Burnham Beeches Hotel

NOT AS EXPECTED

The description of this hotel is very misleading our room was certainly not deluxe as booked. The room had very limited amenities, no glasses to drink water from, on arrival the kettle had water in from previous guests. The room was uncomfortably hot with an inadequate fan, the windows only opened 4 inches. The bedding was grey when supposed to be white sheets, there were stains on the bed throw. The bathroom had no window or ventilation and was extremely small. We paid extra to dine in the main restaurant and eat off the al a carte menu for our anniversary, but because the brasserie was full there were family's and guests eating burgers and chips on the next tables, which is not the ambiance of celebrating an anniversary in a very nice restaurant, we should have saved the money and eaten else where. The breakfast was very CAFE style and rushed your pre ordered cooked arrived as your eating your yogurt and fruit/cereal, so the food was cold by the time you started to eat it. Very limited choice of food on the breakfast buffet, the quality of the food was poor in both restaurants.

A Hugely Overpriced Hotel That Has Seen Its Day

As you walk into the lobby you are greeted by a cold reception from one person in particular and the lobby itself is old and dated and not at all welcoming.

When we asked for robes which are not in rooms due to Covid-fair enough-it was like we had asked for the moon.

On going to the Spa- you cant call it a Spa really. There is a small but well equipped gym but the sauna is ancient as is the pool and decor which needs serious updating.
Missing tiles, a leaking water cooler, a shower and toilet block that you d find at a camp site.

The room was very very clean and beautifullly decorated- no complaints there.
However we had no water for a whole day whilst they tried to fix a plug that was stuck in the bath tub that was full of water from the night before. We had to report this twice before the nice chaps came out to look at it for us.

The general staff were friendly apart from reception and food in the restaurant was very good, but it should really have been Michelin star for the price. Good service from young people who were obviously being trained up- nothing wrong with that.
The old bit of the restaurant was dusty and very old though not characterful and each table had a dusty old fake plant that had seen better days. Not so hygienic given the current circumstances.
The poor staff seemed a little overworked and the bar was often unattended. Not a slur on the staff, more the man agent managing them all.

Our package gave us a massage which was good but my daughter was only give 17 or so minutes and not the allotted 30.

We only ordered room service the once which again wasn t ordered until we had to call again, and the chap was very apologetic at the delay- I don t really have a problem with this but again, not what you expect for the price.

After we left the hotel, my daughter realised she had left something (a gold necklace that was special to her, in the robe pocket. We called straight away. We were promised a call back. Nothing.
We called again the next day and the receptionist wrote the message down as he said there wasn t any record of the missing item. Or did he? We called again the following day, and the day after that and were promised a call back within 20 minutes. A few days later we are still waiting. Absolutely disgraceful service. We wait STILL.

Overall, for what I paid for two nights over 500, I expected somewhere at least 4 star but alas, this 2 star hotel was a cross between Fawlty Towers and the house from the TV Show Ghosts.

A good injection of cash to update this lovely old building is very much needed. And then perhaps it would be worth the money.

Incredibly disappointing.

My stay

We had 2 rooms. They were in annexe building not the house.One fa ced trees the other faced the main house and was above smoking area. Definitely not what I was expecting.
First evening we had a nice meal and great service. Next morning it was completely different. Breakfast service was bad, staff totally unhelpful.
We decided to have a cream tea in afternoon, we'll the tea and coffee arrived when we had finished our scones etc arrived. It was very slap-dash.
That evening different staff were on, I thought we had moved to faulty towers service was so bad. After waiting 20mins with dirty plates on our table, staff ignoring us. One of our party went to speak to person in charge. Reassured someone would come and clear table. After nearly another half hour no one had been. Asked two members of waiting staff as they passed who just muttered and walked by. Then back again as if time wasting.
We hadn't had desserts but had had enough so got up and left. We told person in charge how we felt.
Next morning other staff were working and service was excellent.
Would we stay again Definitely not.
One thing I must say is bar staff were excellent.