Warner Hotels - Cricket St. Thomas — Hotel in Great Britain

My wife and I recently had a 3 night weekend trip to cricket St Thomas for the 60s festival .|We started going to CST with our friends in 2018 and have been hooked ever since(until now) and have some lovely memories of our times there .|Sadly over the past 2 or 3 years we have seen a steady decline in standards due to cost cutting .|On this most recent trip for instance our room is no longer cleaned and replenished every day as before - the replies from the CST customer services on other similar complaints are obviously copied and pasted as they state -'this adjustment is made to allow guests to settle in comfortably without interruptions' (translated this means- we now do not have to pay the cleaners to come in every day so more money in our pockets and poorer standard for the customers) . I will add that on our arrival I had to remove two spiders + webs from the corners of our room from behind the curtains - my wife hates spiders so not a good start .|Customers now have to fork out 8.50 for archery and rifle shooting - this used to be free . I mean, come on , we paid out 872.00 for this weekend and surely these activities should be included in the price .|In the past we would have table service whilst sat in the terrace balcony in the mornings - not anymore , we now have to queue at the bar for our drinks where there would be one person serving . On the Saturday morning I was stood in the queue for about 25 mins waiting to be served whilst an elderly gentleman behind me gave up and went back to his table to sit down as he found it too much to stand for so long . The lady in front of me was also very dissatisfied and I have to say this does not help to produce a relaxing environment . The waitress service used to be the norm every morning and so again is more evidence of cost cutting at the expense of customer experience . |Now onto the dining experience .... this used to be such a pleasant experience with a variety of choices on offer and the standard used to be very high . To our dismay we have noticed a gradual reduction in choices to the menu over the past few years (post COVID) with the quality of food also suffering . On the Friday evening my wife and I were told that the starter we requested was unavailable as they had 'run out'.|On Saturday evening we were told there was no turkey left as they had again run out.|On our final evening the waiter asked what we would like for our dessert however added that 2 of the choices were unavailable as , guess what ??? , they had run out again .|On the same evening my Wife was given some sliced beef brisket by the chef and then had to wait a full 5-10 mins for the kitchen staff to replenish the vegetables that had run out as there was no one monitoring the 'empty' dishes until suddenly a female chef came out the kitchen , and when this was highlighted to her she dashed back into the kitchen shouting at one of her colleagues - it was like Fawlty Towers but not as funny ! There were also other dissatisfied customers in the queue also waiting for someone to appear and replenish the vegetables . People were also grumbling saying they were 'not going to come here again' .|Although I did not have any salad myself , my wife informed me that it was poor quality and that the salad leaves from the salad bar were going brown and other customers were saying that it looked as if they had been prepared days before .|I tried one spoonful of the egg fried rice and quite frankly it tasted awful and had to leave the rest of it .|When you reply to the food issue please do not copy and paste what you have replied to other customers on Tripadvisor as this then becomes non personal . In other words the choices on offer are definitely more limited and if we had highlighted to the restaurant team leader that they had run out of a starter , turkey and various desserts - what could they do about it ???? |I am leaving this review so you can hopefully take on board what the customers say and do something about it for future clients as sadly we will now be exploring other break options as we have recently retired and we were going to enjoy planning many future warner breaks - but I cannot justify paying so much money for declining standards ....

