Bedford Swan Hotel and Thermal Spa

Great location. Superb staff and facilities.

Parking a little interesting. Only suggestion would be to make it a one way system.

My husband and I, as well as a large amount of our wedding guests, recently stayed at the hotel for a couple of nights surrounding our wedding. While we appreciated the location, the overall experience was significantly marred by a series of operational failures. After recently reaching out directly to the hotel with the below, we received a fully AI-generated response after waiting almost 3 weeks for said response, so felt compelled to share our experience. ​Upon our arrival, we were checked into a room that was already occupied by another guest. When we returned to reception to rectify this, we were unfortunately then issued a key to a second incorrect room. We were incredibly fortunate that the first room we accessed happened to be allocated to a friend and wedding guest who was thankfully not in the room at the time. Had that room been occupied by a stranger, this could have resulted in an incredibly distressing situation, as we checked in late at night when most people would have been in bed. ​Once we were finally settled in our correct room, we discovered that the air conditioning was not functioning. As this occurred at approximately 2am following our wedding celebrations, we were too exhausted to report it at the time, but the lack of climate control during the recent heatwave made for a very uncomfortable stay. ​Unfortunately, these issues were not isolated to our individual experience. ​My mother also reported that her air conditioning was non-functional, and despite her reporting it, no one attended to the issue. Upon checkout, she also received no apology or discount from the team regarding the discomfort she endured all night. ​Our photographer was also forced to change rooms immediately after checking in due to her entire carpet being wet. ​While we acknowledge and appreciate the £40 discount applied at checkout for our room, it does not reflect the significant level of inconvenience and the lapse in basic service standards we, as well as my mother and our photographer, experienced during what should have been a seamless celebratory weekend. Highlights were the breakfast, Joy (such a wonderful, helpful person), and the location. The hotel itself is quite grand and well decorated :)

Very stylish and modern

Nothing

Great location and beautiful hotel.

As an old property some issues regarding rattling windows, broken hinges need to be addressed. Lack of ability to contact hotel and ignored messages left to follow up with an item I left behind was less than impressive. I had absolutely no direct contact from them at all. The staff during my stay were excellent, including the Spa, but perhaps more staff needed to answer the phone, as more than 7 calls went unanswered and no reply to messages left.

The thermal spa was a bit disappointing to be honest in comparison to others I've been to no offer of treatments water was almost finished when we arrived at 1030am the receptionist didn't seem bothered. Then we moved on to Anna's tearoom for our traditional afternoon tea we were 30 mins early at 1245pm and they said it wasn't a problem we asked could we upgrade the afternoon tea the young lady said she would check we were willing to pay the difference she came back and said the afternoon teas were already prepared so no we couldn't that was a big mistake there were a few people who came in later surely they could've had our sandwiches at no point did anyone ask were we ok ! I would say the service was quite poor.i wouldn't say i wouldn't return but I do think they need to invest in someone trained in front of house skills.

Location , the room and the decor.

Room service

Firstly All Staff Frendly even Cleaners Rooms Nice Bed ,,Clean, Free Tea and Coffie , Free Safe ,Fridge,USB Charging Free Wifi ,Working Air Con Hotel Itself is very hot everware Breakfast , All Tepid , Coffee Machine not working , Dirty Tables , No Forks , Very Strange Lay Out Only Apple and Fruit Juice ,One Hot Drinks Machine ,,Should Have 2, Seems to have A staff shortage Only One Lift The Recption is in An Odd Place and Tricky To Find Its 2026 The TVs Should Be Smart Tvs, Personally Think The Thermal Spa Should Be Closed in Summer A Re Think Of the Hotel is really needed