Wychnor Park Country Club — Hotel in East Staffordshire

I rarely leave reviews, but this experience demands one. What was marketed as a premium break turned into an infuriating and demoralising stay, defined not by facilities, but by a shocking lack of hospitality, empathy, and basic customer service — particularly from the front desk, led by the Reception Manager, Tracy.||||We were placed in a wheelchair-accessible unit without prior warning — something that should absolutely be disclosed at booking. The wet room felt clinical and unwelcoming, the blinds were covered in dead bugs, and worst of all, the fridge emitted a constant loud hum that made sleep impossible. When I raised these issues with Tracy, I was told the unit met the required standards and that there would be a £40 charge to move to another. Her justification? “We are in the right.” No interest in whether the unit was fit for purpose or the impact on our stay — just robotic policy enforcement.||||Her tone throughout was dismissive, condescending, and defensive. At every stage, she minimised the problem:|| • “You’re the only person to ever complain about this.”|| • “You’ve been very lucky then” (in response to me saying I’ve never been assigned an accessible unit before — which ironically acknowledges how poor these units are).|| • “We’ve had platinum members in here who haven’t said anything.”||||Instead of addressing a valid complaint, she appeared more focused on discrediting it.||||At one point, she claimed there were no other units available — only for me to interrupt (admittedly out of frustration) and say I’d just checked the website and seen several available. Her response? She raised her hand and said, “Let me finish.” While I accept I should have waited, this moment summed up the power dynamic perfectly: a manager more interested in asserting control than in listening. Her entire approach was about being right, not doing what was right.||||Eventually, she said she might be able to move us — but only based on the fridge issue, nothing else — and added, bizarrely, “but the outdoor area isn’t as nice.” Why say that? It came across like a final dig, as if she couldn’t help herself.||||And it wasn’t just her. Every other receptionist we encountered was equally cold and robotic. Smiling, greeting guests, making people feel welcome — it’s all absent here. One has to ask: why are any of them in hospitality if they don’t understand the concept of being hospitable?||||My partner also experienced the same indifference. When she went to collect something we’d left in the original room, she was met with: “Here – and by the way it’s checkout.” Not a single pleasantry. No “how was your stay?” or “was the second room better?” — just the same frosty, transactional tone that seems to define the place.||||She also asked for a wine glass after the bar had closed (10pm on a Saturday night, absurd) and was told bluntly by Kate: “No, you can’t. The bar is closed.” Not a hint of friendliness or effort to help.||||The golf course? Don’t bother. The “greens” are overgrown and unplayable — they looked like they’d been maintained by a blindfolded toddler with a Flymo.||||The only pleasant member of staff we encountered was the lady in the leisure centre, who was polite, helpful, and stood out simply by being decent.||||Eventually, we were moved to another unit — and the difference was night and day. Which makes you wonder: do they keep the inferior rooms for people who book through Groupon or discounted third-party sites? If that’s the case, it’s deceptive and disrespectful.||||To be fair, the grounds are beautiful and the bar area is stylish — but the prices are eye-watering, and the bar remained empty for most of our stay. Even the bar staff, despite being independent from the hotel, weren’t particularly warm.||||Let me be clear: I was never rude. I didn’t shout. I didn’t exaggerate. I was polite, firm, and calm — but everything I raised was met with resistance, dismissiveness, or outright contradiction.||||This resort felt less like a holiday and more like a luxury prison — where everything is overly managed, the staff act like wardens, and guests are treated like inmates trying to...

We stopped off for two nights, Monday and Tuesday, to break up our journey home. We went as a group of 8 friends and stayed in the two bedroom apartments. These were great for 4 adults in each apartment, but we felt they would have been cramped with 6 adults, although with kids, this would probably be fine. We requested to stay in the log cabins and were happy that we were allocated the cabins when we arrived. The alternatives are to stay in the main house or in the nearby coach house. The site itself is beautiful and incredibly peaceful. The cabins each have a balcony looking over the beautiful countryside and they are cleverly designed so that, although the cabins are next to each other, the balconies are pointing in different directions and you feel quite isolated. The apartments were spotlessly clean and very well equipped with everything that we needed. They were also incredibly comfortable, especially the sofas and beds. It was a lovely place to chill out for a day or so. We didn't make much use of the additional facilities.

Our primary reason for visiting was to enjoy the peace and quiet, rather than use the resort facilities. However, some of our party who used the sauna and jacuzzi experienced some issues. There seemed to be a problem with the heating/electricity during our stay. The lights in the rooms went off at one point. Also, when they went to the leisure centre, they were told that the jacuzzi and sauna were not up to heat because of the heating issue. While this place advertises itself as a spa, the pool/sauna complex is called a leisure centre and feels more like a basic leisure centre than what you would expect from a more luxury spa. Having said that, the price is excellent and we would consider returning.

There is a handy Co-Op supermarket for supplies and some lovely pubs in the nearby (10 mins) village of Barton-under-Needlewood which was a lovely...

Lovely place if you want a quiet break away. Beautiful grounds with lovely views. They’re currently doing refurbishments in the main building. We stayed in one of the log cabins. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, fully equipped kitchen, spacious for 4 people. The bar and restaurant have just reopened; we didn’t eat there but the bar staff were lovely. Reception staff pleasant and helpful. We used the pool, sauna etc, very clean and quiet while we were there. Reception can arrange for you to have beauty treatments, massages etc too if you ask for details.|There’s nothing within walking distance, so you need a car. We did try taxis but it makes it an expensive night out if you just want to pop to Barton Marina (lovely place, nice pub, a few restaurants and even a cinema). Be warned! Twice we ordered an Uber and they got lost both times, going to the wrong entrance. One refused to go round back to A38 and cancelled on us and the other one took such a long route, we had no idea where we were and ended up at the locked gate. He did turn round but then I found out he’d doubled the fare!) There’s a local taxis are better. |There’s a croquet lawn, crazy golf, tennis courts and even a 9 hole golf course. We were told we could hire clubs if we wanted to have ago.|We went to the Two Pigs Inn not far away which was very nice with a modern menu that changes regularly. It’s not a place to go for your usual pub grub though.|Lichfield isn’t too far away, and it’s a nice town with plenty of shops, cafes, restaurants and a lovely cathedral which is worth a visit.|PS take care on the driveway up to the hall, there are a couple of high speed bumps which can take you by surprise!! We scraped our car the first time we drove up there and we weren’t going very fast!!|All in all a lovely place for a...