Mottram Hall – Cheshire

We were visiting family nearby so Mottram Hall seemed ideal.

The price for B & B for a Friday night was very good.

I had stayed before and vowed never to stay again, This time I mean it.

Our room was far from reception which meant dragging suitcases up a steep flight of stairs then down another set.

The room and bathroom were adequate, nothing fancy. Breakfast was a farce as we were encouraged to have room service because the restaurant could not cope .

We had to order to eat before 8.30 to avoid being charged for room service. The meal came late and was cold. Just poor all round and not deserving of 4 stars.

I have stayed at Mottram Hall since the 1950s!!!! We used to visit as a family, when it was privately owned. Since then, I have returned occasionally for memorable stays and we had a beautiful wedding reception here in 1983.

We were utterly appalled at the behaviour of the wedding guests in the main areas of the hotel on the Friday night. Our relief was great when we realised that our room probably would be well away from the celebrations. When we flew in from a holiday abroad on Friday night, we went for a pre-dinner drink in the Champagne Bar, which has always been a pleasant experience. We could not stay; it was horrendous: guests SHOUTING to each other in conversation, as they were so drunk. We left promptly and had a drink in the restaurant, not what we’d planned.

We know you can’t vet guests, but this was not the only incident. We’d been travelling all day and were tired and between 1 and 3 a.m. in the morning, some guests awoke us. It was disgusting. They were shouting in the corridor and every other word was the F word, he called her a “tramp”, etc., etc. I have never experienced anything like this. My husband doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to Mottram Hall and he is not inclined to stay again, sadly.

We expressed our disapproval as we checked out, having heard others complain. The lady at the desk seemed apologetic and did knock a little off our bill, explaining that the hotel is quieter between November and February!!!

This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend before we returned to work the following day.

We have told many people about this. We paid a lot of money and came away with a very poor opinion of the place.

Visited for a two-day golf break on 24th\25th Sept. No issues on Sunday, enjoyable, well-presented golf course and decent enough hotel as you would expect from the Q Hotels chain. Experienced some good service from pleasant staff in the Claret Jug and Champagne Bar in the afternoon and evening.

Unfortunately, our break was marred by the extremely poor way we were treated prior to our Monday morning round of golf. We’d pre-booked and confirmed 8 golf buggies for both the Sunday and Monday rounds, no issue on Sunday however on Monday our booking had mysteriously “disappeared” from their systems despite our organiser having proof of the booking.

No coincidence that a corporate golf event was taking place also and had booked out almost their entire fleet of buggies? It was bad enough that they had either double booked or simply discarded us in favour of a larger corporate booking but to refuse to admit fault and fob us off with an obvious lie was frankly atrocious. That WE had to suggest to them that they might like to provide us with some trolleys free of charge to make up for their error shows how poor their customer service is.

All this delayed our tee off times, we ended up having to rush, some of our party (who genuinely need buggies) were unable to complete their rounds and they whole experience left a very sour taste. It appears they are not interested in customer service or reputation.

There were 19 in our party, we’d paid for the golf, hotel bed, breakfast and evening meal and spent a considerable sum between us in the bar on the Sunday evening but apparently, that is not enough when a large corporate rolls up. To be treated like 2nd class citizens and fobbed off with unbelievable excuses is unforgivable and for that reason, Mottram Hall won’t be getting any future business from us.

Attended with friends for a treat… and a treat you’ll get! That is of course if you like your spa experiences peppered with sopping wet towels, dirty floors and cramped facilities.

Of course, it’s a given if you’re going to attend a spa in conjunction with a hotel then expect the facilities to be used by hotel guests too. If you’re hoping for any sort of exclusivity with your spa experience at Mottram Hall I’d consider better ways to spend your money…. look for strictly spas.

Arrived on time, the reception was welcoming enough and were given a briefing for the day with spa robes and slippers… however was also informed that “unfortunately a lot of the lockers aren’t working so you’ll have to look around”…. not a good first impression but at least they were honest.