Have stayed at the hotel previously many times before covid and it has gone backwards so much its unbelievable .Pre arrival due to parents being elderly asked if possible to get a room near to the dining room the response was not enough time to do it.On arrival at check in was informed it's a no cash hotel, nobody told us this on booking. You had to register a card and pay at the end of the stay so if you wanted to moderate how much you spent as time went ,no chance. Also the payments were only possible on one card per room so if staying with a friend you would have to pay for all and tally up at the end to split costs,bizarre.So if the other person was in the hotel separately and wanted to buy something they couldn't without a room card which you had to also show each time and were only given one card per room. At meal times you were given set times which were not changeable and as again initially weren't told this and first evening arrived an hour after the time the check in person chastised us like children. On previous visits there was a large central area where the chefs would carve meat at dinner and there was a large choice of self service at breakfast also but it was obvious that this was no longer the intention as it had been removed for more dining tables now leaving a small area for carvery which now had a much reduced selection from previous visits. It was obvious the intention was to serve meals to reduce the food given. At breakfast the staff came over with coffee or tea mostly luke warm and in every other hotel known you are asked what toast you want, this didn't happen unless you asked for it yourself, the self service breakfast was often also luke warm,on one occasion we asked for grapefruit which is on the menu and the waiter said the order hadn't arrived. On the final morning for breakfast which was allocated at 9.45am we asked if for this time could we change it as wanted to leave early so rang the restaurant manager she said its OK but ring the reception so we did she then said ask the restaurant manager when I said we just had she snapped back I doubt it can be changed you have a set time for breakfast. Again bizarrely the check out room time is 10 am but she said the earliest for breakfast would be 9.45 our allocated time or 10.15 which would be difficult as we were no longer supposed to be in the room. At the main house when ordering drinks asked for a cointreau in the afternoon on the drinks menu and there wasn't any the next morning the guy who said they didn't have any was taking a bottle down there from the dining room as he showed us it and mentioned it. The price for many wines were £7 a glass the most expensive I've heard of anywhere and a few guests who had also enjoyed previous visits said they couldn't believe the rise in prices and the lowering of standards in general. In the Pavilion where staff appeared to take drinks orders they just asked what you wanted and when we asked if we could see the drinks list they said it was upstairs which obviously wasn't much use in another area.In the main house while sitting and waiting for service no one came over so I went to the bar to ask for a particular drink and the barman said to sit down and he would bring it over,another 15 minutes later nothing happened so we gave up similar happened in the dining room when asking for another cup of tea or coffee as it wouldn't be offered we also waited but nothing arrived. For an extra £12 in the day there was a cocktails drinks talk with tastings which you pre booked so we did this and the reception lady said its a wine tasting so I said on the event programme it says cocktails so she said oh yes it is,when we went to it it was in fact wine! The staff in the dining room are pleasant and nice enough it is just that they don't appear to have had adequate training. It is obvious that Warners at Cricket St Thomas have reduced quality for greed and profit and judging by other past guests many...

First time we have stayed at a Warner Hotel having been recommended by friends who have generally enjoyed them, but our recent three-night visit to Cricket St Thomas was below expectations. It’s a lovely setting with great potential, but standards in some areas would appear to be below expectations.|Food:|The dining experience was inconsistent. Each evening offered a choice of three main courses — usually a roast, a fish option, and a themed dish (Asian, Italian, or “Tastes of the World”). Presentation and flavour were often lacking, with some dishes tasting mass-produced rather than freshly prepared. The roast turkey on Saturday was good, but unfortunately ran out by 7:15 pm, disappointing several guests. Starters were hit and miss — the lamb kofta, for example, was not enjoyable. We did hear similar comments from other diners during our stay. Breakfast was acceptable but the food needs to be kept a little hotter.|Room:|Our room was comfortable enough, with a pleasant patio area, though we were told on check-in there would be no room servicing during our stay, without any clear reason. The bed consisted of two singles pushed together, one of which had a noticeably sunken mattress. The patio door was a little drafty, but the heating kept the room warm enough.|Facilities & Location:|The hotel is set in beautiful, well-kept grounds that looked stunning in autumn colours. However, some buildings — particularly around the Leisure Centre — are showing signs of age and could benefit from refurbishment. Our room was quite a distance from the main facilities, meaning plenty of walking (around 5,000 steps daily just between meals). This may be challenging for some guests, especially as there’s no covered walkway in parts which is not a great experience in wet weather.|We didn’t use the pool, as other guests mentioned it was on the cold side, and the rule about no footwear in the pool area made it less accessible for anyone who needs extra stability on wet surfaces.|Entertainment:|Entertainment quality varied. The Cilla Black tribute was enjoyable and well received (6/10). The Beatles tribute unfortunately didn’t meet expectations (1/10), and several guests left partway through. The final night’s Little Miss 60s was enthusiastic but didn’t quite hit the mark either (2/10).|Cost:|Our three-night stay cost £790 plus about £80 on drinks. Prices at the bar were OK for hotel prices (e.g. Guinness £6.95, large 250 ml glass of wine about £11). Given the cost, we had hoped for a higher standard of food and entertainment. We understand that the offer is at the budget end of a semi inclusive deal but nevertheless I believe more should be expected.|Overall impression:|Cricket St Thomas remains a lovely location with friendly staff that try their best under demanding pressure but there’s a clear need for renewed investment and attention to detail. Reports suggest Warner Hotels’ parent company, Bourne Leisure (owned by Blackstone), has faced financial pressures, which may explain some of the reduced service levels and seemingly postponed refurbishments.|We genuinely hope Warner’s returns to the high standards it was once known for, as the potential here is still very much present — it just needs a little care and reinvestment to shine again. This is some speculation that the Haven and Warner group may be up for sale as part of a restructuring, maybe a new owner could revive the Hotel’s promise to the...