Ellenborough Park

The place is beautiful and the setting looking over the racecourse is perfect. The staff were very friendly and accommodating. Our room was nice, however a few details have been overlooked. Unless you are over 6 foot you are unable to hang your clothes up. The light switches are not easy to find by the doors or beds in the dark. The bath is inaccessible to people with disabilities, a shower cubicle would have been a better solution. The mirrors were positioned for the taller person. Lastly there was no toilet brush. Breakfast was just average, the sausage was over done, the black pudding was not as expected, the toast was cold on delivery, and the coffee was very bitter and weak. Also we were not told there were two breakfast rooms, this meant that our party was not seated together in the morning after. The food for the party was excellent, if this is the standard in the restaurant then we would give a better review.

This hotel is housed in a magnificent 1450s building which no doubt is a challenge for the owners to run a modern hotel with all the historic houses rules and regulations. We had a superb room overlooking the front garden but I did find it a little noisy with people coming out of the restaurant and the car park directly in front. The heating in this hotel is odd. We were there in September and the room was perfectly fine without any heating but the bathroom at night was like being in an ice hotel in Sweden. To turn on the heated towel rail and underfloor heating requires a staff member to unlock a cupboard and use specific tools to activate the heating...not desirable in the early hours of the morning. Then when we complained we arrived back the next day to find we were in a Finnish sauna!!!! The staff here (except the frosty unhelpful receptionist ) were incredibly helpful, especially the concierge and in particular a waitress in the restaurant from the Ukraine who was without a doubt one of the most helpful, efficient, pleasant people Ive encountered in my vast travels. She went to great lengths to make me feel better when I was unwell at dinner and made me a pot of lemon honey tea which was lovely. The hotel breakfast was very disappointing. Coffee was shocking, cold and bitter, tea good but that's the usual in England. Salt and pepper shakers hard to find. The selection of cereals and breads very limited and boring after the fabulous buffet breakfasts in Europe although Ive always thought the great English breakfast is vastly overrated. The toast is always cold and like cardboard, always delivered at the wrong time and not everyone wants to eat a weeks worth of protein in one sitting (not to mention the fat content!). The stewed fruits were delicious. Some of these hotel owners need to get some inspiration from their neighbours in Europe. Also anyone with a weak arm should not consider this hotel. The stairs are narrow to hoist up your bags and the multiple doors, nooks and crannies one has to navigate over sloping floors makes it a training session before you've found your way to the dining room. I wouldn't stay here again as it didn't turn out to be the most convenient spot but I'm sure that won't bother the hotel as half of the Midlands seemed to be enjoying themselves there.

It's a shame to have to rate this hotel poorly because the hotel itself is lovely, as are some of the staff but a portion of them just seemed so useless that it changed the experience. There were so many mistakes made that by the end my mother and I started jokily betting on whether a simple requests would be fulfilled. (The person betting they wouldn't always won). Waiting 40mins for two drinks in the middle of the day (when it wasn't busy) and having to ask three times about them, being charged incorrectly twice and having to battle for it to be corrected, being given the wrong orders... are just three of a host of issues we encountered to the point that it was actually laughable... (before it got a bit annoying). We got given compensation for the drinks, but even that got messed up! The staff themselves were friendly enough, but the hotel is being let down by staff that seemed a bit away with the fairies particularly in the bar/restaurant/breakfast service. We've all been young, careless waiters/waitresses at some point in our lives but when it happens continuously to the point of incredulity you can't help but question the hotel.

We stayed here as a couple (with a dog) for 2 nights in September 2017. The hotel is lovely and the staff are fantastic - particularly the porters and those on reception. Breakfast was really nice. The service wasn't 100% (i.e. asked for toast and it never arrived) but there's plenty of food and it's made fresh in the kitchen. The staff are friendly and the food was very good. We had dinner at the Beaufort one evening, which was OK. To be honest, I probably wouldn't recommend it. The restaurant was lacking atmosphere and we were served a started of rabbit which had cling film still on it. The staff were great and apologised of course, but I think we could have had a better meal in town. The chocolate semi freddo pudding however was absolutely amazing!! We both had an hour massage in the spa. The staff in there were also fantastic (they were throughout the whole hotel) and the massage was lovely. The spa is very small. It's a small Jacuzzi with a steam room and sauna. It's nice, but you'd be hard pressed to spend longer that an hour in there. The outside pool is really nice, and we used it even during the rain. The only reason I have not given the hotel 5/5 is that I wasn't completely happy with our room. We stayed in Room 24 near the pool area. The classic room was a great size and very clean, however had a couple of issues. The bathroom door did not close. You had to slam it 4 or 5 times to close it, which must have been a real nuisance for our neighbours. Also we had a terrace door in our room and the curtains were falling down above it. These are both easily solved problems and for nearly £300 per night I don't think they are problems we should have had. I also got absolutely no signal (mobile or wifi) in the room. Wasn't the end of the world, but if you were staying for work it would be something to consider - you would probably need to move room. I did have signal at other areas of the hotel and the wifi is complimentary. We stayed with a dog and for £25/night the hotel provided a crate and dog bowls. To be honest, if I was going again I would take my own dog bed. The crate was literally a crate with a paper thin blanket in. We have an old arthritic dog and there's no way she'd be comfortable sleeping on that surface, so she had the carpet instead. Worth noting if you are pregnant do not use the 100 Acre products supplied in your room - they contain essential oils and it says on the bottle not to use them. It took me a couple of days to realise this unfortunately, but once I told reception they happily brought me alternatives. The grounds are stunning. There are beautiful flowers all around the hotel, and it's really well kept. There's plenty of privately owned land for easy dog walks. The hotel did have some scaffolding up during our stay, but the building still looked great.

Went in the brasserie for a dinner with my boyfriend. As soon as we got inside Lana, our lovely waitress, introduced us to our table and told us the specials of the day. The atmosphere was relaxing all accompanied by an accurate service. Connor, the bartender, showed us his competence making me a really well garnished Gin and tonic, which i appreciated considering that most of the people just put inside the glass an edge of lime with nonsense. Mario,the other waiter, gave us a friendly and welcoming service bringing our food. We had starter, steak and dessert, all excellent, under the supervision of the professional restaurant manager,Nora. To end our dinner we had a coffee kindly served by Tom. I hate wait too much between one course another one but i have to say it, all went perfect and quick. Really enjoyed, thanks to all the stuff for treating us so well.