Crowne Plaza Marlow Reviews 

If you want to experience bad customer service, host an event in here or stay a night and you might be lucky if the lifts don't work or the toilets don't flush. Absolutely ridiculous hotel.

Unfortunately, this hotel ruined a weekend of planned wedding celebration. Basic amenities such as electricity and water supply needed for a travelling family was lacking at critical times. The concern was that this high-priced hotel showed inefficiency and lack of leadership in managing this challenging situation. There was no update on what was going on and why we were left in the dark. I was sad to see my friend throughout the expected joyous occasion of his wedding ceremony as the hotel looked for ways to repeatedly frustrate the new couple with unexplained expenses.

PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON STAYING AT THIS HOTEL. Our party of 10 arrived 8:30pm Friday for a long overdue family catch up and were greeted by a power cut. Not the hotels fault I accept, however, the way it was dealt with was abysmal. Power came back on within minutes, however, we were unable to get into our room for another hour due to the tills not working (not very good when we had travelled for 5 hours with young children). We therefore went to the bar to get some food & drinks only to be told we could not order anything at the bar as the tills are off (they clearly hadn’t heard of using cash and a pen & paper to take orders!). It took them 45 mins to agree to using a pen and paper to take orders. When we finally got some drinks & ordered food it was nearly 10pm. At this point I took our bags to the room and came straight back to the bar to eat (I would also add 8 x cold pizzas for £160 was not good value in my eyes!). When we went to bed it was 11pm, shortly after this I turned on the TV to discover an internal crack inside it, so I decided to report this immediately to reception in case they decided to blame us for any damage. The Duty Manager on the night said thank you for the info and I went to bed thinking nothing more of it. After breakfast I was informed by Reception that we were going to be charged £450 for the damage to the TV!!! As you can imagine I was very shocked and surprised at this news given the fact I had reported it the night before for the exact opposite reason! Speaking with the Hotel Manager later (*name asked to be removed by Crown Plaza hotel) I found him to be patronizing, intimidating and rude to myself and other members of our party. He clearly had no interest in what I had to say and was very robotic in his response. He said if we do not pay the damage now we had to leave the hotel IMMEADIATLEY with no refund for the nights stay. We were given only 10 minutes to make a decision. At 2pm on a Sat afternoon in Marlow, with a party of 10 people (2 of our children having autism who could not deal with a change of location at short notice), I felt we had no option but to pay the charge under duress and intimidation by the management as we had very little other options available. The manager even stood over me whilst I entered my pin number to make sure I did it. I have honestly never experienced anything like it. Absolutely astonishing. This has left us out of pocket by £450 and also extremely anxious about staying in any hotel (let alone a Crown Plaza) in the future given what we now know could happen to an innocent person trying to do the right thing. I sincerely hope this review and its comments are taken on board by the hotel (which is franchised by Meridian Marlow Limited, operating under the Crown Plaza name), and that this may stop anything like this happening to anyone at this hotel again.

I booked via BuyAGift for a spa with afternoon tea. Firstly they’re IMPOSSIBLE to get hold on via telephone, they rarely respond to emails - seems more like when they can be bothered they’ll respond.

They booked us in for treatments on the wrong date, stated they sent two emails confirmations - never of which I received! They then basically washed their hands of me and my voucher when they didn’t bother to reply back to my cancellation email which was within the timeframe allowed and now won’t rebook us.

They have forgotten that the voucher is valid for 12 months - of which will be up in July 2022 it’s now June 2022 by my cancellations that’s still within 12 months! Also with being in the middle of a pandemic you’d have thought they’d have been more accommodating.

DO NOT BOOK PLEASE!

I am in the process of contacting the Ombudsman regarding this issue.

