Bath Spa Hotel

I stayed in Bath Spa last August with my husband and son during our trip to England and Wales. Good points:Hotel building and gardens. Not too far from the city. Nice indoor swimming pool Bad points:small rooms Very expensive poor service and food in the Vellore restaurant (at the breakfast and dinner) We have stayed in 2 star hotels in Wales wich were much better than this Bath Spa!!!

One evening in Dec our party of four went to the Bath Spa to try the Alfreseco Restauraunt prior to booking our wedding reception at the hotel. The food choice was simple steak and chicken on the menu, after complaining about the steak we were asked to choose a desert on the house. After all four had tried a desert we agreed they were only of average quality. Poor service at £170 for four people with a house wine gave us no choice but to cancel the wedding reception for the next year. Our relatives were dissapointed at not going but relieved not to suffer the poor quality rooms with torn curtains and dirty bedspreads.

I convinced my boyfriend to splurge on New Year's at Bath Spa and could not be more disappointed. From the very start, the inefficiency of the reservation department to the quality of our room (since when do two twin beds pushed together equate to a king size bed?) to the quality of the New Year's "shin dig" made for a very unpleasant and frankly, sub-standard experience. The New Year's dinner was absolutely appaulling and I will freely admit we left for our room immediately after ringing in the New Year. The only saving grace was the hotel spa that recently opened, as the weather was poor so our sightseeing was limited. This hotel should be re-assigned a 2-3 star rating.

I stay in Bath every few months and this is my favourite out of 4 hotels I have tried. I find it luxurious, relaxing and with charming polite service. The food is lovely - I can reccommend the T bone steak with green peppercorn sauce in the very attractive Al Fresco restaurant. The building and grounds are beautiful. I am surprised by some of the reviews I've read here because I've never had any cause for complaint, despite having stayed here on about 8 occassions.

Stayed here on a 3-day conference in mid-November 2005. On arrival, impressed by the beautiful buildings and lobby area. Check-in prompt and hassle free. No airmiles - why are UK hotels so rubbish about this? Went to room and found it to be ok but very cold. I think it's a bad sign when you stay at a 5-star hotel and there's an electric heater in the wardrobe. I needed to keep this on all the time I was in the room. I had to turn it off when out as I was afraid of the fire risk - so everytime I came back the room was freezing. Room size and decor ok and bathroom nice but a little tired - not what I expect for a delegate rate of £175/day. Ultimately it was the service that was a let down. The waiting staff at breakfast were lethargic and incompetent. Two breakfasts took 20 mins to arrive - when they did they were both incorrect. There were no glasses out for juice. Tea and coffee required repeated prompting. Also the exorbitant service charges were noted. £5 for a glass of wine, with a £4 surcharge because the drink was served in one of the lounges and not in the bar!!! Food, as per usual in the UK, thoroughly bland and uninspiring. Excused myself from one night's dinner (even though included in price) and went to one of Bath's many excellent restaurants. No broadband in the rooms also a let down. Sadly, this is exactly what my European colleagues who accompanied me have come to expect from so-called luxury hotels in the UK - exorbitant prices, bland food and useless service. And this is supposed to be one of the best hotels in Bath. It seems to me that they spent more time and effort on the glossy brochure than the hotel itself.

Had occasion to stay at the Bath Spa recently for one night. Generally speaking we found the hotel pleasant and the staff attentive, certainly the doorman/concierge was extremely helpful and of a friendly disposition. The Maitre d' in the Vellore restaurant was very attentive and watchful as to our being taken care of by his waiting staff, who were also pleasant and well turned out. The food was not too special and at quite a high price. Drinks also terribly expensive. On the whole a pleasant short stay but beware the discretionary service charge !

I booked a 3 night midweek break at the Bath Spa for my girlfriend's birthday and it was absolutely perfect for us. For less than £100 per person per night we got a four-poster bed in a spacious room, dinner and breakfast included. The food at breakfast and dinner was excellent and the service was always friendly, and we were never rushed, nor did we ever have to wait too long. The grounds are beautiful and it is a 10 minute walk to Bath town centre, something we did a couple of times to find lunch and do some shopping. The gym is being redone but the temporary measures in place were perfect for me to have a workout and a swim while my girlfriend had a massage and relaxing facial - which she enjoyed very much. The facilities are first class, the location superb and I cannot recommend this hotel highly enough for couples wanting a relaxing break. Brilliant.

