Crowne Plaza Marlow Reviews 

Really unexpected that I’m feeling the need to review.
The booking was difficult to make but when we finally got there the check in was great and front desk couldn’t have been more positive and made us feel great so the stars are for them! The room is lovely. The rest of the hotel feels a little old. The restaurant and bar service was awful. They must have been doing more than it seemed as it didn’t look that busy but they weren’t coping. Surely when you have pre booked tables you know how to cope in advance? The restaurant really felt like a cafe and the lighting was far too bright to create any kind of atmosphere. The food was actually really good but we didn’t have a drink until main course not even water. The main dishes then stayed in front of us for ages… and ages…. By the time Desert came we once again had no drinks and kind of just wanted to leave. Sad for the chef as again food was delicious. Not sure what the issue is maybe understaffed although as I said it didn’t seem crazy busy and was mainly pre booked? It wouldn’t take much to raise the game at this hotel as the rooms are nice and location was good they just need to add great service to the mix! There were lovely tables in the restaurant overlooking the lake and with slightly lower lighting but we weren’t allowed them as they were set up for breakfast???? At 7pm very strange to use your best tables for the next day? Overall just feel like we wanted to get up and take over the service ourself as was frustrating such small things do really matter.

Do not stay here - as the other reviews state. I can wholeheartedly agree.

We left 3 hours after checking in.
As are tired new parents who haven’t had a night away in over a year, all we wanted was to use the spa, have some lovely massages and order room service so we could get lots of sleep. I checked that the hotel offered this before I booked a spa break and they did. However….

We were unable to check in until almost 5pm, so I couldn’t use the spa while my husband was getting his massage as planned, no room service available and only an Indian (weird) or British set menu was available NO a la carte as the website stated. Nowhere on the website or within my confirmation does it state that the a la carte menu and room service are unavailable. A complete con.
Our drinks were warm and flat so my husband sent his back and they refunded mine. No bar food was available either and the bar was dirty and sticky with sticky menus.

My husband requested a female masseuse when condoning his spa booking and to his surprise the man from reception wearing no uniform turned up and began to pinch him saying ‘the skin sometimes sticks together’ and then rubbed his head vigorously like he was drying it with a towel. He used cold oil all over him and didn’t perform a massage at all. My husband complained about this asking for the guys paperwork to prove he is qualified because he felt so violated in that massage room. They did not provide any proof of his qualifications.

After this we cancelled the next massage for the following morning. We decided by that point this hotel was not going to give us the break we needed and had no choice but to leave. We must’ve made over 5 complaints that night, no one cares. They just used Covid as an excuse to why they are under staffed but then Crowne Plaza should not be fully booking their hotel if they cannot accommodate customers and keep their promises from what’s advertised on the website. We trusted Crowne Plaza as a decent hotel brand but unfortunately this has tainted our view.
We are in the process of taking this further.

Probably one of the worst 4* hotels we've stayed in ever.

First the good points:
- bedroom was exceptionally clean & modern
- shower was powerful
- Breakfast is pretty decent and worth the £17 price tag. Even better if it's included as part of your package.

And now the bad points (take a seat, this'll take some time):

- Service is atrocious! I had to make 3 calls to finally book the hotel, each call taking over 45 minutes for them to answer. During the first two calls I was told that I could not use my Virgin Experience voucher to book a room as they were very busy and that the rooms available had a rate of over £300. During the third call I was told that I could book a room but I would have to forgo any spa treatments as they were fully booked till Jan 2022. No alternatives were offered. It was our 25th anniversary so I booked the hotel anyway even though the original reason for purchasing the voucher was with the intention of using the Spa offerings.

- From the moment we stepped into the reception to check in, all we could hear were a group of women complaining about their stay. This didn't leave us with a good impression of the hotel. Throughout our stay, it was complaints after complaints that we could hear in the reception, bar and dining rooms. You can tell from my review, we also had cause to complain multiple times!

