The Wood Norton

Excited upon arrival, disappointed after leaving

DISCLAIMER: We are giving the property the benefit of the doubt because of Coronavirus, but some things were really not OK.

Let's start with the positive:
We were very excited upon arrival and our first impression at the reception was very nice. The room was in great condition and exactly like described on the pictures. Stunning hotel from the outside, too.

And now the negatives:

Oftentimes, we felt like the staff was bothered by us asking them for things, like for example for a parking space or if we could have a hair dryer or breakfast in the room. This is not very nice and doesn't make you feel good.
The selection at the bar was very small and they don't have a menu on what is served there, so, we had to ask the bartender approximately 7x until we stumbled upon something they would serve (no Aperol or Rhubarb gin, only 1 kind of tonic and so on).
In the restaurant, they only have one person taking orders, one bringing drinks only and one bringing food. We ordered things we never received because they forgot and we are still not sure if we were charged for them in the end. Forgetting can happen once, or twice, but by the end we could just laugh about it and accepted that although we had some credit left, we could probably not use it all since we would just not get served.
Probably the biggest no-go: They do not change the menus (the things on the menus). We were there for three nights and had to eat THE SAME FOOD. Only 3 meat mains, 2 fish mains and 1 vegetarian, my vegetarian partner had to settle to eat fish because you cannot eat a dish three times in a row and I had to take the same menus too. Also, the menu for the breakfast does not change, but this is ok.

Sadly, none of the staff was wearing a mask nor a visor or complying to any social distancing rules, which was quite shocking to see. Although clearly written in the email prior to our arrival, they did not really clean any chairs and re-used the menus multiple times.

To sum up, we got the feeling that the hotel took the Coronavirus as a bit of an excuse to let themselves go, not complying with the rules and yet using it to not have to do any room cleaning and similar. Although we need to be friendly and nice to each other during these times, it was not worth the money we spent (and it was a lot, in my opinion). We will definitely not return, but I am sure there are many other beautiful places on this website that offer better service.

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.

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.