Macdonald Botley Park Hotel, Golf & Country Club - Southampton, United Kingdom 

I booked this hotel at the very last minute to go on a golf break with a friend. I usually always use this site before making any bookings but this time I was in such a rush I went ahead with it without doing any searches. Having read some of the reviews here soon after I was sure I'd had a shocker and was dreading the weekend, especially having looked at the rubbish photos of the golf course on the Botley Park website. Well I have to say we were both very pleasantly surprised. On checking in (four hours before we were supposed to) we were given a very friendly reception and a room immediately. The room was very nice and absolutely spotless. A great start. The golf course was in superb nick, both fairways and greens were excellent (though the rough is a golf ball swallower) and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Dinner was part of the package and having read about the slow service we didn't expect much. The food was fantastic, the service excellent and we can't have waited more than five minutes between courses, if that. Breakfast the next morning was as you would expect, standard buffet stuff. The only gripe we had was that the number of bar staff during the night was insufficient for the number of people staying and drinking late into the night from a wedding. Having said that I felt very sorry for the lad that was on the bar as one obnoxious client demanded "Champagne! Champagne! Champagne!" Overall we thought the place was excellent, and believe me, I was prepared for disappointment. The price was reasonable and I would recommend it.

Stayed at Botley Park for one night over the bank holiday week-end. Overall the experience ranks amongst the worst hotel experiences we ever had (between us we spend 80+ nights in hotels each year). What was meant to be a relaxing short break left us exhausted and tired. I had booked a D,B&B rate /Executive Room on the hotel web site the day before our stay. The positive aspects: -nice decor in room -responsive house keeping The negative apects: -misleading web site: photos of rooms refer to Classic and Superior room, the booking engine offers Classic, Executive and Specialty/Feature rooms. When booking an Executive room what room type do you end up in? If you guess Superior you are wrong. -booked executive room but found no upgraded amenities, decor or view in the small room we got -on enquiry front desk told me that there really is no big difference between Classic and Executive. Merely better view (of the tennis court?) and upgraded amenities. Essentially I should have paid a premium of nearly 20% on base room rate for nothing. -had to order bathrobes and slippers although they should have been provided as part of the executive package. Mineral water - which was also touted as an Executive room benefit - turned out to be free in all rooms. -smell of urine in Leisure Club showers (both male and female) -went to restaurant shortly (20 min) before our booking, told them we were going to have drinks in the bar and they could tell us when our table was ready. We were seated approx. 30 mins after our allocated time after insisting on getting a table. In the meantime other couples arriving after us had been seated. -service was very slow and unprofessional. No refills of water, brought wrong items, cleaned/sprayed tables nearby. -after dinner it was suggested that we should not have breakfast in the restaurant the next morning since the hotel was vey busy. Room service was suggested but the additional tray charge was not mentioned (I could have lived with this suggestion if it had been made with a promise to waive all additional charges - on the other hand we don't like to have breakfast in bed anyway) -during the night there were multiple disturbances in rooms close/adjacent to ours - shouting, breaking glass, knocking. To be fair - the issue was eventually resolved but it took about 1 hour. -dirty crockery provided at breakfast (all cereal bowls not cleaned properly) -no breakfast menu provided. Since breakfast is part self-service part waiter service it would have been adequate to provide a menu of additional items available like so many other hotels in the UK do. -overall slow and chaotic service again. At check-out some of our complaints were acknowledged and part of our drinks were comp'ed and the Executive room charge removed. I think this actually was the bare minimum required to address the issues - it was adequate but doesn't motivate us to ever return to this hotel.