Pennyhill Park — Hotel in Surrey Heath

To the Hotel Manager ||||I recently stayed at the Penny Hill Park Hotel, upon arrival there were no directions to the reception, no Doorman, and no help with the luggage. Upon check-in, the receptionist asked to have the Credit card and she input the card manually, she didn't ask for any chip and pin pre-auth, is this right? ||After check-in, she informed us about our room number and told us where to go, no rooming, and no showing at the Hotel, so we had to ask housekeeping to have the directions to the room. ||When entered the room, the radio on the bedside table was on and loud, anyway, we left the luggage and went to the Restaurant to have a bite for lunch. ||For 2 burgers and 2 drinks, we wait 40 min and when I was asked where was the food, the waiter was pissed off and not happy at all. After an hour and a half, we went back to the room to get a chance to go to the spa, and on arrival, we found a little treat regarding our anniversary celebration. THANK YOU ||On arrival at the spa, we met Michelle, the SPA Manager, I have to say that she is the most wonderful member I have met during this stay, she was nice to us and showed us the spa and directed us to the pool and confirmed the treatment for the next day. ||However, If you expect to have a service in the spa or a waiter passing by to take the order, forget. ||There is no service in the pool, all tables outside and inside were dirty and not patrolled, there is a little Bar where a cocktail costs 6 pounds, where you have to go to order and wait there to pick it up. ||Anyway, the day in the pool was nice, and the pools outside were nice too, it was relaxing but the problem is that the Service doesn't exist. ||The restaurant is nice and the food was very good, I have to say that for 310 pounds of dinner with that service is very expensive, portions very little, and no service at all, and again when we sat down, we ordered the water and never arrived, only when the waiter came to take the full order ( after 15 min). ||After dinner we went to the terrace, all the tables were dirty and full of glasses, and plates and we decided to sit down in front of the fireplace with all the dirty plates from the previous guests and the bad smell. ||In the morning we missed the breakfast, as the breakfast was only 2 hours, the receptionist informed us that the breakfast started at 7:30 and finished at 9:30, that's very odd. ||Anyway, we went to the spa to have the treatment, as the treatment was at 11 am, we asked to have a late check-out at 1 pm. ||The reply was simply NO. ||Because there was another arrival, the receptionist didn't even try to find a solution, nothing, no care at all. ||Anyway, we went to the spa to have a treatment, and thank God we met again Michelle, the only person who cared, she explained the treatment and was with us all the time. ||After treatment, we went to the room and the keys were not working, so I headed to reception to have the new key, however didn't work and luckily a receptionist was coming towards me and she allowed me to get into the room. ||However, she didn't check if I was the correct guest, she was nice but in the wrong way, she should have checked with the reception team my name, not opening the room like this to a stranger. ||After having the shower we went to reception to store the luggage and review the bill and decided to have lunch at the terrace ( as I saw the plates and drinks on the tables were there from the previous night). ||I asked the receptionist how to order the food outside and they informed me to go to the bar to place the order. ||When placing the order the bar lady, told me that they did not deliver food outside and that if I wanted I had to go inside to collect the food and bring it outside by myself. SERIOUSLY?!||I said, no problem, when I went back to the bar, she said, Ohh on this occasion we will bring it for you, like a favor, telling me that they are understaffed, well I'm sorry but that is not my problem. ||No one came to clean our table, and the Bar Manager arrived and left the food, not even setting up the table properly, he left everything there and the drinks arrived after 5 minutes the food. ||However, there was another table with 6 people and they got properly serviced. || I spoke to the DM that day and informed him about the overall experience, for what we paid, I didn't expect a just sorry and explained that the service was not at the level and blamed the Covid years, well Covid was 4 years ago. ||Overall, Please review the standards, grooming, and service, there is no service at all, the team is not happy and has poor grooming. I'm looking forward to receiving a reply. ||||Ps. The property is beautiful, with the potential of 5 stars, but with the service you...

Disappointing stay from start to finish. This is a lovely looking property but it was shambolic and the service was baffling at best. We booked a very pricy superior room for a girls weekend. We couldn’t get through on the phone on most occasions. To make enquiries as to room or spa we were always directed to email and replies were 24 hours later at least. We should have taken this as our first warning sign that the place was not run like most hotels.

Once on site we had a lovely warm reception and our bags were taken while we went to the spa. The Themis cafe is a very sad and tired space that that felt empty and cold. We waited almost 40 minutes for some lacklustre cold food (some of it intentionally cold) and we found missing ingredients in the items; informed the menu was incorrect. We had to wolf these down to run to make a spa treatment that was booked. The spa treatment was lovely but there is no designated receptionist in that space so you sit and take a clipboard and hope someone comes to get you. We then met up in the spa for a drink. Cheapest sparking wine was £72 for an English fizz. Hugely overpriced and I felt tactical as they charged £82 for taittinger which is incomparable. So of course we went for that. I picked up the bucket and plastic glasses and saw the bill included a £10 service charge. For collecting them! I protested and it was removed. There was no service to be charging for and I felt sneaking that on the bill was just indicative of how this place works and stays afloat.

Spa had some great facilities but it was absolutely rammed and the marble floors were soaking. I fell very hard taking one step out of a steam room onto this floor - I was lucky I didn’t suffer a serious fracture.

