Marriott Meon Valley Hotel - Southampton, United Kingdom     

Well, this hotel is away from both Southampton and Portsmouth, so if you are looking for something to see the sights then it isn't ideal. It is nice though. It is in a very quiet area in the countryside, which gives it a certain appeal. It is perhaps 30 - 40 minutes from the city, and around 20 - 25 minutes from the nearest mcdonalds / Pizza Hut. There is a nice town quite nearby with some stuff.

This is in a lovely setting, with a golf course and beautiful grounds, and ample car parking. When we stayed here, the hotel was undergoing refurbishment – but they made this clear when I booked and also in a phonecall the day before arrival. So we were well warned about the refurbishment and this, in itself, was not a problem. The rooms appeared to have been recently refurbished and had very nice d?cor and furnishing. They were not air conditioned, and tended to get rather warm, although we left the window open and were not disturbed by noise. The rooms and bathrooms were clean and well equipped, with everything you would expect in a hotel of this standard. However, we did encounter some problems. Firstly, TV reception was poor in both (ground floor) rooms occupied by our party, and in one of the rooms BBC1 was entirely unwatchable. (I note that two previous reviewers, in reviews from 2007, also mentioned poor TV reception.) Secondly, and more importantly, there was a problem with the thermostat on the bath/shower in one of our rooms – first noticed late in the evening, when we thought it may be a temporary problem - but in the morning, too, the water would only run stone cold! As soon as we notified reception in the morning, they sent someone to fix it straight away - so we didn’t ask for any compensation, although it would have been nice to have been offered some token of recompense for the inconvenience. Thirdly, on departure, we found we had been charged for newspapers – these had been delivered to our rooms but, as we had not requested them or been asked if we wanted them, we had assumed they were complimentary! When we pointed this out, they agreed that it was a mistake and deducted the charge. (Again, however, I notice that another previous reviewer also mentioned an issue with newspaper charges.) We looked at the leisure centre when we arrived – it looked nice, but very busy. (I don’t know if it was quieter at other times, as we didn’t look again.) We dined in the Treetops Restaurant one evening. This was quite pricey, but the food and service were excellent. The food at the breakfast buffet was also good - but very busy on the Sunday morning, when they seemed to be struggling to keep up replenishment.