been problems with the old Jacuzzi and the management had removed it, and decided not to replace it because they said “there was no call for it”. Disappointing. I mentioned to the other guest about their “spa deal”, and she obviously said something to a member of staff, who then approached me and asked me what the problem was. After I explained she said that it didn’t sound right and she would check the situation out for me. She came back some time later and, in fairness, looking rather embarrassed, informed me that it was correct. They could not offer me the spa deal but could offer me the treatments separately. As this was still Monday morning and the hotel was like a morgue, it was obvious that they would rather do no business than do discounted business. What a rip off. The room itself was fine, nicely decorated - but lacked maintenance. There was a cupboard missing a handle, cracked tile in the bathroom, and the bath panel was peeling badly. Food and drink is overpriced. The dinner menu is limited, 4/5 starters and 4/5 mains, - (I think it was 4, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt!). The menu doesn’t change from week to week, as my husband has stayed there several times and the menu was the same. Dinner was nice, but rather meagre nouveu cuisine. It was really disturbing that the staff were setting up for breakfast in the middle of dinner. At £100 for dinner, I really didn’t like the fact that staff were rattling cups and knives and straying the tables with disinfectant. Breakfast was a different matter. The food was very nice, but the service was awful. The seemed to have plenty of staff, but they were drifting around aimlessly. Breakfast is self service, but they take your order for tea and toast. Day one, asked for tea and toast, which arrived after we had finished breakfast. Day Two, given what had happened on day one, requested tea and toast, didn’t arrive. Asked again, - no sign. Asked a third time and yep, it arrived well after we’d finished our bacon and eggs. Plenty of staff and poor management? Well obviously, - but the person I asked three times was in fact the manager. Hmmmm. Day three, - skipped breakfast and hit a Happy Eater. Maybe that’s the idea…. At 6am the fire alarm went off. I trekked up to the reception with only a short jacket to cover my decency and my nightie. When we got there the receptionist carried on checking people out ignoring me while I hovered embarrassingly. Eventually I interrupted him to ask if there was a fire and he looked at me disinterestedly and informed me that there was a “technical issue”.. Couldn’t believe that he allowed me to stand there at reception for 5 minutes in my nightie and not say anything. Even more amazed that there was no apology for it. We mentioned our issues to the receptionist when checking out, who unsurprisingly, looked disinterested. In all, a pretty dire experience. What stands out is that this hotel has obviously set out to drain the last penny from its guests, and there quite blatant about it, - no shame at all!. I won’t be staying there again out of principle, and really cannot recommend this hotel to anyone.

Stayed here with work for a few days in June. The room was ok - it was on the ground floor + had a few insects in there so I moved rooms to one on the first floor which was better! Went for breakfast in the restaurant + asked for poached eggs + mushrooms. I was given one egg and one mushroom. The next day I ordered my breakfast to my room + requested 2 eggs + 4 mushrooms. I was given 2 mushrooms sliced into 4!!! I was starving. That night I went to the bar where they charged £7 for a glass of wine. A colleague of mine came back to her room to find all her bags had been packed by a member of hotel staff + moved out so they could move another guest in. Another colleague of mine ordered room service + the waiter asked her which company she worked for. When she told him who she worked for he told her he hoped she choked as he doesn't like the company we work for! How professional!!! I only stayed here with work but I certainly wouldn't pay to stay here!