- Although the hotel had a multi-million pound renovation in 2019, overall it still seemed dated. Most outdoor areas were filthy

- Staff were particularly unattentive.
Ordered 2 Americano's on the first day asking for takeaway cups and hot almond milk. After 35 minutes our beverage was bought out in mugs with cold dairy milk. Are they stupid or what?
20 minutes later, we were given our Americano's in takeaway cups but the drink was tepid. We complained to the manager (Deepak) who apologised profusely and made multiple promises which he didn't keep.
Booking for our evening meal was also a mission. Even though I originally booked on the phone we did not have a confirmed reservation. At reception, we booked again and later found out that we were still not on the reservation list. In the end we ended up speaking to the Dining manager and confirmed a booking.

- Dining, little to say except the £35 price tag in no way justifies the food on offer. Seriously, if it wasn't part of the package, I would have gone out to Marlow town centre and eaten a hearty meal for 1/2 the price. The food really isn't very nice, and the desert even worse. If the meal is not part of your package, don't eat here. Period.

- Breakfast, ordered 2 Americano's. Waiter bought 2 small coffees and asked for my room number and signature to pay the £7.70. I stated that we ordered Americano's and she said they were Americanos. Really? Americano's in small cups, wow that's a first. I didn't want to fuss in front of the other diners and so signed. I later raised this with reception at check out and was told that I had no choice but to pay, even though I showed them a photo of the coffee we were given. It even stated Americano on the bill. The duty manager gave me a card with the tripadvisor details and suggested I fill in a review and, possibly, management would come back to me and offer a refund. Doubtful me thinks!

I could go on, but I really don't want to waste any more of your time.
This hotel has some major issues.
In short, AVOID this hotel. Do not book here for a special occasion as you are at risk of major disappointment and, as was the case for us, a ruined 25th Anniversary.

Our stay was above our expectations thanks to Karim, Raj and Marshal. Great customer service! And the food was excellent!

Please do not consider booking a wedding here. They are scumbags. They will promise you a lot and do near nothing. We are literally considering all options to make they pay for everything failing. They failed us totally. Do not trust them. They stressed me as a bride out even on the day of my wedding. Honestly we only chose the venue because of the first events manager. Once she left, it has been horrendous. We were caught up with them because we had agreed to the contract. Once I have been advised properly, I will leave a more detailed review of what they did. Please do not trust them!

Told the hotel we would be arriving for the spa day no earlier than 10:30. Booked our treatments for 11:15. We were emailed less than 48 hours before to say they’d changed our appointment times to 10:00 and 10:30 (which we wouldn’t be able to make as we weren’t arriving until 10:30 owing to other plans as we had already told them) no courtesy call to inform us of this and this email went into junk . We weren’t given 72 hours notice as per the policy to change treatments, I complained and was told I’d have to just go without my massage as I’d missed it as it was at 10:00. Customer service of the spa manager was terrible, she couldn’t have cared less, didn’t offer a refund or attempt to resolve the situation. No empathy at all. We left within an hour as the “spa” (which was a basic swimming pool and facilities like we get at our local gym) was dirty. The main reception manager was more helpful with our concerns.

Booked a massage through the online service as a gift for my daughter while she was staying at the hotel.
COVID 19 illness stopped them traveling and they were unable to stay.
Booked 2 weeks before stay.
Tried calling to get a refund a week before their stay, a week after booking.
THEY NEVER ANSWER THE PHONE.
When the eventually did answer the phone the wellness receptionist told us she would pass this on to her manager. Days later we still not have not had a reply despite continually ringing to get an answer.
The wellness spa staff also give out false promises when they tell you they will get back to you with a reply to it from the manager. Guess what, no reply!
This happened on two occasions when we rang and they actually answered the phone.
We are now at the point on the day of the hotel booking has been canceled and we still not of had an answer from the manager of the spa. Surprise surprise.
No answer. No refund.
Dreadful customer service. Dreadful wellness receptionist, doesn’t even know their booking system.
Do not use this service online to book any treatment at this hotel because they are scammers.
The receptionist told us all treatments are nonrefundable! But nowhere on the website does it state this fact or in the spa brochure.
All goods or services booked online or ordered online are subject to a 14 day cooling off period when you can cancel for a full refund.
ABSOLUTE JOKE!

If you call the hotel or spa, you never get any answer, so everything had to be done via email, and you’re waiting days for a response.

