The Wood Norton

Very disappointed

Whilst the hotel room was lovely there was unfortunately one very rude member of staff whose behaviour was unacceptable. Having waited 25 mins for my wine to be delivered on the night of my birthday I asked her when it would be brought out.  Only to be told aggressively that there were 2 orders in front of me - which was complete rubbish as the guests next to us arrived after us and received theirs within minutes. I explained it was my birthday and we would really like our wine - she then proceeded to chat with her colleague and showed no urgency. (The night before our starters arrived before my wine and they completely forgot my husband s drink.)  Having decided not to have a desert we were then asked to leave our table and finish our wine elsewhere as they needed our table for other guests.  As I was not happy I went to reception to complain however having waited for 35 minutes no one appeared. I would also add that the reception phone continued to ring during these 35 minutes.

Having gone there for both my birthday and anniversary I was also very disappointed that the menu was the same for all three nights - as someone that doesn t eat meat this was very restrictive. Having been to many hotels this is very unusual.  Due the poor service and menu we cancelled the evening meal on the last night, even though we had paid for it, and ate elsewhere where I am pleased to say the food and service was wonderful.  When we checked out I did complain and was told that other guests had also complained and that the behaviour was unacceptable and that there would be consequences. Whilst this is obviously a great response I have no idea if this is the case and will not change the fact that it upset my birthday.

I appreciate that covid is causing real problems and on the face of it this seems extremely trivial however this does not excuse unacceptable behaviour - especially from the restaurant manager. The hotel was clearly understaffed, which I totally get because of the uncertainty, but all she had to do was apologise.

I do not expect anything to now happen - my birthday has come and gone - however I do feel it reflects badly on your website when I am sure you are trying really hard to encourage visitors.

We would not go back again

The room was excellent, large, clean and well presented except it took at least 5-10 minutes for hot water to arrive.

Otherwise the presentation gave the impression an interior designer could do a wonderful job here, it was jaded tired and desperately needed refreshing, particularly the dining room!

There appeared to be a good number of workers but no management, again particularly in the dining room. Breakfast was fine although the only time we were allowed a table was 8.15am and 8.30 on the second day (a bit early) but plenty of room on the terrace to eat al fresco - a pity the scattering of cigarette dog-ends had not been swept up from the night before.

Dinner was another matter, again the only times we could be given was 8.15pm by which time the tables on the terrace were all taken so along with half a dozen other couples we had to eat in the dining room. When I asked about getting a table on the terrace I was told they were allocated on a first come first served basis. No one mentioned that with a table time of 8.15, you stood no chance of a table outside at all! The second night we both asked for the rump steak and neither of us could eat it so we sent it back, something we have never had to do before anywhere around the world.

Your introduction to this hotel you say "The Wood Norton is one of the finest hotels in the Cotswolds, with a wonderful blend of period charm and contemporary design."

We would say this is not the case as we have stayed in some of the finest hotels in the Cotswolds, and this is most certainly not one of them, although your misleading description is what caused us to book it this time.

We shall be very careful before booking with you again, and suggest not only do you go and look at this hotel again yourselves, but more importantly review all your introductions and write-ups on your other hotels to make sure they are accurate.

Our stay with you at Wyck Hill House Hotel a couple of years ago was so much better than this and it was also less expensive

Disappointing stay.

We booked our stay at Wood Norton Hotel because it was listed under the fine dining category but the restaurant was very disappointing. The ambience was poor, the menu was very limited and the quality of the food was dire. Breakfast was abysmal with just one, very hard working member of staff in the dining room. There was extreme portion control e.g. one slice of toast and half a mushroom. No fruit, no cereals other than porridge, no yoghurt and aweful, shop bought hash browns.
We could write more but we will leave it there.