On a recent weekend in Oxford for a wedding celebration we booked to stay at the Oxford Hotel. Part of the Hotel Collection, it is located just outside of the city and has a 4* AA rating. The photos on the website looked inviting so we were looking forward to the stay.
The hotel is quite impressive from the outside and boasts a large car park, useful for Oxford where parking is a nightmare. The foyer is bright and functional with stairs up to the bar and restaurant area.
Through the bar area was the ‘spa’. Now I say spa in inverted commas because if I’d booked a spa day and ended up here, I’d be disappointed. The pool is tiny and if I’m honest seemed a bit grotty, especially compared to the website picture, the steam room and sauna each fit a max of about 3 people and the nail bar is in the reception area of the spa. It does have a squash court (random) and a decent gym but overall I didn’t feel it was up to scratch.
Moving on to the room, well it was a bit of a mixed bag. We had booked a deluxe double, but the room didn’t seem spacious at all. Furnishings were a bit drab and old fashioned but on the plus side there was a large dressing table area modern powerful hairdryer and flat screen TV.
The bathroom again was a combination of good and bad – a large vanity area complete with lovely complimentary products, but chipped ceramics in the bath and a shower out of the 1970’s let it down.
We opted for a room service breakfast which wasn’t photographed and which certainly wouldn’t win any awards but it was served in a timely manner with good friendly service.
A functional hotel without flair which was fine for an overnight stay as long as you’re not planning on spending too much time in the hotel itself, but for me I didn’t feel it was worthy of the 4 star rating.
Disclosure: Paid in Full