My wife and I went there for a Classic Afternoon Tea with use of ‘spa’ (spa?!!) facilities. Overall, dreadful, but one positive was that the vegan sandwiches and cakes were great. However, that’s the only positive unfortunately.

The issues were:-

- We waited an hour for them to bring our food. Customers on two other tables were complaining that they had been waiting an hour for food too, and also of soggy sandwiches. Thankfully our food was good, but considering the restaurant was like a ghost town, there was no excuse whatsoever for an hour’s wait for the food.

- Lipstick marks on both my water glass, and also my wife’s Prosecco flute!

- The member of staff tending to us made an unprofessional comment about the guests on the other two tables who had complained (after they left the restaurant). Faulty Towers springs to mind! Other staff seemed professional.

- ‘Spa’ (hardly the luxury spa they call it!!) staff don’t wear a uniform. They’re all in tracksuits, and you are expected to have your own robe and towels because they often run out of their own clean ones (!!!). We were lucky - they still had some available. The door to the ‘spa’ is locked, so you have to wait for a member of staff to let you in.

- Changing-room/showers/toilets are fine. However, save your money and go down to your local leisure centre pool. It will be cheaper, the pool will probably be bigger, and all you will be missing is a pokey little jacuzzi in the corner of the room! It was packed in the pool, with families and small children, and the jacuzzi seats 6 people SNUGGLY. No steam room (or at least we couldn’t see one), and how they refer to it as a ‘luxury spa’ is anyone’s guess - it’s a joke!!

Bar area is attractive and comfortable, but if you are looking for a luxury spa venue for a special occasion, avoid this place like the plague! Go to Danesfield House Hotel and Spa down the road - not cheap, but definitely a luxury spa and an experience you will remember in a totally positive way!

Beautiful location, clean modern hotel BUT extremely poor service, staff are inattentive and unhelpful, room phone is NEVER answered, £260/night stay with nonexistent service is flat out theft and extortion.

So I called up last week to make my booking which was from a Wowcher they then took my details and failed to call me back a week later I’ve called them back today to make my booking but my voucher had expired on the 15th which was two days after I called up Sukey the reservations manager was rude to me on the phone I made a complaint but they took the manager side and she then cancelled my booking and told me I had to talk to Wowcher to get my money back because they have cancelled my booking apparently I was verbally Abusive to them I shouted at them which is an outrage and it’s an out lie But just be careful when talking to these people because they have got each others backs even though the employees were rude to me but I’m the one that’s suffering which is fine because I’ll find another hotel and spend money on……

I have never experienced a worse customer service in any hotel I have ever stayed in my life.
Appalling is not a strong enough word ,
All Thursday afternoon and the best part of Friday attempting to get through to the hotel on the phone we eventually went through to your head office and they couldn't make contact either, when i did get through it was more interesting listening to the engaged tone.
I did get a response to one of my many emails, a nine word reply that could have been condensed to two words and one of them would have been off , no reply or read receipt from the duty manager's email.
I was staying fifty miles away from the hotel when I got pinged by the nhs app I immediately made the 240 mile journey home to self-isolate. I sent proof of the alert to the hotel.
The hotel has a policy of non refundable and non trasferable bookings for red letter days
Under normal times i would have agreed with this however these are not normal times.my concern is that customers would turn up anyhow rather than lose their booking money.
I or anybody else could have ignored the alert and re-set the app if anybody didnt have the virus all well and good but if they did the on cost to your hotel for deep cleaning and closing the bar would have far out stripped the cost of rescheduling the break with no cost at all to yourselves .
I of course didnt do that and i am still self-isolating at home but i know plenty of people that would.
My main complaint is how you think you can treat your guests with complete contempt.
No customer service , refusal to answer the phone or emails.
if you have a red letter day / wowcher / secret escapes voucher they will not let you change the date of your visit, if you have not already activated it maybe worth looking at a different experience.
i had to change several of my hotel stays due to my test and trace alert and they could not have been more helpful maybe because they may care about their guests and not just how much profit they can make.

In my opinion this hotel discriminates against single people and older persons.
In my experience their customer service is non existent.
I would advise anyone who is not part of a couple, has no medical need for a single bed in a twin room or is not part of a family against staying there.

