The Chesterton Hotel — Restaurant in Cherwell District

I booked the venue for my daughters wedding in May 2023. The whole experience was very stressful for my daughter.

I had agreed everything with the hotel owner (room rates, cost of soft drinks, etc). We booked out all the rooms at the hotel and had told our guests the agreed room rates. Luckily I had emails to prove that but did not expect that I would have to prove anything the day before as I had been in contact with the events manager.

Things started going wrong a week before the wedding when I realised the communication was very poor. I’d phone the events manager and leave messages, which were not returned. I’d email her and the response was poor to say the least. I was also told by the events manager that they did not sell wine by the bottle so I could not leave bottles on the table for our guests!! Never heard that one before. Clearly the owners wanted to make extra money by charging per glass !!

The whole plan for the day was sent to the events manager, including list of suppliers, and their time of arrival.

We arrived one day before the wedding to sort out any last minute things and then relax before the big day. Little did I know that things would go from bad to worse.

Upon arrival the hotel charged my daughters card for a different amount to that agreed and stated that breakfast would be extra. They also stated that there would be no breakfast available the day after the wedding as there would be no chef on premises !! They apparently did not have the details of the events timings and when the suppliers would be turning up. I was also told that the events manager would be there to see me and resolve the matter. Sadly the events manager had left to go home at 3pm. She was also not reachable by phone.

Imagine my horror and how would I explain to my guests that there would be no breakfast for them the day after the wedding.

Instead of relaxing and getting those little things perfect for my daughter, I ended up searching through my emails to find the communications and agreed pricing as well as the timeline of supplier arrivals. I eventually found the emails and forwarded to the events manager who then contacted the appropriate staff to get this in place.

Just when I thought things were resolved. One more thing went wrong. We had an open bar and had set a limit on the spend. I noticed that when guests ordered drinks the charges were a lot higher than the events menu prices. This is dishonesty and appalling behaviour for a hotel. I wonder how many celebrations booked at the hotel have been overcharged like this ??

To top it all off we did not receive a single apology from the hotel.

For anyone looking to book the hotel venue for any celebrations be warned. I would definitely give it less than 1 start rating for the undue...

Booked this from trip advisor reviews and price was competitive.First impressions were very good (location and building is beautiful) but when you look a bit closer you realize it’s sadly all a bit of a veneer. Very overpowering fragrance in reception- astroturf badly laid everywhere. No problem with noise but o think we were the only ones there along with another couple. The lady with blonde hair was lovely, very hospitable -|(Wish she had been there for breakfast) we had a starter and some masala chips which were very nice & sitting under the pergola was perfect (with very effective heaters) music was good too ! Room was spacious and I was impressed to get a superking size bed (but it was very uncomfortable partner and I hardly slept, only thin flat sheets instead of fitted were used over mattress and these came off with minimal movement 😳) bathroom is dated broken regaled tiles, loose tap heads,and no heat control on fixed overhead shower. Toilet seat cheapest thin and unable to sit on it without it slipping and having toilet roll holder pushing into your upper arm . Only place to put toiletries is on a narrow glass sloped shelf over the toilet which doesn’t fill you with confidence 😂 .Breakfast for me was poor, husband said cooked option was good but I didn’t fancy that after no sleep . One small bowl of uncovered chopped fruit for us to help ourselves to ? Whole fruits surely would be so easy for us to take and would last better ?A couple of yoghurts bit of ham..and no nice pastries Communication was poor with waitress she didn’t understand my question about bread type as I can’t eat granary (assured me it was just normal brown then proceeded to bring me granary) also only spread is anchor butter absolutely no alternative.. waitress was questioning why I expected a small jug of milk with my pot of tea gesturing me to use the one bottle of milk that was by the cereals on the communal table even though I was sat trying to eat my breakfast. After i justified it wasn’t fair to expect me to have to keep going up and down to the communal bottle she finally bought me a small jug (the same as what my husband had been given with his coffee ??) I certainly wouldn’t be paying £16.99 for the breakfast if it wasnt included in room rate thankfully I realised I had a banana in the car so went and got that . It was for me the worst breakfast I have ever had but for my husband he rated it very good for cooked option. Please look at these small changes that could make for this to be a regular choice for us . Communication for front of house staff and some flexibility for vegetarian breakfast is key (I’m not vegetarian or celiac vegan etc but I know a lot of people now are and expect to be...

We stayed here on Friday 10th November 2023 for 1x night. The neighbouring room to ours was playing music until the early hours of the morning, which prevented us from getting any sleep. We rung the hotel reception at the time at 1am and 1:20am to report the issue, but the music continued. I emailed reception at 1:30am to report that despite both my phone calls, the music was still playing. The music continued for several more hours and started again about 9am. Upon checking out I was informed by the receptionist that they had received my email following my phonecalls and acknowledged my complaint. She said they had tried ringing their phone and knocking on the door, however there was no answer. I heard their phone ring so am aware this is true. However, despite being told we would be contacted after the receptionist had discussed the issue with her manager, we have not heard anything. I chased via email during the week and still have not received a response from the hotel. I have given the hotel a chance to resolve this issue - both at the time of the complaint, but they were unable to stop the music - and it's now been over a week since we checked out. I expect to receive our money back, and if anything, the neighbouring room should be billed for this. We paid to stay at this hotel to sleep for the night, however, we were unable to get any sleep. I appreciate the selfish people next door did not respond to the phonecall or knocking by hotel staff, but this is not our problem. We were guests in your hotel and as an establishment you should be taking responsibility for this and compensating us accordingly. I have given ample opportunity before writing this review, to give you a chance to contact us and address the issue. Unfortunately this highlights the poor customer service and greed by this hotel. Next time we visit Bicester Village, we shall not be staying here due the your lack of response so far. In addition, when we went for breakfast the following day, we had to wait an hour and a half for our breakfast to arrive which set us back significantly for the rest of our day. Despite ordering before other tables, they received their meals first and the kitchen had clearly forgotten about us. We received no apology upon check-out but as we were assured we would be hearing from them about our noise complaint, so we assumed we may receive an apology then. There were no blinds in the dining room so our table and other tables were having to move due to being blinded by the sun. We continue to await your response and receive our...