Harbour Hotel Guildford — Hotel in Guildford

I booked to stay here as a surprise for my husband. I emailed prior to arriving asking if there was the possibility of having the room decorated but didn't get a reply. Google maps took us to the hotel car park, which is also a pay and display car park and had no access unless you went to reception to collect a key card, something that wasn't mentioned before arriving. I only found this out when I called the hotel to ask how I enter the car park. The woman on the phone was abrupt and dismissive. When I arrived at reception, the man there explained and was very helpful. After checking in, we walked to our room to find the key card didn’t work and there were plates, cups and napkins left outside not only our hotel room, but also every other hotel room door in the corridor. I went back to reception to get a new key card and said that I was disappointed to see all the dirty dishes etc, especially given that it was 5pm and check in was at 3. The man at reception went to get the manager and she came and asked what the problem was. I explained and she said she'd get someone to clean it up. I said I didn't think it was good enough and that it was embarrassing given I had chosen this hotel as a surprise and expected much better. She told me the card was correct and that it was a case of putting the key card in and out quickly and patronisinly asked if I needed help doing it. She said they had decorated the room which was a plate with happy birthday written on it with a strawberry cut in half and 2 magdalenes. I looked outside the window and there were 3 teenagers throwing cones in front of a patch of grass and we were overlooking a big car park. I called reception and said I wanted to pay for an upgrade because it wasn't good enough. She took me to 3 rooms and said I wouldn't have to pay for the upgrade and she gave us a drinks voucher. We accepted, although, other than the room size, it was the same. I found her customer service very dismissive and as if I didn't have the right to be disappointed by what the hotel had provided. After speaking with my husband at dinner, we came back and he spoke to the over night duty manager who was very helpful and understanding. He offered is free breakfast to make up for it. The following day I had spent £260 on a spa day package for 2. The spa receptionist was very welcoming and helpful. The spa is small given how much you pay but the facilities are nice and well maintained. We both had a full body massage which was excellent. Georgina was brilliant and very helpful. We then went for lunch, included in the package but without drinks which I was aware of, but found unusual given the amount I paid. The customer service in the restaurant was absolutely awful. A lady was abrupt and rude. We asked to be sat on a more private table because we were in our dressing gowns and she made a flippant comment about having to dress the table. I hadn't been told how lunch worked so I assumed it was a set menu. When the lady asked whether we had any allergies or preferences, I told her I don't eat red meat or pork. Instead of saying no problem there are alternatives, she flippantly said so is that a preference then, rather than an allergy? I was shocked and said what do you mean and she repeated the same thing and I said is it a problem if I don't eat that? And she said no and started defining a preference and an allegery and I said that she sounded very rude. She rolled her eyes and walked off, went over to the other restaurant staff and started complaining about us, whilst they were all staring at us. We were then left waiting to order because she didn't come back. Someone else then took over who was very polite and helpful. The food was very good. At the end we paid for the drinks and went to leave. The lady then rushed over to the till checking that we had paid and then stared at us as we left. After spending just under £400 for a night's stay and a spa day, the customer service overall was appalling. Other than the reception and bars, it is run down and doesn’t deserve a 4* rating....

I stayed in a room here for a wedding and left unimpressed. The room itself for what we paid was not worth it - it was a very small twin room with view above the outdoor seating area. We weren’t given any instructions on checkout or what numbers to call on the phone for reception etc., and no info leaflets in the room so we were a bit stumped! Before the wedding we bought some mock tails from the bar in the lobby (which were horrible and we didn’t drink a lot of them) and the barmaid who served me was really strange and kept complaining under her breath about doing everything herself, and kept singing “all by myself”... it was very weird and uncomfortable. During the wedding reception, some of the kitchen/waiting staff were terrible - they served us shellfish that we didn’t ask for (and even served shellfish to a pregnant woman!!), when we asked for something else on 3 occasions they told us there’s no alternative and just kept giving the same first course we didn’t ask for. When they did eventually give us an alternative they didn’t actually know what it was - they put it down in front of us, when asked what it was, they said “I’m not sure I need to go and ask”. They came back and told us eventually, however there were some people who did not even receive a first course at all. The second course again had issues - it was chicken and there were people who did not eat meat. When they asked if they could have an alternative they were told “there is no other alternative, this is what you have ordered”. After ages of back and forth and waiting another 20 minutes they got their non-meat main course. The chicken course was disappointing and bland, and the gravy was watery. The dessert was really nice and the best of all three courses. When we went back to our room it was really loud and you could hear the music and all the people in the sitting area - however obviously that can’t be helped and it didn’t bother us that much as we were part of the party, but just be prepared that it may be very loud if there’s a wedding or other event on. Finally In the morning we went down for breakfast and I have to say it was absolutely delicious! The staff at breakfast were so friendly and helpful and made breakfast the best part of our stay! The selection of different foods was really good and all were delicious and fresh-tasting. Overall the cons are; lack of info, lack of properly trained kitchen and waiting staff, weird negative bar staff, overpriced and too small rooms. The pros are: decor in the lobby is so beautiful and really cool, the breakfast staff were all excellent and attentive, the breakfast food was amazing, and the bathroom in our room was actually quite big and really nice. Overall we won’t be coming back here though unfortunately - I’ve stayed in cheaper places that have been way...

We stayed at Harbour Hotel Guildford as we were attending a friend’s wedding in the area, it looked like a nice hotel, and we thought we’d spend the extra money to treat ourselves for the two nights we had away.

The room itself was okay, the biggest drawback was the frosted windows, which we were not able to open. Checking back through our booking this was not mentioned on there, nor at check-in. This was particularly painful as our flat is currently wrapped in scaffolding and opaque sheeting, at home we are only able to open our windows during evening hours. We were looking forward to a weekend where we could look out of and open the windows, it was not to be.

I have a couple of food intolerances, as I planned to have breakfast at the hotel I called ahead of time and tried to get as much info as I could. I was told that all food in the buffet was labelled, and on these labels, all allergens were listed, the latter part was not true. However when we went to have breakfast the staff there were very helpful and I had a few items that were cooked fresh to avoid the risk of cross-contamination. As we were not sure if I would be able to eat anything at the breakfast buffet we had only paid for breakfast for one day, so we could play it by ear, and eat elsewhere the following day if they were not able to cater to my dietary needs. As I was okay with the breakfast we opted for breakfast at the hotel once again, however this time the breakfast instead of costing £13 about each it was approx £17 as we had not paid for it all on the first day. This meant we were paying the standard rather than the hotel guest price, once again when paying for breakfast upon checking in we were not made aware of this.

Lastly the hotel parking is on a first come first serve basis, when calling about an hour before arrival I was told the parking was £14, it is in fact £16, but the hotel did honour the price I was given over the phone. I was also told it was full and we would have to park in the council car park. The person on reception (who was not the same person I’d spoken with on the phone) said we should give the car park a go, as there may be spaces, turns out it was less than half full.

For £170+ a night, this service and experience was not to the standard we would expect. We could have stayed down the road at a budget hotel for much less and likely received a comparable or higher...