Macdonald Wessex Hotel

We stayed at the Mercure Wessex in April 08. It was very convenient to the cathedral and shopping district of Winchester. It's a charming town. Our room looked out over the cathedral lawn and was very comfortable, and clean. The carpet was worn through in some spots, but we didn't get a "run-down" feeling about it. The hotel staff was helpful and pleasant. The common areas were nice. We slept very restfuly. It was a nice quiet location. On the other hand, the restaurant charged me 3 pounds for a cup of coffee.

The Mercure is unbelievably located, with views of Winchester Cathedral next door. It's close to everything and we walked over for an evening service at the Cathedral in about a minute. The room was very nice, amazing shower, great water pressure. Lots of room, very clean. Lovely amenities. The one place where this hotel really fell down was in their food. We didn't opt for the breakfast but decided to stay in for a full afternoon tea (sandwiches, etc) as it was incredibly cold outside. One of the sandwiches was edible (egg & cress), the other three were not (2 salmon/cucumber, 1 some sort of meat product). The scones were greasy, very heavy and fatty although the flavor was good. No jam was provided, just honey and clotted cream. The tarts/desserts were ok. Nothing special. As long as you don't eat here, this hotel is a great option for visiting Winchester.

The hotel was located in the centre of Winchester affording beautiful views overlooking the cathedral. The hotel room was clean and spacious with daily maid service. The best thing about this hotel was the breakfast - a fantastic offering of the great British breakfast with all the trimmings. The hotel bar was also a nice way to relax and enjoy after a hard days sightseeing. Winchester itself was extremely interesting with Military museums to suit all history enthusiasts. A great place to eat was the Wykerham Arms offering an array of delicious meals. If you are looking for a central base to explore all that Winchester has to offer - this hotel fits the bill.

Last night we attended our annual agm and some advise if you are thinking of holding a function here. You definately need to pop round to Pitza hut first. The food was the worst we`ve had in years We were called to eat at 8 and it was nearly 9 before we had our "starter" 3 pieces for motzerella size of small marbles and couple of slices of tomatoes and a few rocket leaves. Gone in 60 seconds. The main course when that eventually arrived was beef , boil in the bag kind, took much longer to eat as it was so tough and cold. My grandaughter aged 9 could have cooked a better meal for a couple of pounds. Heaven knows how the serving staff managed to keep smiling. Perhaps it was because the food was such a joke!!!!

We stayed at the Wessex Hotel in June last year as part of our wedding celebrations, we also held our reception there. We had a wonderful wedding day and the food provided by the Wessex was wonderful. Our guests loved the location, which is second to none in Winchester. The service at the hotel was in general very good, from the night before the wedding, during the reception and then things took a turn for the worse! At the end of the meal, the staff seemed to lose the plot completely and really started to mess things up, the tables were not moved or cleared, a promised gift table was never arranged, gifts went missing in the choas and nobody knew where to sit! The worst thing that happened occured overnight whilst we were in our rooms, when my wedding flowers were 'stolen' from a locked room inside the hotel. We were going to use the flowers thr next day for breakfast tables and for a party but couldnt as most had been stolen whilst the rest had been broken. When I spoke to a duty manager the night before, I had specifically asked that the flowers be taken care of (this was after all guests had left) and she promised she would do so!! We didnt realise this would mean that my flowers would all go missing and be in tatters all over the floor of the locked room they were in. The hotel then accused our guests of stealing the flowers and that it was on CCTV. What they didnt know is that one of their staff members had told us they knew who it was and that there was indeed no CCTV cameras in the room where the flowers where! What a shambles. I was very upset and the duty manager told me over the phone that I was being irrational and accused me of not knowing what I was talking about! They made a half hearted attempt to 'repair' the damage but without sincere apology. In fact, I have never recieved a written apology!!!! To add to this, the hotel was going to supply menu cards for guests to be able to chose which wine to have, but the menu cards were not supplied, and plenty of guests noticed this which was really rather embarrassing for me as it is a basic requirement. I don't wish to go on, but a mention of the rooms. The rooms were very tired, the carpets in some rooms thread bare. My parent in laws had paid for a suite which is located right over a loading bay and the noise was incredible. It was the same for my brother and sister whose rooms overlooked the same loading bay - very noisy and the hotel staff were not impressed when this was mentioned to them! Another member of my party paid for her room when she left the hotel. In the following week we were sent a letter by the hotel telling us she has not settled her bill and that they expect we will - this really just summed it up for us - nobody knew what was going on in that hotel. We spent alot of money at the Wessex during our wedding and at no stage were we made to feel important, or valued as a customer and this is what made me most upset. Customer Service and a smile would not have cost them anything - their rudeness and lack of awareness for who was paying them was disgraceful.

I would agree with some of the reviews below that The Wessex looks a little tired in its decor, but I felt that this fitted with the olde English look of Winchester in quaint kind of way! In my view the hotel just needs to employ more staff, there was a queue every time I went to speak to someone at the front desk (it was always the same 2 hassled-looking members of staff on duty), there was no consierge, and when we ordered sandwiches for lunch we were told there was a 40 minute wait (for sandwiches!!) - we were even told to wait 5 minutes before the bar staff could take our orders at the (empty) bar for cold drinks. The breakfast was probably the best thing about it. Generally, it was fine but nothing special, and not a place to go to if you get easily impatient waiting!!

We ate at the hotel last night and I have to say it was the worst meal I have had in years. To start we had salmon and prawns which was basically lettuce, salmon and prawns on a plate. There was no dressing or lemon which was a bit of a shock. The roast turkey meal we had was even more shocking. The turkey was actually slices of sandwich meat. I don't know how any restaurant coud think it could pull that off. The potatoes had obviously been part boiled then grilled slightly and then microwaved to serve on the day. The majority of people we were eating with except for the extremely hungry left their food. I wonder if the kitchen will get the hint or whether we will see them on ramseys kitchen nightmares.

We stayed on a Saturday night (rugby world cup final weekend), having booked the hotel due to its location rather than its reputation. The position of the hotel is excellent with great views of the cathedral from our bedroom, the bar and the restaurant. The staff seemed pretty efficient, and our room was fine and quite spacious. However, the place was incredibly hot - we had to sleep with the windows open, and then got disturbed by people walking past. We decided to have afternoon tea, but instead of a pleasant lounge, we had to sit in the bar, which felt like something out of the 1970s. However, we had a pleasant evening meal - not spectacular, but OK. Breakfast the next morning was very good, again enhanced with Winchester Cathedral as the backdrop. Overall, the place is OK, but nothing special. If you want to be near the cathedral and the town centre, then the hotel is fine. If you are looking for something more than an average functional hotel (that is quite expensive), then I'm sure you can do better.

Rooms very small. We had a twin room booked and the beds were only about 5cm apart! Had a good view from the room of the cathedral. Car parking was ok and very close to the entrance - no valet service. Didn't dine in the restaurant - very over priced so went elsewhere. Close to the shops and dining options only a short walk away.

I had a lovely, spacious room with a wonderful view of the Cathedral. I liked this hotel. The breakfast was good and the staff was very pleasant.