We were told we could not drink our alcohol in the outside jacuzzi - which is fair. But then we were made to sit and inhale the smoke from the smokers puffing away. Maybe this tells you of the vibe. Coupled with lots of couples and some heavy petting, this was not really what I signed up for.

Post spa we made it to our rooms. Slightly odd that the other two girls were taken a short way and we got the 10 minute scenic route. The rooms were lovely inside. Very nicely furnished and impressive. We ordered a bucket of ice for the room and this never arrived in the hour before we left. The hair dryer in the room was a very weak one with no attachments or nozzle. We had seen Dyson ones at the spa with diffusers and I have very curly hair. I called reception and was told if I needed one like that I should go back (in the rain) and do my hair at the spa.

Down to dinner at Hillfield. Very bright and felt more like a cafe space. £450 later (for 4 of us) I’d summarise that the food was very nice but very over priced. Wine list was very limited. Service hit and miss (waiter didn’t know what he was serving and brought bread mid meal thinking we’d just ordered). Most bizarrely espresso was served almost cold - which was not surprising as it was in a huge tea cup and saucer.

Had a drink in the bar. Sadly the pianist finished as we entered. Quizzed by bar staff as to whether we were staying in a fairly accusatory way. Sadly we were indeed residents.

Beds were comfy. Room a bit hot. We were made to book breakfast at Hillfield so we were surprised to arrive and be told there was no space. There was indeed space - almost every table was empty but not cleared. We were directed to sit in the bar space; buffet in one room and table in another. It was unpleasant. As I went to settle the bill before ordering (you must do this pre 11am or one card gets charged full amount and they wouldn’t let me eat breakfast first!), my friend asked if there was an a la carte option. She was told no - just the buffet in the next room. On returning to them finishing up - I asked and was told yes - we have a menu for a la carte. Which was not on a single bar table AND my friend had asked specifically!! They’d all eaten by this point. It was the nail in the coffin.

£400+ pp without a treatment. Don’t. Just don’t. You have...

Staff- The staff were lovely, and attentive. Some of the newer staff would have benefited from from better training in the food and drink areas, but generally their lack of experience was made up for in friendliness.

Room - Well presented large suite, very clean and a huge bathroom. Comfy bed. Unfortunately the shower was barely a trickle. All but one of the 6 showers we took were like this. The toilet tissue is the value kind you get in the really cheap hotels (Ibis, Travelodge etc) One ply and definitely not the kind you expect in one of the most expensive 5 star hotels in SE England. The fridge was barely at room temperature and there was no mini bar.

Food

Breakfast - below average for the price. The hot breakfast buffet had obviously been sitting out for a while (we went at 8.30am and nothing was fresh). A very limited fresh fruit selection (Granny Smith apples and bananas only) and the fruit juices were not freshly squeezed. The toasters didn’t work properly. Had to toast one side at a time. If you order breakfast from the kitchen it’s slightly better but the ‘Hillfield Bakery’ bread was very cheap tasting. Not at all what I would expect. The coffee is borderline undrinkable. The eggs were nice and there were some interesting hot choices available.

Themis Spa cafe

I’d say this was average. I ordered Chicken Caesar and it was ok but the chicken was nearing the end of its freshness. It was tough and had a ripe tang about it…. But the leaves and dressing were good. My wife enjoyed her beetroot salad with Halloumi. Sadly the halloumi didn’t arrive but she said it was the second best thing she had in the 3 days we stayed here - second only to a bowl of chips!! The wine and champagne in Themis is also not served cold enough. We had to ask for ice to put in our drinks. The drinks on this menu are vastly overpriced. Coffee is £5.70 for a cheaply/machine made black americano - definitely not made by a trained barista.

Hillfield Restaurant

Vastly overpriced and hugely underwhelming. On both evenings we ate there the food was the incorrect temperature and a bit dry (like it had been left under the hot lamp in the kitchen too long) - with the exception of my wife’s pasta that came dripping in olive oil. My steak was cooked correctly but massively under seasoned. Even the (optional) peppercorn sauce wasn’t seasoned properly.

On the second night we opted to order our main courses from the bar menu hoping to avoid paying another 250 pounds for a below average meal. The burgers we ordered were very good (again only let down by the weird bread buns) which we left on the plate. In short I would not expect to pay these prices and for our food highlight to be a bowl of triple cooked chips. (They were very good).

Drinks

The house cocktails in the Hillfield Bar were actually fantastic. At £16.50 each they are on a price comparison to central London 5* hotels and did not disappoint. The bar staff are definitely the most skilled of the catering staff at Pennyhill Park.

However, The wine list is pitiful. Most of the wines on the list are available in high street supermarkets with no fine wines available. We ordered a very quaffable Chianti Classico but at £80 this was considerably overpriced. It was the best red wine on the list.

The Dom Perignon Champagne was £450. Again overpriced even for a 5* hotel.

Spa

The treatments and facilities in the spa are all fantastic. The staff were all great too.

The plastic candles and conference room style decor in the common areas definitely gave an air of cheapness to an otherwise classy experience.

At £140 a 1 hour massage is quite steep but we didn’t feel ripped off by this.

Lastly everything has a 10% surcharge added to it. Although this is optional it definitely feels like you are being forced into tipping.

To conclude.

This seems to be a great spa location for day guests and I would recommend it for that use only.

The idea of this being a 5* hotel in anything but facilities is laughable.

Spa 4* Food 1* Drinks 3* Room 2* Value...