Staff welcoming and hotel rooms superby however the food was rubbish and under staffed. They took my £10 after check out drdpite telling me everything was okai. I did not order anything outside my package but still ripped me of my money. I contactrd the front drsk staff and the lady i spoke to was rude and she endrd up the call while i was still talking and asking her how i could claimy money back. Most surprising when i checked out everything was fine and just to realise today they took £10 eith no explanatio or email to discuss. I feel thats stealing from customers as they hold card details when checking in and also this udea of holding £100 at chrck in is not fair as the money will be released back after 4 days putting guests at risk if you jave payments coming out. My stay was from 27th -29th May 2022. We waited for dinner from 1930hrs and we were served at 2145hrs with no spology and above all ripping me of my £10 with no explanation

Booked a club room with dinner bed and breakfast for £250. Arrived to find out there was no club lounge. The person checking us in refused to acknowledge that we had paid for club and blamed us for not reading their website properly (our booking actually said executive room with lounge access!!)

The bathroom was filthy

The spa decided to move our appointments by two hours without telling us.

The spa treatments we did manage to get were appalling. The worst o I have ever experienced.

The dinner provided was a set menu. Limited choice and very dry foods.

We will NOT be returning. We tried to speak to the manager but he did not care.

We were gifted a Buy A Gift hotel stay at Christmas. We booked a one night stay at The Crowne Plaza Marlow with 3 course meal and breakfast and paid an extra £55.00 towards our stay for the meal and breakfast. We made the booking directly via the buy a gift website in January for our stay in April. and were sent a booking confirmation. At no point during the booking or after were we ever told to contact the hotel directly.

Upon arrival at the hotel we were told we did not have a booking. The man at reception told me that I had not booked correctly as the voucher had to be redeemed by the hotel directly. I have since spoken to Buy a Gift and confirmed that this is not the case and that the booking from the buy a gift website should have gone through directly to the hotel.
After a few minutes the man at reception took my phone with the reservation confirmation behind the desk to another room to “check” it. He came back and confirmed that I didn’t have a booking on their system. He asked me to check my name again and then told me that Buy a Gift had put my name in the wrong way around, confirming that I did indeed have a reservation and that I did not have to contact the hotel directly to book.

To his credit, we were upgraded to a king room & he was very pleasant about it.

The room itself was lovely. I could not fault the room in any way.

The restaurant and our meal however did not meet our expectations. Again, the restaurant did not have our reservation despite being shown the Glaze Restaurant reservation confirmation email. Never the less we were seated by a very helpful young woman who was lovely. Service was quite slow despite the restaurant not being particularly busy. The food was quite good, apart from the curry and we did wait approx 40 mins between mains and desserts as nobody bothered to take our order until we managed to get someone’s attention.

However, our entire dining experience was overshadowed by a very rude and visibly angry member of staff. We can only assume the lady was a manager as she was dressed in a suit unlike the waiting staff. During our 2+ hours in the restaurant, we saw her throw a high chair, be rude to other staff and to customers, slam things down on tables and was generally in a terrible mood the whole time. It has created quite an atmosphere which was very unpleasant.

When we were leaving, the nice girl at the restaurant reception asked us if we had signed anything (we hadn’t seen anyone else sign anything at all). She then went to get the manager, unfortunately for us and her, it was the very unhappy lady who had thrown the high chair. This lady then proceeded to be incredibly rude to the waitress in front of us, which was very uncomfortable - despite the waitress not doing anything wrong. I have never witnessed such a terrible attitude and service from someone in hospitality before and hope I never do again.

We even skipped breakfast to avoid a repeat of the night before.

Such a shame as the hotel itself and the rest of the staff were great, but I can’t say we’d go back after experiencing the “management”.

Excellent two day break. Cannot recognise earlier negative reviews as our stay was faultless. Superb receptionists, excellent restaurant (especially Julie) and fine wellness centre (especially Charlie and the therapists) Rooms were spacious and it seemed to us excellent value for money Will certainly stay there again

I would like to give this hotel a zero star but it is not possible.
This must be the worst IHG hotel.
do not stay there if you have a choice and if you must go to marlow for food as the expensive food they sell you is probably frozen food from iceland supermarket.
be careful with billing take a picture of anything you sign for in the dinning room as something fishy is going on there also insist on seeing the drinks menu as they try to hide that from you.

