Champneys Forest Mere

Comentarios destacados

• Davina W

  12 diciembre 2020
  And relax

  I'm not a spa person, but this year I just needed a break. This visit has made me a convert. The covid precautions are very well executed here. It took a while to notice that high-contact things weren't in the room such as an alarm clock or pen. There are lots of reminders around the building and the facilities are well managed to keep people distanced. As for the facilities, I think these are what made the trip for me, more than the treatments. An ice-room, salt-water steam room, outdoor jacuzzi, but best of all heated water beds. I couldn't get myself out of them. I didnt want to. As a guest you get free access to PressReader app with 100s of magazines to read. That kept me occupied. The staff were lovely. The food was surprisingly good and any supplements were reasonably charged. I would note that water fountains aren't operating, so bring your own refillable bottle to fill up at drinking water taps. The WiFi is good in public areas but a bit patchy in the bedroom, at least when I stayed (it kept dropping out). I was pleased id downloaded some programmes to watch to avoid frustration. I stayed 1 night and wish I'd booked 2. I will be returning.

  

• 435lucindas

  15 diciembre 2020
  Massively let down by the food

  We visited for a 2 night stay through vitality - this meant we got 75% off the normal rate with our life insurance. For what we paid we were happy enough but would have been incredibly disappointed if we had paid full price to stay here. The main issue being the food. The hotel itself is lovely. The grounds are beautiful and probably the best thing that Forest Mere has to offer. Room was nice - we had a superior double. Bed was super comfy and I had the best nights sleep Id had in ages. Spa facilities were lovely but unfortunately FAR too busy. When booking we were told we would have to book 45 min slots to use the pool area which we were happy with as it would have meant we felt safe under the current circumstances with Covid. Unfortunately the lady at the spa desk in charge of booking sessions was telling everyone not to bother and that its fine to just go in whenever we wanted. This then meant the spa was so crowded that social distancing was impossible, you couldnt sit down and relax in there and you were constantly queuing to use anything like the steam room, jacuzzi etc which was all correctly limited to one household at a time. The sauna was also out of order at the time of our visit. Then came the food. A very limited menu each night. A lot of dishes came out not as described on the menu. Each mealtime there was also something theyd run out of, limiting the menu even more. The food itself wasnt of great quality, lacking flavour and rarely hot when it came out. All of the puddings were also pre plated and all served cold when some of them definitely shouldnt have been. If you wanted anything remotely interesting then there was an extra charge on half the items on the menu. All of the cooked breakfast options on the menu were also chargeable which is poor when you consider how much you are paying to stay there and all of your meals are supposedly included. Im not really sure what you are paying for?! They would be better reducing the cost of the stay and then just charging for the meals separately if this meant they could then improve the standard. I have included a photo of the cheese and meat platter that I was received for breakfast that I would have been embarrassed to serve... the service was also not great. I dont know if they have reduced staff due to covid, but we were waiting 30 mins before even being offered a drink and this was after we managed to grab someones attention. Perhaps not the place to come if you are a foody. All in all, it was nice to get away for a break after so long, but the hotel is sadly not up to the standard it should be. I would recommend only staying here if you get a reduced rate.

  

• Marialena_uk

  21 diciembre 2020
  Pleasantly surprised

  This was my 5th visit to a Champneys resort and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised I think Forest Mere is their nicest spa (among Springs, Tring, Henlow). This visit was originally booked for July but with COVID we had to reschedule to November and then December. One of the things Ive always found horrible at Champneys was the food. Well, I was quite happy with it this time. Lunch and dinner had a good choice of meals and really tasty. I was also really happy with the vegan ice cream and sorbet options. I have ibs and I really miss having ice cream due to being unable to eat milk and cream. Well, my go to pudding was vegan chocolate and orange sorbet twice a day for 2 days. Service was great and definitely a big improvement since my last visit in forest mere in July 2019. Harriet was extremely attentive and made sure to talk to the kitchen to make amendments so that they could provide me with meals suitable for my ibs. Also Dora was extremely polite and attentive. On the negatives now, the breakfast was truly a joke. I provide more variety at my house than they provide there. I was always unhappy with their before COVID breakfast but at least they provided butter, decent jams, but butters and boiled eggs. However now they only provide very limited choice and you have to pay for any eggs. The cheese and meat platter was a joke. With 2 cm length and 0.5 cm thickness of 3 cheeses and a quarter of a slice of turkey. That was the only protein option. They would run out of half the options by midway through the breakfast and no nut butters or anything. The facilities were nice and mostly well kept. The sauna was closed unfortunately so had to use the one in the changing room which only allowed 1 person in so always had to wait. I was also pleasantly surprised to see notes left on relaxation beds asking people to not reserve beds and letting them know where to collect their towels from. As a suggestion, they leave towels in our rooms to use around the spa and if you need to swap them during the day you can do so at the reception. The reception was always busy and we had to queue all the time. Why dont you leave towels at the gym/spa reception as it would be so much easier. In terms of social distancing. They could make some improvements. People were not wearing masks unfortunately. Management should get someone to stay in the pool area to enforce the measures. The treatments that were part of our package were really good and just what we needed during these stressful times. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and looking forward to come back. It would be a 5/5 if the above were improved.

  

• 630alexb

  21 diciembre 2020
  Not what wed hoped for!

  We booked this trip through with a discount from a Health Insurance policy, but even with 75% off it was still not worth the money! The building and setting looks impressive at a glance from the outside, but a closer look at the cracking paint on the window frames should give you a good indication of whats inside. We booked a superior double and got two twin beds put next to each other, not even joined and fastened. The bathroom was of very low standard, with a rusty shower curtain rail and old curtain across the bath, discoloured and very tired, worn sink and taps and generally very grubby. The beds were the hardest and most uncomfortable Ive slept in a good number of years. The dinner was well below the standard I would expect. At breakfast I requested to take it back to my room in the interests of COVID safety. I was told I would need to order it there and wait for it to arrive before I could take away as room service couldnt be offered. I was then gestured to sit in a busy restaurant and wait for the order to come, less than 1m from another couple. Zero awareness of precaution of COVID demonstrated despite my reasons for wanting to take the meal away in the first place. I asked the waiter if I could sit on a sofa opposite the restaurant instead in order to distance from other guests, were I then sat for 20 mins being ingnored before I went back in to chase a waiter to take my order. 10 mins later, half the breakfast order arrived. Another 15 mins later I chase the waiter again, 10 mins later some more breakfast arrived and I was finally able to take it away to my room. The food itself was unsurprisingly mediocre at best. The so called continental platter was three small pieces of cheese and a thin, unfortunate looking piece of ham. Hilariously the coffee was offered with sweetener instead of sugar, which considering how loaded with the sugar the chocolate mouse in the dinner had been, seemed like a token nod towards the healthy approach the hotel is supposedly adopting. We decided the lunch wasnt worth waiting for so had a stroll around the grounds (which were actually very picturesque!) and left, though not before buying an over priced, cheap tasting coffee to takeaway! Having slept very badly and feeling tired the next day, it was hard us to get our head around the fact we had paid for and attended the hotel for our own pleasure. Ive stayed in budget travel lodge rooms that were cleaner and more comfortable. Quite simply I would not recommend.

  

• Telford C

  23 diciembre 2020
  A much-needed break

  So lovely to be at Forest Mere again, it really is my happy place. I really enjoyed the classes I took, who knew hula hooping was so tiring! I really appreciated the extra C-19 precautions, I felt really safe.