Best Downside Hotels

PROS: • Good price. • Location close to highways if you plan to explore outside of London. • Right next door there is an outdoor laundry. Charges are like $10 gbb to $15 gbp per load for a wash and dry cycle, depending on the settings you choose; however, laundry detergent is included in the wash. • Right next door to a food court and mini shopping area. CONS: • Lack of access to public transportation • Staff often do not understand requests. • Don’t expect accurate billing. • Don’t expect points refund if you cut your stay short – even due to extenuating circumstances. • No phone in room. • GPS, Google Maps etc. struggle with finding this hotel. Basic utilitarian hotel that was clean and comfortable. The staff needs improvement, however. They seemed not to understand simple requests and made frequent mistakes, even on easy requests like for more towels. There is no phone in your room; however, if you need to make a local call, they will….on the main phone at the front desk where guests check in. While there are lots of food options right next door and even a mini store, if something happens and you no longer have a car (as did to me) please be aware that you will be stuck. While there is a path that you can walk to the train station, the property, for some inexplicable reason, decided to completely block off all access to the path (which according to Google Maps takes 45-60 minutes to get to the train station). Once you get to the train station, major attractions are still all 1.5-2 hours away. There is an infrequent bus that runs limited hours that is closer than the train station; however, it’s very difficult to get on and off the property without a car. Taxi to the train station costs $35 gbp each time. Once this came to light, I decided to switch hotels, to one more central to London as I no longer had a car (due to an accident). The desk clerk told me I could check out early; however, she would not give me a final statement. I told her I paid via points and asked about the refund for the 4 unused days and she told me she had sent an email to “the office” regarding my early check out. She claimed that once that was all resolved, I would get a final statement in my email in a couple of days. I asked her numerous times to verify that I was completely checked out and she said that I was. Days go by and I never receive the final statement. Luckily, paranoid person that I am, I had convinced her to print my statement folio to date, upon which she handwrote my check out date (at my request). Lo and behold, a few more days later, I get a request to review my full stay! I reach out to Wyndham customer service regarding the fact that I checked out early and get a case number that apparently was invalid. I call in and get a new case number – only to be told that they aren’t going to refund my points because the clerk did not understand that I had paid with points….when the clerk’s whole explanation of why I didn’t get a c

The room was very clean and the staff was friendly and helpful

Woodlands Park is definitely a 'Character' hotel, lots of leather chairs, original fireplaces and stained glass windows. If you're after a newer style room, then they do have one wing with those, but in the main, do expect your room to be a little bit more 'traditional' in feel than a typical chain hotel. However, it's just lovely. We got the Master Suite at a knockdown rate as we went just after New Year, and it's lovely: A wide, comfortable bed (tho maybe a little bit short for 6ft+ people, it was perfect for us) that helped us have a fantastic couple of nights sleep, tons of space to sit and luxurious sofas to lounge upon. Aircon was perfectly adequate and fairly quiet. The bathroom was spacious and had a bath with a rain-shower over the top; again, a little 'traditional' in style, but clean and with nice big, fluffy towels. Even with it being a quiet time of year, the staff were excellent; attentive, helpful and keen to assist with anything we needed. We only ate Breakfast and Room Service, and found the range and quality of food and drink to be excellent (there was a foobar with a room service breakfast being lost, but they were quick to fix it and get us a lovely spread; also they maybe could put a bar menu in the room so you know what drinks are on offer alongside the food). Grounds could be a bit more ornate (it's really just a fairly spacious lawn; needs a path!), and were a bit muddy when we went for a short walk around, but the view from the room across the Surrey Hills is epic, and the terrace looks like it would be lovely in the summer. Overall, we're likely to be back, especially if there's another occasion where a suite is in the budget!

We recently stayed at this hotel as a family of 10, booking several superior rooms. Unfortunately, our initial experience with the rooms was disappointing. The superior rooms were far below expectations — think shabby Travelodge. After raising the issue with the staff, they did move us to more appropriate rooms, which was appreciated, but we were charged for one of the room changes as it had to be an upgrade which, given the time it took and the disruption to our first day was disappointing. The buffet dining experience was also underwhelming. The food quality reminded us of school dinners — it did not live up to the standards we expected from a hotel in this price range. Breakfast was OK. On the positive side, the staff were very helpful and friendly. They went out of their way to assist us with our concerns, and their service was the highlight of our stay. However, there was a significant overcharge on each room's final bill. Thankfully, this was resolved after we sought clarification, but it added unnecessary stress to our departure. Overall, while the hotel has some strong points, particularly with its excellent staff, the quality of some of the rooms and food needs improvement. With better attention to detail, this hotel could offer a much better experience.

We had our wedding here in September and what can I say other than it was the most special and perfect day. From our first visit to look at the venue through to the big day everything was amazing. Krystyna our wedding coordinator was amazing in every way, she is so friendly and welcoming and goes above and beyond in any way she can. On the day everything ran so smoothly and the staff were all so helpful and friendly to all the guests and really couldn’t do enough to make sure our day was perfect. Also a big shout out to the chefs and kitchen staff the food was incredible and there was so much of it I’m surprised any of us were able to get up and dance after eating. If anyone is looking for a wedding venue I would not hesitate to recommend the Talbot and again a massive thank you to Krystyna and her team for making our day so perfect!

This is my second time staying at this hotel and I just cannot fault the service. Esther on reception was so helpful and even brought a little cuddly toy up to the room for my two year old daughter. The travel cot I had pre-ordered was already in the room when we arrived and we were given a lovely big room that the three of us could enjoy without being on top of each other. The room was spotlessly clean and all the cleaning staff were so friendly in the morning. Dinner in the restaurant was excellent (again a high chair was ready and waiting for us when we arrived) and whilst the breakfast is a buffet, it is a good selection and high quality. The only small thing I would suggest is that the quality of the coffee is improved and that all coffees are included in the breakfast as paying extra for a 'speciality coffee' is not really in-keeping with a hotel of this standard.

We booked the restaurant for Christmas day as we had been twice before. The service was poor as we weren't asked if we wanted drinks until we had to go to the bar ourselves after which we were only asked once. The starters were not great.. I had ordered the veal which looked like it was just slapped on the plate and my partner had ordered the scallops which were dry and tasted like they had been cooked hours before and left under the heat lamps. It took an age for the mains to come out after the starters. The same was with the mains....! The potatoes were not crispy and felted heated up in a microwave and my beef was so fatty and under cooked as I had trouble cutting it. It also came out luke warm. The turkey was dry and when turkey and gammon were ordered together, only 1 small slice of turkey was on the plate in comparison to the cheaper gammon. The turkey was extra dry where it had been kept warm under the lamps and there wasn't any stuffing... Shocking!! The desserts were just as bad! The Christmas pudding came out cut into quarters rather than individual portions and I even made a comment to the waitress ”Where is the rest of it”. Which was totally ignored.... After this we were still charged 12.5% service charge each for poor quality food and poor quality service. The only positive experience was the young lady behind the bar. I can definitely say we will not be going back especially when we were charged £100 per person plus the service charge for something I would be reluctant to pay as much as £25 for... Very, Very disappointed....