IXORA Hotel and Spa — Hotel in Great Britain

The worst Hilton experience I have had.

When checking in, I tried using the app but there was an issue with the digital key so I had to go to the desk, which is not a problem. When arriving there was one woman stood behind the desk on the phone, so we patiently waited to be seen. There were 3 members of staff stood nearby at the bar having a conversation, though none of them ventured over to help us. After a few minutes another lady did come over and we thought we would be able to check in, but she picked up another phone and began speaking on that. Only after she had finished were we seen and checked in.

The room was as expected - though it was a different experience having the bathroom sink in the room, and then what feels like just a cupboard for the toilet. I would say the bed was really hard, as were the pillows and myself and my partner struggled to sleep over the two nights due to this, and due to a weird vibrating noise that came periodically. I can only assume this was the pipes but I have no idea and have not experienced it in any hotels before. On the whole the room was clean however there were poo stains in the toilet that obviously hadn’t been cleaned properly. Lovely.

We had to venture downstairs for a room service menu on the first evening as we had not booked a table for the restaurant, which we were told was full. We were not told beforehand that we may need to book in advance. We had no idea the menu was on the TV as we did not switch it on until after. Ordering was frustrating as there were multiple times we rang the phone but it just rang out or went to voicemail. Once the order was placed however the food did come quickly and was very good. One thing to note is that we ordered a dessert that came with ice cream - though there was no ice cream when it arrived. When we queried this we were simply told there is no ice cream - no alternative was offered nor any discount off the price of the meal which I find quite shocking considering these items are not cheap.

At one point I did try to use the ‘shop’ in the hotel to buy some snacks. It is a self service machine that asks you to scan and pay for the items. However there is no scanner. Only an item selection screen that does not match up with the items on offer - I got so fed up with trying to figure it out that I just put the items back and left it.

On the second night again we ordered food to our room and was impressed with how speedy it was - they did deliver the wrong dessert however it was rectified quickly when we notified them.

On checking out I tried to use the app again and it told me all was done and an email would be sent confirming the bill. I wasn’t sure so went to the desk anyway and was told it was in progress and there was nothing to worry about. As of 7 hours later I am still waiting for the bill. I have tried to contact the hotel about this but the line just rings out every time. (I expect due to the staffing issues at the hotel.)

In short, the room was not to the standard expected, the hotel is woefully understaffed and poorly managed. When you do speak to the staff then they are always polite and try to help mostly, so I do think this is mainly down to a management problem.

Because I know most reviews only point out the negatives, I would like to add that their breakfast is great and I liked how great the staff were with serving the foods and it was great to see every member of staff wearing face masks and working to...

I really wish I didn’t have to write a review like this, especially for a hotel which has just opened. Once we found out the hotel had only opened this week we expected there to be small teething problems but not a lack of friendly staff trying to make up for these.

We arrived at the hotel about 5 o’clock with a dinner booking at 6.30, so quickly got ready and went to down for dinner. We waited a while for drinks but didn’t mind as there was only waitress taking orders - I asked for a cocktail as we we’re celebrating, I was told they weren’t doing them tonight. I understood why when I saw there was only one barman on behind the bar, however still quite frustrating when you come to a hotel for a special occasion. I asked for a drinks menu and I was told that there isn’t one? We could see they were serving them in the other bar area so thought we would move over there after we’d eaten for some nice drinks, unfortunately it was full after dinner as our main courses took nearly 3 hours to arrive.

We ordered starters (a garlic bread and some halloumi) which we got at 8pm, an hour and a half after arriving. Not once did anyone come over and say sorry for the delay or let us know where our starters were, the restaurant had several empty tables so we really couldn’t understand why it took an hour and 15 minutes for 2 small starters? For main course we order two steak sandwiches - they arrived to the table at 9.15pm. When they arrived they had no chips with them like it said in the menu, we asked for the chips that came with them and we’re given one portion to share? The steak sandwich was a whole steak on top of a burnt piece of toast. I ordered a drink which I waited half an hour for, when it came it was the wrong drink. I was honestly a bit lost for words at this point.