Changed after finding a working locker and headed to the pool earlier. 10:30am and all beds were occupied/reserved with towels and a lot of kids running around and diving in. Absolutely no problem with kids but if I’ve paid to relax it’s difficult when you’re sitting amongst a crèche. With the added gym users and spa / hotel guests there wasn’t anywhere we could really relax. Also, THE POOL IS FREEZING and at most waist deep.

Paintwork looked tired and neglected and just didn’t feel like a high-end spa like you’d expect to be reflected in the price you pay.

The outdoor jacuzzi was lovely (when we finally got a turn) as the sun was out…however, noticed that there were several broken outdoor beds.

Managed to pop up for a ‘light lunch’ provided with the package.
I emphasise the word LIGHT.
Soup cold meats and bread are on offer with some sort of pasta.
Staff at the grill restaurant were extremely pleasant and we didn’t have to wait for our drinks order long.

Our spa treatments were good but the girls’ Diaries are clearly packed out. One therapist had her coat on ready to go home but was still seeing to a guest at the spa reception? Doesn’t scream professional.

My facial felt rough and rushed and I’ve had a lot of spa facials but I sensed the staff were under a lot of pressure that day.

I will say I had to pop to the main reception at the end of the day and they were most helpful.

I felt so disappointed that I couldn’t write a better review for this hotel as in terms of value for money this really falls short. I’ve more than likely been spoilt with my other spa experiences and this has been underwhelming in comparison.

To summarise:

Staff looked scruffy and didn’t seem to have a clue. One guy didn’t even acknowledge us while he just stood behind the bar doing nothing.

During lunch we asked for a pot of tea, yes, that’s all we got… No cups or milk… it took him 3 attempts to bring everything out.

Breakfast was just a disaster! Surely a chef can make a poached egg… No not at Mottram Hall. Must have got to 4th time lucky and the waitress realised he was using white wine vinegar which made the eggs taste of vinegar. Eventually, we were served our hard poached eggs after 1 HR!

Hard raw tasteless potatoes served for a main course. Chef claimed he had served them all night and had no problems, when he tried mine, he accepted they were raw.

We did receive complimentary glasses of Prosecco which we didn’t particularly want and the waiter then went on to try charge us for them.

I’ve stayed a few times before and it has been just perfect, I believe that since it changed from a De Vere to a Q Hotel it’s gone downhill.

My friend has written a complaint and we just never received a reply, this just summed it up really. I, therefore, will not be recommending Mottram Hall to anyone.

Celebrating my husband birthday, we thought special occasion, a special treat.

Unfortunately, we were disappointed on many levels. The De Vere sent an automated questionnaire and we were honest with our responses, even requesting a call back to discuss our concerns from the hotel. Our comments obviously did not give them cause for concern as no one has been in touch.

Finally, I would like to say Mottram Hall is the only hotel I have ever complained about.

My friend booked us into the hotel as a treat after a long journey attending a wedding on Saturday 14/06/2014.

He booked two of the hotels rooms. One room was ready on our arrival but we had to wait for the other to become available and cleaned, which wasn’t a problem as we enjoyed some drinks in the bar whilst waiting. We had rooms on either wing side of the hotel, my room was at the front overlooking the golf course and theirs was to the rear overlooking the pond.

I’m afraid I had to visit reception about my room, as the tea/coffee hadn’t been replenished from the previous guest and the wardrobe contained stained/dirty and obviously used complementary robes and slippers.

So very disappointed especially as we had waited for this room to be cleaned and prepped. The receptionist was very apologetic and robes/slippers were delivered after about an hour, as were the replenishments for the tea/coffee BUT they didn’t supply the ‘Starbucks’ pods or ‘Starbucks’ hot chocolate.

