Macdonald Frimley Hall Hotel and Spa — Hotel in Surrey Heath

We booked a stay at Frimley park,with all the trimmings, spa treatments, dinner and breakfast. We received confirmation that our treatment would be on the day of arrival 20/09/2025 at 13.00 which made complete sense, relax in the spa, have a treatment, book into our room, relax, enjoy a meal and retire for the evening. The following day we could check out and spend the day (my birthday) sightseeing in Windsor or similar attractions. We were very much looking forward to our visit. I am afraid to say that the weekend did go quite as planned: ||we arrived in good time and went straight to the spa, they then informed us that we were not booked in for a treatment that day, but for the following day (we thought this very odd as we would have had to check out from the hotel at 11am and hang around until 1pm), also spoiling our plans for the following day. We headed to the reception of the hotel and explained our dilemma, The manager who was very nice, offered us a complimentary return treatment and afternoon tea. Although not ideal as our weekend had now been completely turned upside down, we accepted the voucher and put it down to "one of those things that can't be helped" and decided to make the most of our weekend. We were also given a later check out time and this is important to remember, we believed this was so we could have the treatments on the Sunday and still have the use of the room while we waited until the allotted time of our spa. We had breakfast and then went for a walk, returning to the hotel to wait for the treatments. Again we arrived at the spa in good time and were yet again informed that we were not on the schedule for that days treatments. It had been cancelled as we were given a complimentary voucher to return another day, this would not have been complimentary as we had already paid for the said treatments! Our confusion was evident, why would the hotel extend our room stay if we were not staying for the original treatment? why would we stay hanging around the hotel for the day, when we could have checked out and gone out as we had originally planned? What made the voucher complimentary when we had already paid for the treatments? The staff were aware that we were waiting in the grounds for our spa? The long and short of it was that we let down and felt very disappointed, the escape and relaxation we had hoped for and that was so desperately needed was replaced by stress and disappointment. this was not at all how I had expected to spend my birthday. We left the hotel and drove home as it was now too late to spend a day out and the mood of the day had been spoilt. I just wanted to go home and relax and try to put the weekend behind us. ||I can you tell that the staff at the spa were very apologetic, the hotel manager did in the end refund us the treatments that had been cancelled and all the staff we encountered during our stay were warm and welcoming. But please never forget that for many of your guests these small breaks are a lifeline, an opportunity to reset from hectic and busy lives. Our experience was one of being let down time and time again, we left feeling upset, stressed and disappointed. I am not apportioning blame to anyone in particular, a misunderstanding, miscommunication? I don't know? I only know that we did not get the spa stay we hoped for and the following day was also wasted and rather a shambles. ||My husband and I are very reluctant to use the voucher we received from Frimley Hall Hotel as any return trip feels tarnished and our confidence in the hotel has, like us, long departed. ||I have contacted the hotel and customer services to express our disappointment and have...

Beautiful building in beautiful grounds - really grand and inviting on first impressions.

Room 206 is in the extension to the right of the building and although a nice size, clean and well presented it was the bed mattress being so soft and almost gutless in the middle that caused us disappointment, a bad nights sleep and back back in the morning. Food (dinner and buffet breakfast) very nice homemade tomato soup with generous portion of sour dough bread. I needed to add more seasoning - personal preference. I couldn’t eat the margarita pizza though, it was overly topped with cheese that was rubbery and spoiled it completely. It might have just been me that didn’t enjoy it but it didn’t feel like quality cheese like mozzarella or cheddar. Had to leave it. Breakfast lay out is lovely and inviting - cold continental and hot English - all very nice and hot, toaster is the best I’ve used in a buffet style setting. However, the fresh orange juice had a black object (the size of a fly) fall from the jug into my glass as I poured. I can’t confirm what it was but the staff member was very sorry and offered to pour me a fresh one from the kitchen. The potato scones were awful, don’t taste like real food at all, rubbery and bland. The bacon was so hard you couldn’t cut through it. Eggs option were only fried in the hot server although I later realised I could have ordered it. Our breakfast table was situated next to wall that was rather splattered with lots of something unpleasant. This was pointed out to the staff member who said the painters were coming in and he’ll get them to paint over it when all it needed was a good wipe.