Started the day by checking in at the advised time of 3pm. The info said before we arrived we would be charged a £50 holding deposit for every night we stayed. We only stayed for 1 night but that was doubled to £100 which had apparently been decided the day before? My wife had 2 treatments, both were interrupted by noisy guests right outside of the relaxing spa area? And to make matters worse; the 25 min treatments only lasted 15 mins each! There was dirty plates and empty bottles in the hallways for hours that were cleared up LOUDLY at nearly midnight! We have photos and videos to prove this. I asked the person cleaning up if it had to be done so loudly and why was it being done so late when they had sat there all day. His response was a shoulder shrug. And the “Award winning restaurant” was a horrendous experience, we could see that other guests were noticeably aggravated by how long it was taking to receive their meals and it was no different for us, which came as a shock as the restaurant was hardly busy! We received a pitiful amount of bread in our basket, enough that it wouldn’t have been able to fill up a hamster. Our starters and mains were cold, tiny portions and not at all as described in the menus. They were also out of olives (which of course we was still charged for). Bar staff were rude and unhelpful. When it came to breakfast, finally we were nearing the end of our stay, we thought, how could they possibly ruin breakfast for us? Well, again, rude staff and dirty plates for us to eat of off and no glasses to be seen for us to get a drink. I have never had to leave a bad review in my life but this trip angered me so much. Please do not use this place. Save your money or go elsewhere. I wish I could give it 0 stars

Please avoid this place at all costs!

Went for a spa day and to cut a long story short, it was disgusting and unacceptable. The management are rude and try to blame their customers for their mistakes - which is laughable looking at all the other reviews, embarrassing!

Do not waste your time here.

Worst experience ever. Rude staff. Rude management. Pressured by Crowne Plaza Marlow to change this bad review. Shocking.

The front of house manager are very rude. They were rude to us on check-in and we observed that they were rude to all the guests who approached the front desk.

The front of house manager asked for a £100 deposit on check-in. They said that this was for any incidental expenses like breakfast and dinner. We paid the £100 deposit and obtained a receipt.

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant that night. The bill came to £50. The restaurant asked for payment. We asked them to deduct £50 from our £100 deposit. The restaurant manager screamed and shouted at us.

We went for breakfast the next morning. The breakfast bill came to £30. Again we asked them to deduct it from our £100 deposit. The restaurant manager screamed and shouted at us.

We paid £100 deposit on check-in. This should have been returned to us on checkout. The police were called as a last resort when the front of house manager effectively stole our deposit and refused to return it.

A complaint was submitted to ihg about the behaviour of their staff and this complaint has been completely ignored.

I've just seen that Crowne Plaza don't even acknowledge these reviews, which shows they don't care about their customers. I've had very poor service two years on the trot now trying to book a buyagift spa experience. They don't reply to emails, you can't get hold of them on the phone and if you do they're rude.

I’d give a minus score but unfortunately that isn’t allowed!
I have now emailed 3 times regarding a complaint for a stay in early December and still not had a response.

We had a bad experience at the Marlow hotel.
The check in agent was rude, no room service after 6pm and no space for residents to dine in the bar and restaurant, filthy swimming pool and definitely not a covid secure area.
Told if we wanted to eat ‘just go to town’.

Room service pre 6pm arrived with no cutlery, food was cold and when we asked for cutlery it took 25 mins so our food was inedible.
It took 28 mins of trying to order our food - and then we gave up and rang reception from our mobile.

And after all of our complaints still no response from the Hotel.

Will never recommend and will never go again. Disgusting.

VERY POOR SERVICE!
I had a reservation with treatment for two on 27-28th December as a birthday gift to my wife, with the treatment booked for 27th evening, at 17:30 and 18:00 respectively. Upon arrival we were told that our spa/treatment was actually scheduled on the evening of 28th, 6 hours after the checkout. Unlike the booking confirmation, the spa have never sent us any email with the date of the treatment, so we could not uncover the issue before we checked in the hotel. Booking the treatment on the 28th evening was absolute nonsense since the person who made the booking over the phone knew we were only staying for a night, very poor communication between the spa and reservation team.

We have talked to the spa staff and the receptionist, and both told us that the spa was fully booked and there was nothing they could do. If we wanted to get the treatment, which had already been paid for, we would have to stay in the hotel for hours after the checked out. This was not an option for us as we had plans in London.