The room was very hot and with no air conditioning, the only option was to open the window, which didn’t help. Also being at the front of the hotel the noise was awful from guests returning back to the hotel bar after The Claret Jug had closed and then early in the morning all you have is the noise from the traffic of people departing early/deliveries and the golf buggies.

We also had rowdy guests from a wedding that was in the hotel singing, shouting and knocking the bedroom doors from 2am til 3.30am, with NO response from phoning reception, another male guest had to request them to be quiet and return to their rooms.

As a female guest staying in the room on my own, it did worry me that I couldn’t get hold of reception for any assistance. So all in all, not a good nights sleep and not a good stay at all.

I did inform reception of the problems I had had but apart from a quick polite apology, the reception staff were very busy checking people out and booking in arrivals. What had been a nice treat from friends turning into a disappointing stay.

I’m afraid I REALLY wouldn’t recommend Mottram Hall and would be dubious of booking with a De Vere hotel again.

We recently had a christening celebration at De Vere Mottram Hall, in Mottram St Andrew.

We live in neighbouring Alderley Edge and we’re very familiar with the venue, although, to date, we’ve only used their hotel and gym facilities. Now don’t get me wrong, the place is pretty spectacular and the drive up to the main building boasts a pretty impressive facade on approach. Unfortunately, the experience we had there with our christening party fell well short of our expectations and most certainly so in relation to the food/drinks aspect.

The staff were professional looking and polite, lovely people, but didn’t know what to do, what to look out for and how to serve. I found myself having to look out for them on a number of occasions and having to prompt them to attend to certain guests for various needs. I’m not in the hospitality business but it seemed I could certainly show them a thing or two when it comes service.

They didn’t even know to take guests coats and when glasses were repeatedly left empty for some considerable time throughout the day I, once again, found myself having to prompt the staff, whilst they stood chatting to each other. I was constantly on edge and on the lookout for the staff’s recurring shortfalls. At one point, I again asked them to refill the glasses and they informed me that our quota had run out! I obviously increased the number of bottles required immediately, but they should have been monitoring the bottle numbers and should have kept me informed well in advance of simply stopping to serve without notice.

What makes my complaint difficult is that they were lovely people, very nice and presentable, but just had little idea how to serve. We had a buffet meal for around 50 guests and at £20 or so per head, the price was a little on the high side for the menu we were given but the timing of how it was served was the most disappointing aspect of the whole day and left me embarrassed, to say the least.

The food started to arrive and I held back to let my family and guests serve themselves. The best I could say was the food was very average and some of the chicken dishes dry. Within 10-15min of the food being served, my wife informed me that the food was running out! I looked across and people were, what looked to be, scavenging the remains of a well underestimated table of leftovers! I was mortified!! I’ll mention that there were no plates piled high with food and, in fact, everyone politely took very little, as it was clearly evident how little had been provided. I then approached the lady who seemed to be orchestrating things and said ”there is more food isnt there?” she replied, ”yes, yes, we’re just waiting for it to arrive from the kitchen”.

However, by this time, most guests seemed resigned to the fact that there was no more and it was over and finished whatever morsel they’d managed to salvage from the remains, or worse still, missed out on a meal altogether!! I was so embarrassed. In fact, I suspect that, had we not asked, no further food would have been brought, which gave us the feeling that we were receiving extremely poor value for money and left nothing more than a bitter taste in our mouths. When the 2nd phase of food did eventually arrived, hardly anyone got up to get food as the ‘time to get food moment’ was well past.

To add insult to injury, the 2nd ‘lot’ of food was left out for a very minimal period of time before it was cleared away and never to be seen again. I only noticed this as I was going to announce to people to help themselves to the buffet for a 2nd serving, before noticing it had already been cleared away. Sorry Mottram Hall, really dissapointed and embarrassed – especially on an occasion that can never be repeated on our sons christening.

Don’t be won over by appearances. De Vere Mottram Hall cannot do or say anything that could come anywhere near rectifying our disappointment. Don’t risk your or your family’s once in a lifetime experience!!