Ensana Buxton Crescent — Hotel in High Peak

I decided to treat my best friend for Christmas with a stay at a 5-star hotel, hoping to give her the luxurious experience she deserved after surviving three extremely challenging years. She's truly the best person and deserves the world, so I thought a high-end hotel would be the perfect gift. The beds were wonderfully comfortable, but unfortunately, the room was dusty, triggering our dust allergies. This was not the start we had hoped for, but we tried to stay positive. We encountered another issue when we realised there was no cutlery or glasses in the room. We were shocked to learn that we would be charged £10 to have plates and cutlery brought to us. This unexpected fee felt unreasonable, especially at a 5-star establishment. We were eager to start our first spa experience with Hydro and CO2 Baths. However, the young staff member who assisted us seemed inexperienced. Despite our initial concerns, we trusted the hotel's reputation and expected a professional experience. Unfortunately, the baths were dangerously hot, over 40 degrees as shown on the temperature monitor. It took over five minutes for me to enter because of the heat. Foolishly, I assumed the professionals knew best and entered the bath, but I only managed to stay for ten minutes before I began hyperventilating, with my heart pounding in my ears. When I requested the staff member to cool the bath, she briefly turned on the cold tap, which was ineffective given the bath's size and metal material - anyone who had ever made a bath would know it was not enough. I tried to cool it myself, but the water temperature remained unchanged. As I began to see stars, I got out and lay on the floor, focusing on deep breathing to avoid vomiting. The staff's lack of proper assistance was concerning. Meanwhile, my friend was having a similar experience. She was instructed to sit in the bath with the bubbles on and lock the door, which seemed contradictory and silly. Like me, she struggled to enter the bath and after five minutes had to get out, spending the remaining treatment time trying to cool off. When I informed the staff member of my condition, she sought assistance not from trained staff but from my friend, who was also unwell. My friend managed to give me first aid, the staff seemed more focused on getting other staff members to the room rather than providing immediate help. We both fainted at different points, and instead of relocating us to a cooler spa room to recover, we were made to walk up several flights of stairs to reception. There, still feeling unwell, we were asked to answer questions for their forms, which added to our distress and felt predatory given we were still unwell - if we had the opportunity to fill them out ourselves and do it later, we would have a lot more to say. The dinner and breakfast included in our package were far from satisfactory. The dinner was bland, with undercooked potatoes and a burger that left much to be desired. One staff member at dinner, the same who made us answer questions for their form, said to us "at least you can say you got a tan in Buxton," we found this very disrespectful. The breakfast was even worse, featuring dry, burnt sausage and muffins that tasted off. The only highlight of our meals was a bread dish that was tasty and filling. Despite the spa's issues, we did enjoy a visit to the Chatsworth Christmas Market, although our experience was marred by the pain from the spa. The hotel and spa have the potential to be great, given their lovely location and comfortable beds, but the service and spa experience were incredibly disappointing. I was told I could speak to the general manager - given that I believe that this was the person who told us "at least we got a tan," it felt silly bothering. What was supposed to be a relaxing treat for my friend turned into a stressful and painful ordeal. I would not recommend this hotel and spa, especially after we have spent the 4 days since the “treatment” still in pain. UPDATE: After repeatedly chasing them, I have had a call back after 1 week 5 days but...

My recent stay at Ensana Buxton Crescent Hotel was a mixed from 28th to 30th March.

Overall, the experience was very good. The room was spacious and comfortable, and both the reception and housekeeping staff were exceptionally kind and helpful. The spa and swimming pool facilities were pristine, contributing positively to our relaxation. Until we encountered a significant issue during breakfast on the morning of my departure. Despite multiple attempts, my wife was unable to place her order with the restaurant staff. Here are the details of the incident:

Around 9:30 AM, I arrived at the restaurant for breakfast. Me and a few other family members came earlier than my wife and had already placed our orders. My wife politely approached the waitress who was responsible for clearing plates and requested assistance. She assured that someone would take my order. After waiting for an additional 7 minutes, my wife asked again, but received the same response. Then she approached another staff member near the entrance, who responsible for guiding the guests and taking order, this lady said that someone would assist her. Despite having the menu in front of her, my wife waited patiently for another 10 minutes. the same staff member proceeded to take orders from two neighbouring tables but completely ignored her request. Frustrated, She raised her hand and asked to place an order, but she insisted that someone else would attend. This pattern continued for a total of four attempts, spanning approximately 30 minutes. I witnessed the whole situation, expressed my disappointment and frustration. I raised my voice and requested to speak to the manager. However, the lady responsible for taking orders was standing just 3 meters away from our table. She raised her voice and asked me to keep my voice down, instructing me to stop speaking to her in that manner. Finally, she refused to help me and directed someone else to take the order.