Absolutely The most atrocious customer services I have ever experienced. I will now never use the Crowne Plaza group again in any capacity and possibly anything associated with the ihg group. I wouldn't bother escalating either as it appears the management don't care either. Excellent at taking your cash but not great on service.

I received a voicemail this evening cancelling my weekend Booking at the Crowne Plaza Marlow, only giving me 5 days notice because they had an ‘exclusive booking’ which probably meant a wedding or an event bringing in more customers and could no longer honour my booking. I am highly disappointed and was so looking forward to staying at the Crowne Plaza for 2 nights with an afternoon tea, as this was booked months and months ago in August, and I had a baby in April so this was my holiday after the pandemic and having a traumatic pregnancy as well as celebrating my birthday early - 1 Dec as my husband is a HGV driver and not allowed to take any annual leave on Saturdays or at all coming up to Christmas!

My husband is a HGV driver and cannot take any Saturdays off due to the amount of Polish & Romanian truck drivers returning home. So we were told by 2 different colleagues, 1 Manager, that we can come on a Sunday & Monday due to the weeks always being fully booked anyway and my husband a HGV driver Sunday’s & Monday’s are his day off. He just booked Tuesday off as annual leave.
Not to mention we were coming to stay from Reading, as my Mom lives in High Wycombe.

The lady who left a voicemail was quite abrupt and not polite when cancelling, said she gave me enough notice of 7 days, which I informed her no she hasn’t today is Monday evening and so that’s only 5 days notice! She also told me no males work in her department, and I said 2 male colleagues one including a Manager confirmed that it was fine to come on a Sunday & Monday due to the weeks being fully booked and accepted that my husband works long hours on Fridays & Saturdays and can’t get weekends off.

I am thoroughly disappointed as my husband works 70* hours a week and we hardly see him, and it’s my Birthday 1st December so this was my celebration as the Transport Manager doesn’t allow any annual leave to be taken on Saturdays and exclusively not in December!

Trying to get through to them on the phone is a nightmare as no one answers! When I finally got through one particular Receptionist was very unhelpful and tried to argue with me that she hadn't taken my phone number down wrong - even though she read it out wrong to me and I corrected her! After this happened I asked if her colleague could call me back so I could go through some things before booking. This never happened so therefore they've lost my custom!

I read the reviews on this site the night before arrival and was horrified however, that is not the experience I have had with my friends. There are four well travelled adults in our party, one owns a hotel, so this is an honest review.
All the reception staff (Sid + Arif) have been exceptionally helpful throughout our stay.
The spa/gym reception has answered numerous queries, refreshed our robes and sorted our treatments efficiently.
The body massage from masseuse, Sonyia, was second to none. I so wish I lived closer!
The bedroom is tastefully decorated, well designed, with all the necessary amenities and a really comfy bed.
Breakfast was plentiful and tasty. We chose the lakeside view glass extension over the restaurant.
Outside, the hotel architecture may not be to everyone's taste but the internal decor and amenities more than make up for this.
I have no idea how our experience can differ so greatly from the other reviews, and TBH we are reasonably fussy and demanding.
Let's face it, the staff shortages across the hospitality sector since Covid have put such pressure on the remaining staff. This impacted us on booking and was quite frustrating prior to arrival when I wanted to make a change. That said, I have not been disappointed since and am very happy sitting in the spa compelled to write this and thank all the staff for making this a happy staycation break. 👋

The visit to the Spa was extremely disappointing. We bought the Groupon special which consisted of spa day, treatment and lunch. All was pre-booked. The Spa was very disappointing. We arrived about midday and there were no seats available. The jacuzzi was not working and the staff were not very helpful. We were about to leave when we acquired some seats. The treatment was cancelled as we did not want a male masseur. We were told very abruptly that it clearly states on the website that you have to let them know if you have a preference for a female. The food was completely different to the menu shown on booking and we were sat on tables set up in the bar. The staff in the Spa we’re extremely rude and unhelpful. We left early and will never go there again. Definitely not worth it.