The Heyford — Hotel in Cherwell District

This place has so much potential, but they really need to fix service and organization/communication issues. Decided to hold my going away party here and booked the bowling alley for 2 hours and the 455 Bar for dinner afterwards for 22 people for 2 hours (was told a lovely singer would be performing that night so I thought it would give great ambience, that also ended up being a bad version of karaoke but entertaining none the less). I reserved and paid for this booking weeks in advance and the lady I arranged this with was very adamant that I get everyone's food orders in to her almost 2 weeks in advance. She also asked when I would like the food served and I said at 7pm please. With the amount of prep and pre-ordering I had no doubts that this would be well organized and seamless. I was so so wrong. Bowling itself was awesome! Room was clean and decorated beautifully and the kit was all fantastic and in working order. Nice to be able to have drinks in there but it would have been courteous to have a staff member there to help us set up because we were left to our own devices to figure out how to setup the games and enter everyone’s names in. We also did not have a server, so we had to walk over to the bar in another part of the hotel to get drinks. When I went to the bar to get a drink I was asked again by the manager when I wanted food to be served and I said 7pm again. We had to stack empty glasses all over the bowling alley because no one came to clear them. After bowling we went to 455 Bar for our food since it was almost 7pm. We were seated on sofas in 4 separate sections, so it was a bit of a bummer to not be able to talk to everyone in our party, had I known that was going to be the case ahead of time, I would have reserved the dining room area instead. There were no cutlery sets on the tables when we arrived but there were at least reservation signs on the tables. The tables were about knee height when we sat down, so I was worried about my back and having to bend over to eat food on the low tables. 15 minutes passed, no food. 30 minutes passed, no food. I asked the manager where the food was and was told they are almost done, and they apologize. 1 hour passed, no food. The whole time no cutlery passed out to us, no one checking in on us or asking us if they can refill drinks or give us bread or anything to apologize for inconvenience. Food finally comes out one by one and the guys bringing it out look flustered and confused because the food does not have any names assigned to it even though I had done that with the pre-ordering weeks ago. No one could remember what they had ordered weeks ago so it was a complete circus trying to figure out which food went to which person. We finally got it sorted and then had to walk up to the bar to ask for napkins and cutlery because we still hadn’t received them. Meanwhile another person still hadn’t received his food (he didn’t end up getting his food for another hour because they said there was a smudge on the paper that made it look cancelled, even though it wasn’t and even though I had pre-ordered weeks ago). Even worse, we had some friends come who did not pre-order and ordered last minute and they received their food in 15 minutes while we all had to wait over an hour. How does that make sense? Food was good (except the vegan pizza, that was just bread with arugula thrown on top, was not appetizing) but it was unfortunate that the lack of organization and service/management soured everything. I had arranged for cake to be served after dinner and we ended up having to wait almost 3 hours from start time because of the delays. When the cake was brought out, we were given a knife and a stack of plates than one of the guys came over with a bundle of forks in his hands and put them in the middle of the table for us to sort out. Another thing is if everyone is pre-ordering, they should charge at the time of pre-ordering, so it’s done. They didn’t do that so at the end of the night it was chaos again trying to figure out how everyone should pay. Won't...

What can I say? |The purpose of the visit (from Melton Mowbray) was to go for a check up on a recent ankle fracture at John Radcliffe… my mum and I always have an overnight stay either the night before or night of my appointment. Ok - intro over! ||From the initial booking process - the service was impeccable. Then when we arrived, the welcome from Michael (who I had spoken to on the phone en route to confirm some details - excellent telephone manner!), was so warm, welcoming and he wasted no time in informing us of everything we needed to know about our stay and the hotel facilities. ||We checked into our room, which was spotless - lovingly serviced by Liz & Rachel - couldn’t fault it at all. Bed linen immaculate and, if you felt so inclined, you could easily eat your dinner off the bath (I never go so far as to say toilet/floor :) ). Towels were soft, fluffy and again, spotless. |The added touch of the plush bathrobes was a lovely surprise. ||Another bonus was - given me still being a bit of a hop-along - we had requested a room as close to lift/facilities as possible - and that it be turned into a twin. I mention this because there have been so many occasions at other high-end hotels we have stayed at in the area since my injury in November who have neglected to honour either one, or both of these requests. ||Having checked in - it was time for drinkies and some nourishment… ||The dining area was lovely, bright and airy. The food offerings were good - I chose the wrong thing but the fact I left it is no reflection upon the quality of the produce, the cooking of it and also the presentation. Staff were friendly and the right level of attentive. ||We then had a cracking game of bowling at the in-house 2 lane alley - had two games and much to my chagrin I had to use the frame bc of my ankle - but we had a great time and I cannot stress enough how helpful and knowledgable Michael was on checking us into the bowling, explaining everything about the system and dishing out a healthy portion of humour. ||The rest of the evening was spent playing a game of scrabble in the bar area and then we retired to our room. ||All in all - a great stay - late check out (£20 for 1pm instead of 11am if you’re interested) and again, Michael and the team were exceptionally kind, polite and lovely ||Can’t wait to stay again when we are next passing...

The Heyford overall was a positive experience but there are also several areas where I think things could be improved. The price we paid was £220(with 15% discount for advance payment) for a balcony room for 1 night - which I imagine is peak pricing and if we were to stay again I'd not be so willing to pay this amount. Pros: The service is very good with a friendly welcome & booking experience and all queries and questions answered promptly at reception and restaurant bookings etc handled perfectly even though we swapped times etc. Also extra milk and coffee was provided free of charge. The room itself was beautiful and was larger than the photos with a fantastic bathroom, comfy bed and coffee machine, fridge, dressing gowns and plenty of towels and good toiletries with a selection of extras available at reception. There was a very well stocked minibar but as with all hotels it was pricey and we left it alone. The view from the balcony was of a roof but the balcony itself was large and a nice place to sit in the open air. The room was very clean and the water pressure spot on with amazing shower. Areas of improvement: Atmosphere in the Baton was good and the service great but the menu was pretty basic and the deserts unappealing. The food we ordered was nice and a good price just wish there was more choice. The cocktails were unfortunately not great. Breakfast: I think I paid extra for breakfast & bowling (which we did not feel like and cancelled) however I could not tell as the bill was unfortunately not itemised. We had to leave early which meant we missed breakfast at 8am. Unfortunate as the menu looked great. We asked for for something the night before which was unfortunately not passed on and we were handed bags of cold muffins, fruit and juice cartons. They were apologetic and thankfully made us some good coffee but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed. We've had early morning breakfast options from other hotels that were a lot better. The parking: spaces are narrow and it's a small carpark which seemed to fill very quickly. Overall we had a good night's sleep, relaxing stay and some decent food, so would come back, just on a night with a...