Emailed reservations to enquire about availability in July as had a Buyagift voucher to stay here. Received a response asking for my voucher number, no other information, which I gave (assuming they needed to check it). Couple of hours later received a confirmation of a booking for 4th June. At no point did I say June? Emailed them back, saying there must be a mistake. No response. Rang them the next day, all the phone numbers I tried, just kept ringing out. Emailed a few more times, no response. To cut a long story short, I basically threatened legal action if no one responds or deals with their error, finally received a response saying has been cancelled. I am none the wiser as my voucher is saying booked on buyagift website with the Crowne Plaza, so it seems they have used my voucher!!!! Have now referred to it buyagift in the hope they can sort this. The customer service is awful! After reading the reviews on this hotel, it seems I am not the only one with a problem on bookings. DO NOT GO NEAR THIS HOTEL. YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING BUT GRIEF & WILL NOT GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR OR EVEN BOOKED. BEWARE. I hope Buyagift will take this hotel of their choice, otherwise they will get a bad name as well

Please be careful with this hotel. Don't let them con you too.
I rang them to book a spa package and was told they had availability & treatment times free. I was then told to go online to pay in full up front & then call back which I did. All sorted & booked in... so I thought!
Less than a week before I was due to arrive they emailed (not even a curtesy call) to say they had maintenance issues and couldn't provide the services.
They made little to no effort to offer anything comparable to what we had & offered no reasonable incentive to inconvenience us & make us change all our plans.
On top of that I had to constantly chase them for a response, they didn't reply to emails & kept promising to call back but then didn't.
Extremely poor customer service, the reservations team are appalling to deal with.
They are not trustworthy at all, promising things they don't deliver on.
I wouldn't be surprised if they the hotel is running some kind of scam to take customers money up front in full to stay afloat!
Please don't let them con you too... this is the first time I've ever had to write a bad review, I've travelled all over the world & stayed in hotels all over, never have I been treated this badly or felt so tricked.
I have not confidence in this hotel at all.

I have been calling the wellness centre for 72 hours to book some treatments and no body has bothered to pick the phone or call me back!
I am Still waiting for someone to pick the phone up again at reception, far too stressful so I will now be cancelling my trip there to stay some where else.

Don’t buy packages as this hotel is not willing to vary them. The afternoon tea was too full of sweet cakes but lacked any decent savoury alternatives on offer. Sandwiches were not very tasty and we struggled to identity what a couple of the very bland sandwiches were! Room is cold but we’re they served food was far too hot with no ventilation spent nearly £600 for two day break two rooms No consideration for single occupancy Thank god we’ve booked into Toms to eat tomorrow lunch. Would not book this again.i have been coming to Marlow for years to pub in the park and to eat at Toms Hand and Flowers and The Coach but stayed in Marlow town itself. I will not come here again. Very disappointed indeed.

Most awful experience
Smelly changing rooms, swimming pook had things floating in it
Massage therapist was terrible as was the food with smell from renovation works ( glue and paint smell coming into restaurant).
0 stars avoid........

It is quite some skill to make a hotel stay so bad. It probably starts with employing the most incompetent staff they could find. The check in will take over an hour, so factor this in if you’re stupid enough not to read the reviews.

The noise outside the hotel rooms is just a joke. Doors banging well into the early hours. The lift makes a horrendous scraping sound every five minutes. The walls are made of paper and you can hear every person walk past, and it’s an endless stream of people (probably going to reception to complain).

When I asked about changing rooms they told me it was full. Can anyone smell something? But he did tell me he’s log the complaint. Clearly lying, because...

Needless to say there was nothing noted. I wasn’t even asked if everything was ok when I checked out. He even told me that nothing would be done about my complaint!!

This is the company you’re dealing with if you book this hotel! Save your money. What an absolute shower.

Me and my partner visited the Crowne Plaza - Marlow for a two night getaway with treatments included. When arriving, the receptionist had such a positive attitude which was infectious. It is beautiful and the service is great. Food is really nice, Rooms are amazing and very very clean. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had no choice but to leave early which the manager offered a voucher so we could come back to finish off our gataway/treatments, so thank you to Malgorzata Koziol for helping us through these difficult times.

