Macdonald Berystede Hotel & Spa

My room had singles beds which were old and uncomfortable. The TV in the room is poor and overall not a great experience which i did not slepe at all.

The Bed, the pillows, tv in room, coffee facility in room

The building

The actual rooms

Location

Staff horrendous, Rude , room loud and uncomfortable. Food & drink over priced

Room was OK, but overpriced compared eg with Pennyhill Park, which was a much better experience

Staff were too busy to help and indifferent to requests Breakfast was awful Bar staff surly and unhelpful

Outstanding hotel with fabulous spa facilities. The hydrotherapy pool outdoors was my highlight. Thermal suite included many rooms for different experiences. Great choice at breakfast. I loved having the water jug and glasses in the room to fill at the water station near my room. The gardens are beautiful and well maintained. Very relaxing to look at when in the hydrotherapy pool.

We arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday, and to be honest, the start wasn’t great. Parking was quite frustrating — we ended up parking a long way from the entrance with four kids and luggage, then had to carry everything up to reception. In hindsight, we should have stopped near reception first, unloaded, and then parked, so I’ll take that on the chin — but the car park is downhill, and the walk back up isn’t exactly fun. That said, on entering the hotel, it smelled amazing — really inviting, with a lovely lobby area. Check-in was smooth after a short wait, and the staff throughout our stay were really pleasant and helpful, which definitely made a positive difference. We had interconnecting rooms (204 & 205) as there were six of us, but they felt miles away from reception. The lifts are in odd places, so again we found ourselves trekking through the hotel with kids and bags — not ideal. The rooms themselves were clean, but very dated and definitely in need of some TLC — which seems to be a common theme in other reviews. There were also very limited plug sockets, which in this day and age is a bit baffling. The air conditioning was set to hot (in May…), so the rooms were warm and stuffy, but to be fair, the staff did bring fans which helped. The spa and pool area were nice and clean, and the kids really enjoyed swimming between 4–7pm — probably the highlight for them. Breakfast, however, was disappointing. There wasn’t much choice for a buffet — especially considering we’d paid for it in advance. If I’d paid on the day, I’d have been even more frustrated. There were about five hot options (beans, mushrooms, sausages, bacon, and potato scones — which weren’t great), a few cereals, a small fruit selection, a couple of pastries, and juice. It felt quite limited and crowded when busy — not really what you’d expect for the price. We did eat in the restaurant on Sunday night after visiting Thorpe Park, and that was actually very nice. I had the curry, which was genuinely good. That said, the bill came to £254 for the six of us ( 3 smaller kids meals) — I’d expect it to be good at that price! We had a deal with £25 per room off food/drinks (£50 total), but even then, after a round of drinks, the final amount still felt steep. £200 was also taken on arrival as a security hold, so having to pay an additional £37 at checkout was a bit surprising. We were also told we’d receive a £50 fuel voucher after checkout, which I’m still waiting for. Overall, it was a pleasant enough stay, but the rooms really need updating — they feel old-fashioned and not worth the price being charged. Aside from the location, it’s a fairly average hotel. Would I rush back? Probably not, if I’m being honest.

Good location, nice and traditional, lovely grounds

Really dated, rooms were very old. Everything that you would consider standard for a hotel was an additional cost, coffee with breakfast, robes, a shower in your room!