Upon arrival there was no friendly greeting from the receptionist not even a smile and it took an age for her to find our booking. When she did find it we were told, "you are too early and you must wait until 2pm". Well, we were still hanging around at 2.30pm, apparently, housekeeping had not released the room and she would not give us another one as "this one had been allocated to us" Eventually, after complaining to a senior member of staff we got a room.

The room was nice, very roomy and spotlessly clean so nothing to complain about here.

The restaurant staff were very good, in fact, I would say, an asset to the hotel. Food was good but over priced. Plenty of choice for breakfast but the food was not hot.

The swimming pool is very disappointing, the hotel photo gives the impression that it is much bigger . The ladies changing room was very grubby and after using it once I decided not to use it again.

I found it quite worry that all the fire safety doors in the corridors were propped open.

The location is very good, not too far for city centre (about 3 miles). Overall we felt the hotel was not the worst but some staff required further training in customer relations.

We would not stay there again because you can get much better for you money. We felt the reception staff to be a big turn off.

This is the second time in a few years I've been to this hotel for a conference.

Room:
Well appointed and clean.

Hotel:
Impressive when you arrive. Grounds are nice.
Hallways etc show sign of ewar from last time I was here.

Food:
Evening meal was pretty bad.
Service was slow.
First course was fish - which I dislike. My server did not offer an alternative, although I could see others at other tables were being offered alternatives.
Main course was cold.
Desert was dry and skimpy.
Service was a little frantic and panicked.
This kind of ruined the whole evening.

Breakfast was pretty good. Buffet was great. But noone explained how it worked and all staff seemed to vanish - so I had to watch what others were doing to work out what was going on.

Service:
Staff at reception very helpful and pleasant. Couldn't have done more.

Bar:
Service very slow. I got fed up and went elsewhere in the end.

Overrall:
Not terrible - but not great either.

This hotel is clearly purpose designed for large groups be it corporate events, large family gatherings or works outings. Unfortunately, if like me you were looking for a modern luxury retreat in which to celebrate ten years of marriage with your wife, you may be less thrilled with the experience.

Outwardly the hotel is modern and imposing. Inward its starting to look tired but some of the worst bits are cleverly disguised by the use of some retro 70's styling.

The gym facilities rival most leisure centres and the pool was also fairly impressive albeit not particuarly clean looking.

Our room was clean, smart and well appointed.

The bar was attractive although regularly frequented by individuals who had lost the ability to regulate their alcohol content somewhere earlier in the evening.

The restaurant atmosphere was somewhere between informal and chaotic, and at times presented a scene not unlike a Saturday lunchtime at a high St McDonalds.

During the first night , we shared the dining room with what could only be described as the 'local rap crew' and their extended family many of whom looked somewhat worse the wear from various substances not available from the hotel. The second night we witnessed a large family turn the restaurant into a karaoke bar complete with drunken renditions of Take That followed by their children fighting amongst themselves in between other diners.

The remaining couples looking for a quiet night such as ourselves were left wondering whether this really was a 4 star hotel.

Pity really as the food itself was largely excellent and deserving of the AA rosette status.

Overall a reasonable hotel in need of some better management and maybe a few more discerning customers.

We shopped around for a hotel in Stratford that would be child friendly as we have a toddler.
This had good reviews but we were a little disappointed.
The hotel seems to be catered very much towards conferences and meetings -which is fine - but the residents didn't seem so important. One day there was very little space to park as the car park was full of builders vans for some meeting.
Breakfast was a bit vague and we were left to ourselves- no-one bothered to tell us about the code to exit the hotel car park.
The staff didnt seem to be very friendly, rarely said hello or good morning and didnt really seem to be very bothered - although we met the head pursor on the last day who was very friendly, he smiled! and was helpful with ideas for places to visit!
Saying all this though, it was clean and the rooms and bathroom were very nice.
The pool was a Godsend with our little boy and was well looked after.