The day that we had checked out, we had car issues (Battery was flat) and did not have breakdown cover, we had spoken to reception if they could help, reception was very nice, helpful and offered to push the car if need be and they would get more staff to help. A gentleman called Mihail Paladii went the extra mile by not only providing us jump leads but by getting his car and attaching the jump leads to charge the battery. Me and my partner are very thankful to him as this was on a Sunday and most places were closed or would have been very expensive. Again thank you Mihail!!!

I’d like to provide some feedback following a recent visit to one of your spas – although I use the word spa very loosely.

We were booked to attend the Crown Plaza Marlow for a spa day with afternoon tea on Saturday 4th January.

I received a phone call on Friday evening confirming we could attend from 9:30am and that towels and robes would be provided but that we would need to bring our own footwear and would of course need to be dressed for afternoon tea.

Upon arriving at the reception desk Saturday morning, we were met by a friendly enough lady but who wasn’t in uniform or any kind of branding which would identify her as a member of staff. She was wearing a Stone Island hoodie and we assumed may not have been very well as she had cotton wool in her ear.

She proceeded to check us in and said she would walk us to the changing rooms, at which point we were given a towel each. When we asked where our robes were, we were told “They’re only for people who book treatments” – not what I’d been told on the phone.

We asked to be shown where the different spa elements where situated and she pointed towards the pool and said it was all within that area, the indoor jacuzzi, sauna and steam room where located around the pool area. There was an outdoor jacuzzi but this wasn’t open yet as it wasn’t hot enough – this was 11am – but it would be open “soon”.

While in the changing rooms with our small towels, my friend decided to go back to reception and request robes, only to be told they would be charged at £2 per person. We paid this and carried on getting changed.

There was a severe lack of bed chairs available in the pool area so we spent the first hour sitting on standard chairs – definitely not the comfy, relaxing experience we were expecting from a spa day.

By 12pm the outdoor jacuzzi still wasn’t open. We asked at reception and the lady told us she would open it “in a minute”. By 12:30pm it still wasn’t open and a male guest took it upon himself to go and take the lid off the jacuzzi himself.

Some young teenage guests then entered the pool area and began swimming/messing around. While I understand your staff can’t control or tell off the guests, this definitely again didn’t fit with the relaxing experience you would expect. One of the rules listed on the website states “Minimum age of 12 to use Spa Pool / Steam Room & Sauna with constant adult supervision” – this definitely didn’t happen and all 3 were under 18. One of them actually broke the pool lane rope, a maintenance man came down to take a look and told the boy he’d seen him break it on the CCTV but he eventually had to remove the rope from the pool as he was unable to fix it.

This “spa” area can only be described at best as a leisure centre pool. There was nothing relaxing about our spa visit there at all. There were panels around the side of the pool and walls that were broken so there was definitely nothing luxurious about our experience.

Having had enough of the facilities, we got dressed and headed for our afternoon tea. Upon arrival the man showing us to our table asked if we’d like tea or coffee. I asked if it was possible to have a soft drink instead as I don’t drink tea or coffee, he simple said “no that’s not included” so I opted for water instead. While I understand this is probably part of your policy, I’ve never had a problem at any other afternoon tea I’ve attended swapping a hot drink for a soft drink so this was surprising.

I decide to ask the waiter for a soft drink when he delivered my friend’s tea to the table obviously being prepared to pay for it, I asked for an orange and cranberry juice mix. He walked off to speak to the manager and came back to say “that will be extra” – I said that’s fine and he went off and got the drink. A few minutes later another waiter came back to check we were happy with the food and delivered my bill – I had been charged £5.50 for a soft drink! £2.50 for the orange, £2.50 for the cranberry and a 10% service charge. I struggle to understand why I was charged for service when I was in the restaurant area. The general layout and ambience of the restaurant area was pleasant but the cleanliness could be looked at. There were hand prints all over the glass walls.

I can honestly say we were both hugely disappointed with an experience we had been looking forward to for months. There was nothing relaxing or spa-like about the pool, jacuzzi or steam room facilities – I could have just attended my local gym for what we received rather than driving 60 miles to this location. The pictures on the website are definitely not the scene we were met with.

We definitely won't be going back to this "spa" again and I would hesitate to book any Crown Plaza location in future.