Stayed at this 5* for two nights in September and have mixed feelings on it. On one level, it's what you'd expect from a traditional English country hotel if that's what you're into. Great location, very impressive grounds and building - would be ideal for a wedding. Food is pretty decent (although very expensive). Pool, gym, sauna and jacuzzi all lived up to expectations. However, there are a few things the potential visitor should be aware of. Firstly, the rooms are extremely cramped for a *5 - I've stayed in *3 hotels with bigger rooms, and whilst the bathrooms are a lot better, they're still not quite 5* level IMO - these are not the suite-style rooms you could enjoy for similar money in a business-hotel. Our twin had a nasty looking stain on the floor which wasn't a great start. Further to that, the mini-bar door wouldn't close properly meaning the drinks were only semi-cold - not a massive problem as I was unlikely to want to pay several pounds for a fun-size (yes, fun-size) can of Coke and the selection wasn't too hot. My main gripe was that the TV barely worked - the picture was extremely poor on all channels, missing sound on a number of channels, and none of the radio channels worked at all, basically rendering the TV unwatchable. I tried the TV of a neighbouring room and it was exactly the same. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't planning on spending the entire time watching TV but you don't pay this much for a hotel room to find stuff that doesn't work. Conceirge were quick to check out the problem but were unable to offer any solution. Our room keycards also bizzarely stopped working a day in and we need to get a new set, not a major gripe, but a little strange. The hotel is also badly equipped for the business traveller - no broadband internet in-room for starters. To be fair, it's not a business hotel, and they had only recently had wireless installed (which worked downstairs and will soon be working hotel-wide) but don't presume because it's a 5* you'll find a full range of business services - you won't. We had breakfast both mornings - the food was great with pretty much everything you could want with a continential cold buffet and table-served hot breakfasts served in a lovely dining room (home-made croissants were excellent) but service continued to be a let down - on both mornings the staff were unable to get our rather simple order of "four full English breakfasts with everything" right, missing out black pudding on two breakfasts on the first day, and bacon (!) on three breakfasts on the second day. To be fair, these mistakes were quickly rectified, but how difficult can it be to take a simple order like this and get it right? Essentially the experience was decent and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the hotel, although that was more to do with the excellent company and occasion rather than the hotel itself. Some highlights however included smoking cuban cigars in the rather nice traditional bar on my second night (where we had the pleasure of chatting to a barman who was something of an authority on the subject of cigars), and I'm sure those who enjoy the traditional hotel experience will love this hotel (I prefer more modern styled hotels so am going to be slightly biased) but these small service problems were an issue throughout the stay.

We checked in for just one night prior to a local wedding, and as a 5-star treat to my girlfriend. As with other reviews, the service and facilities we endured were below par in almost every deptartment. 1. Spa facilities were booked up 3 weeks in advance. We booked direct with the hotel and the literature we received (confirming the booking) implied we could still book the treatments before arrival. When we tried there were none available and most of the facility was shut. 2. The pool was cloudy, tepid and generally sub-standard. 3. The TV in the room started to emit smoke after a few minutes on and then cut out. The consierge said he had no replacements or alternative rooms and could only sort it out in the morning. (Not good if you are only there one night) 4. Cooked breakfast was waiter service and it took 40mins from ordering to receiving it. Their excuse - "they didn't think we were ready" despite chasing it up several times. 5. When all these complaints were put to the duty manager, he agreed we had received sub-standard service and sympathised greatly. He even stated he would adjust our bill accordingly - What this meant was that he took the cost of the breakfasts off, a mere 15% of the total bill. We were at this stage running late and could not find him to raise this as an issue. PERSONALLY I WILL NEVER BE STAYING AT ANY MACDONALD HOTEL AGAIN. I advise you to book with caution.

I recently hit the road with a friend from London and spent a long weekend at this spa. The exterior is so charming and old world, and the interior as well. However, the front desk staff are the worst-of-the-worst and I have stayed at many 5 star resorts. We booked a double deluxe room only to be put into a room with 2 single beds overlooking construction and dust. When we asked for a fan, they told us to look in the closet. There was no fan in the closet and they said they couldn't help. We asked to move rooms and they could not accomodate us. They started construction first thing in the morning (the noise woke us), and then the next evening a car alarm went off every 3 minutes for about 4 hours throughout the night, despite my complaints to the front desk staff to get it fixed ASAP. We moved rooms on the 3rd night to a room facing the beautiful grounds, only to find that it was even hotter than the first room (no air conditioning of course) and no fan. UGH! We did have fun playing croquet on the front lawn and found the concierge helpful. For the price, the rooms were shoddy at best (the bathrooms were the nicest part of the stay). The spa treatment rooms were converted hotel rooms and very clinical, not relaxing at all. And the spa therapists not specialists. You book time with them and they will do any number of things, facials, massage, etc. I want a specialist when I go to a spa, not one person who knows 'kind-of' how to do a facial, a Swedish, a wax, etc. I wanted soft music, mood lights and relaxation, not a clinical session. I wouldn't do the spa here again unless they change their procedures, their spa space and their facilities (no outdoor space to lounge around, a hot indoor pool). Find a spa elsewhere I would say. As for the rooms, if they clean up the interiors, new bedding, fix the ripped curtains, and hold off on putting people in rooms overlooking raw construction, then I'd say give it a shot.