After waiting nearly three hours for two main courses I honestly can’t believe that first and foremost no one came over and apologised? There was a someone who looked like a manager who asked us if we were okay 9pm and I said we’ve been here since 6.30 and we are still waiting for main course, so the staff were aware they just chose not to acknowledge it? Secondly, I’m not the sort of person that would ever want something for nothing, but I have never waited 3 hours for substandard food and still be presented with a full bill for all our drinks and food? By the time we finished in the restaurant over three hours later, the bar where they were serving cocktails was full.

When we were asked at checkout how our stay was, we mentioned our experience to which we were told, yes it’s been bad people have been walking out without paying? Again, another chance to rectify the situation dismissed.

As I’ve mentioned, we were aware there may be teething problems but this was beyond what I would class as acceptable to be charged over 300 pound for one nights dinner and stay. Had the staff been more apologetic and explained why things were taking so long then you’d be able to have more understanding towards the situation, instead they ignore you and pretend nothing is going on.

Even the fact that they take a pending payment of more than your stay to cover if you have extras, this should be explained at check in rather than just leaving you wondering. It’s clear they have some issues to iron out but you are going to lose any repeat custom giving experiences like this with no...

Hotel is in a good location, right next door to the adventure park. Car is needed however if staying for more than a day.

On arrival we were told our room was not ready for check in. We were asked to wait in the restaurant and were offered complimentary drinks. It took at least 20 minutes for the barman to ask for our order ( 2 pints of lager) and bring it to our table. In the meantime we asked for a food menu (twice) and were a little disappointed by the restricted menu. We settled on a bowl of chips and these arrived quickly and tasted lovely.

At around 3.45pm I asked reception again about the status of our room and we were told it was ready. When we got to the room we were surprised to find it was a twin room when we had booked a deluxe double room with a lake view. We went back to reception and were told there had been a mix up with the booking, despite it clearing being on our email confirmation. We were then informed that they didn’t have anymore double rooms available with a lake view and we would have to settle with a room at the rear of the hotel, over looking the bins. We agreed to this as they offered to reduce the room rate and we didn’t have any other choice.

On entering the second room, we noticed straight away that it wasn’t clean. All mirrors were dirty, tea stains on the table and all down the kettle, hair in the sink and toilet and the floors didn’t look like they had been cleaned for days. After deliberating for some time about complaining or just staying out we decided to go back to reception. The staff were very friendly but didn’t really have an answer. We therefore asked to see the general manager, who came across straight away. He was very apologetic and said he would find us a new room. In the meantime we were offered more complimentary drinks.

After around 20 mins the head receptionist offered us a choice of two rooms, one being the deluxe King room on the top floor. After seeing both we obviously went with the bigger and more luxurious deluxe suite and were very happy with how they dealt with our complaints.

The suite was lovely but if we had been paying full price I would have been disappointed by the cleanliness, floors, mirrors and sinks dirty and the view of the bin store and building site. The layout was also very strange with no proper bathroom and a complete lack of privacy. There was also a lot of outdoor noise throughout the night.

Breakfast was great on the first morning as we were the first people down. The female waitress was really friendly and attentive. The second morning wasn’t so great and the whole thing was frenetic, with no system and long queues. Covid rules went out of the window!

We pre-booked a 4 hour session at the spa as well as a treatment. The massage was fantastic and we enjoyed the spa. However it is expensive for limited facilities and again there are issues with cleanliness. We didn’t see anyone cleaning the spa or hotel the whole four days we were there.

Despite the upgraded room which we got for a very reduced price it wasn’t enough for us to consider returning. The main issues being the room layout and cleanliness. Having is stayed in Hilton hotels around the county for work this was not up to their...