This experience was entirely unacceptable, especially considering the hotel’s 5-star status. I would like to summarise my disappointment in several points: Firstly, I was in expressing my dissatisfaction, used no offensive language. Rather, I highlighted the fact that our requests were consistently ignored for 4 times. The waitress’s response, instructing me to stop, was both unprofessional and discourteous. No one offered an apology, leaving us feeling unheard and dismissed. As a guest of a 5-star hotel, we should be able to express our concerns without fear, especially when faced with such bad service. This lack of attention and dismissive attitude left me frustrated and disappointed. The situation has the potential to escalate into a racism issue as we are Asian, particularly given that the waitress ignored my wife's requests while promptly taking orders from other English guests seated at neighbouring tables. Additionally, two other ladies approached me and confirmed that they witnessed the entire situation. They agreed that the service provided was entirely unacceptable, and I did the right thing and they will made complaint as well. Secondly, not only did I experience this issue, but I also witnessed other instances of poor service. Wrong food and drinks were delivered to our table multiple times, causing inconvenience to both my family and neighbouring guests. One guest even had to fetch his own coffee due to the staff’s negligence. My wife also ordered tea that morning, but it never arrived. Thirdly, the quality of the food was far from the expected 5-star standard. My little one barely ate anything. We also observed another guest complaining about the food and service at the reception, stating, ‘Your cook can’t cook’. Finally, this incident ruined our last day in Buxton. As we drove back to Guildford, a journey of 4 hours, we carried the disappointment and anger caused by the hotel’s service. I believe a thorough investigation into this matter is necessary. I also request a formal apology and an assurance that steps will be taken to prevent such incidents...

We came to stay here for 2 nights and had a wonderful stay. We would definitely come again, although removed a star due to a couple of niggles which we felt didn't give it the true 5* experience.

The location of the hotel is perfect, right in the heart of Buxton, and right next to lots of nice bars and restaurants.

We found the room to be lovely and spacious, the bed being extremely comfortable giving a great night's sleep. We did find the curtains didn't fully overlap the window, though, so the room gets light once the sun begins to rise, which was a little annoying. The bathroom was nice and large, with really lovely toiletries provided. The rain fall shower didn't have great pressure, though, so you ended up with big drops of water falling rather than a rainfall. It's not a massive issue, but again, it's a little annoying. The handheld was great with good pressure.

The spa is simply fantastic. We mainly used the indoor outdoor pool, which was just right in terms of temperature. The jets and waterfalls all added that bit of extra fun in the pool. Highly recommend using this, it really is great. The spa is split over different floors with a lift and stairs between. The aroma room smelt amazing, although we found it a bit too warm for us to spend very long in there. Same with the pools and other rooms. Although the purpose of a lot of them is heat, it's right they should be warm, we just preferred the indoor outdoor pool.

We only had breakfast in the hotel and found it to be a bit of a mixed bag. The cooked food was really tasty, but we felt it was a very small portion. Being asked how you want your eggs suggests more than one will be served, but alas, only one given. I've seen others mention this, but the portion of beans given was so tiny it almost made it not worth having them. The waiting on staff were very friendly, but for some reason they didn't take any dirty plates etc... whilst we were there. So we had to play jenga to make room for things. At one point, a server put some toast we'd asked for on my partners dirty plate because there wasn't any room on the table. If they were on top of clearing away dishes, I don't think this would have happened. The buffet side of the breakfast didn't seem to get restocked, or at least wasn't when we went for breakfast, meaning a few things weren't out and available, which was a shame. As I said, though, the food was tasty and staff were friendly, I especially enjoyed the smoothies, worth trying them!

We also popped for a drink at the hotel bar where the staff were again very friendly, and the seating was very comfortable. The drinks were very expensive though so we only stayed for one. We had a glass of wine and double spiced rum and ginger beer, which came in at £24. The same round being £10 less in the bar just behind the hotel, where the measures are also larger.

We paid the £25 a night for parking. It's quite expensive, but it is very handy to be able to stop right outside the hotel and have them deliver the car back when you're leaving.

Overall, we had a wonderful stay and would definitely...