We went for a spa break, the hotel and the spa are separated in the grounds. The spa is very basic, staff are lovely but the pool can’t be used between 9-10 and 4-6 due of children’s swimming lessons. Plus whilst we were in the pool area relaxing on the very few sunbeds available the aqua aerobics started which was fun to watch or join in with but hardly relaxing. There is no jacuzzi which is one thing I really like to use on a spa break. There is no steam room was good but small and the sauna is small and he top half was out of use. The showers in the changing rooms are powerless and very hard to remove all the shampoo from your hair. The communal changing room is awful - no one wants to change in front of someone else at such close quarters. Trying to use the female changing room after 20 ladies have finished aqua aerobics is impossible. The towels are made of nothing that supports drying your body. They look like something your nan has had in her airing cupboard since the 1950’s. The robe absorbs more moisture. The walking area around the pool is so wet it’s treacherous, didn’t see one staff member squeegying this down at all. It’s a real slip hazard. The pool area is very cold in and out the water again not very relaxing. We spent most of our spa day out on the terrace in the sun drinking coffee (lucky for us the weather was hot) in 24 hours we probably spent 2 hours per day in the spa.

The massage was good - very enjoyable with Emmie. However the relaxation room afterwards was not relaxing. As soon as I walked in there after my massage I was bombarded by another staff member asking me to do a google review. Literally pointing to my phone, asked me to open my camera, scan the QR code and then proceeded to scroll through my phone for me to get to the review section. All I wanted to do was sit in a chair, put my feet up and relax as I felt quite dizzy after my massage.

Sadly, I would not return to Frimley Hall...

“A mixed bag” would be our assessment of this hotel - a pleasant country house hotel, conveniently close to a location we were visiting. It’s set in lovely grounds at the end of a cul-de-sac and we were blessed with wonderful weather - one of the first truly warm days of the year.||Prior to arrival I had cause to call the hotel and despite a modern menu-style phone system I found myself hanging on and on and on waiting for someone to answer. During our stay itself the internal phone to both room service and reception yielded a similar experience. No one to answer the phone.||The food in the restaurant fell way short of the expectation set on the hotel’s website, which promises|| “sumptuous fine dining in our elegant Linden Restaurant, we’ve got you covered for high-quality food and drink throughout your stay.” ||My wife’s cocktail was served, unadorned, in a strengthened glass tumbler - a utilitarian touch out of keeping with the very notion of a cocktail. The menu was fish and chips, a burger, one pasta dish, two options for small steaks etc etc. I opted for a belly of pork which was served with a thick layer of unrendered fat - full of flavour but it could have made awesome crackling had the chef cooked it thus. My wife had the Caesar salad - which came with lettuce turning brown at the edges and rock hard Parmesan from the rind of the cheese. Her complaint resulted in its removal from the bill. But let’s face it… fine dining it’s not! It’s a menu befitting a pub bistro - and not a great one.||The day after we sat with friends (7) at the tables arranged in the lovely gardens in the sun and had to walk inside to order - no table service there. We were told that because of the focus in the afternoons on afternoon tea, we would have starters and main courses served at the same time and we had to walk inside to get drinks. This, combined with the telephone experience makes me wonder whether they’re actually quite short of staff.||Breakfast was good - a decent full English on offer on a hot buffet with plenty of continental options / fruit etc to boot.||Our room was in a good state (some country house hotels exhibit flaking paint and poor maintenance but not Frimley Hall). The bathroom was a good size and well equipped. The bed, a double, was not the most comfortable we’ve experienced but the bed linen was clean and pressed. An empty fridge was disappointing. We phoned down (eventually) to ask for some bottled water to be delivered to the room. We were advised that even bottled water would incur a tray charge - but not advised that there was a filtered water dispenser on each floor - the leaflet proclaiming that, we found at the back of a counter just as we were leaving.||There is a pool/ spa which is not solely for hotel guests being open to members of the health club. We didn’t use it as it wasn’t integral to the hotel - albeit only a short walk across a small car park. My daughter used it and found it fine. We noticed that some hotel guests were confused as to whether the spa included a changing room and so came down from their hotel rooms shyly dressed for a swim when the correct form, we were told, was to change in the facility. It never ceases to amaze me how many hotels fail to describe simple etiquette / expectations like this.||All in all it was OK, given its convenient proximity to the location we were visiting, but I wouldn’t book a weekend there otherwise. Cliveden it ain’t; but then it wasn’t anywhere near as pricey so you really do pay your money and make...