Marriott Meon Valley Hotel & Country Club

My daughter and I recently stayed at Meon Valley Hotel and Golf in Southampton as part of a coach trip with Loch Lomond Travel. We were doing the trip to visit Highclere Castle and our original hotel Basingstoke Country Hotel apparently couldn't accommodate our coach trip so we were then moved to Meon Valley both of which belong to Britannia Hotel Group. What can I say apart from dont bok this Hotel go and choose somewhere else. On arrival there was one person on reception . Our coach party disembarked and started to queue at reception but instead of taking people at front of the queue asking their name and working through paperwork r their keys he just read the first name on list regardless whee they wee in queue after reading out their names and room numbers( you are not supposed to divulge room numbers publicly now instead you should just show the guest their room number) member of our party who was roughly at front of queue said to the staff member that there was a queue and he should just be going through queue that way not just randomlyshouting out guests names to which he very rudely replied that it wasn't his job to organise us!. Meanwhile so e guests who had already gone to find their rooms came back as he had made mistakes, there were other guests nof in our party turing to get his attention as they had issues to. Our bus driver then appeared and took over handing out remaining paperwork keys but again was just rando ly shouting people's names and room numbers etc he couldn't tell us where rooms were so staff member on reception had gk keep jumping in .Total and utter shambles is what comes to mind. As we were later than advised we would be and got go Hotel at 7.45pm by time we got to room etc was after 8pm dinner as we were told finished at 9pm! Daughter and I got to our room and on first glance all was fne albeif tired,dated so dirty marks on carpet but adequate (we hadlooked art reviews for both original hotel in Basingstoke reviews weren't that great and I called tour company who assured me all would be fine but then on10th of July notified us of change of hotel to sitter hotel Meon Valey) We again had a look at reviews and found them yk be worse than original hotels but though we shall see what happens. Once in room daughter checked her bed right down to mattress now pillows and sheets were clean as was topper but the actual mattress was filthy covered in hairs from all parts of the body. I pulled back just to check my sheets not down yo my mattress as it was so hot Iwas just going to lie on top of my bed so wasn't actually getting in it. which is what I did for the 2 nights we were there. Anyway my daughter leaves to go speak to staff member on reception and asked him if he could send so e o e to vacuum her mattress as it was full of hairs ,he said he would see what he could do.We wrhen for dinner ( again very poor room for eating in you could see evidence on ceiling and curtains of where a large water leak had been) food although okish was very poor in choice although we had heard you could eat in thbar area where food was apparently lovely but after our long journey we just ante to get to bed but though maybe the next night we would try the bar. We returned to reception to ask for extra pillows and staff member was fine , gave us pillows and told us housekeeping had been and sorted room. We returned to our room to find bed remade and all in order however again after inspecting bed it was in same stayed as before and all that had been done was bed remade. Back went daughter to speak to the staff member ( I do have his name) this is where it alltook a turn for the worse, my daughter stated that the mattress had indeed not been vacuumed to which he replied they hoovered round bed , she told him that wasn't what she had asked to happen and he clearly hadn't listened go her at this point another irate guest appeared(not in our group) but had been listening to my daughter an the staff member anhe interjected as the staffmember was becoming more hostile , rude and dismissive towards my daughter. the other guests said to him that he was bang out of order talking to this young lady the way he was as she had been nothing but polite and courteous towards him but his attitude towards her was bang out of order, he also said that he believed every word she was saying as his room diabolical too , so much so that after only checking in he was checking out. Him and the staff member were really young for it when they her guest slammed down his key cards and left the hotel. Staff member then said go my daughter whafdid shan't himtk do to which she replied"give me a hoover a d Iwil do what i need to do to clean matress" he left the reception area unattended ( again something he shouldn't have done) and walked back to our room where a cupboard was got out a Henry Hoover and proceeded to follow my daughter back into the room where her bed was stripped after her 2nd check after it was supposeto have been hoovered. He saw the hair which were all over the mattress and then Louise to my daughter saying he only acted that way because the other guests interjected. My daughter said to him why the other guests stepped in as he was being extremely rude towards her,shooing her away,rolling his eyes and dismissing her that's why the guest stepped in. He didn't say anything. He left room saying bring hoover back to which we said we would leave it outside cupboard and he could put it away. Breakfast next morning again was ok 8sh, no fresh fruit but a big bowl of tinned peaches which I had with a small yogurt again some choices had ran out and they weren't the quickest to replenish (we were early at breakfast as we were leaving at 8.40 took to Hghclere Castle) . We arrived later that night for dinner, young man on door taking room numbers etc was polite and courteous unlike restaurant manager who wasn't the most pleasant.We couldn't eat in bar area that night as no food was being served from there so back to the buffet it was which if coming in to pay for was 29.99 per head . No where near value for money, again what we want had run out we told the young staff memberat door and used his phone to message Iassume kitchen to get it re,existed, restaurant manager appeared and he told hm the stir fry needed replenishing as we wee waiting and other people were coming in restaurant manager turned to us and said " just go pick some thing else" had we wanted something else we would have done, turned out after waiting around 25 mins for said stir fry wedding indeed have to pick something ething else as it wasn't replenished,existed in fact they took he sign away stating what it was. It wasn't replenished,existed for the remainder of our time in restaurant but I believe it was after we left. While we were waiting another few guests came in we were taking to a couple who all had grievances about their rooms, the food , the staff etc etc. One young guy came in asking t o eat at the bar to be told sorry we aren't serving food there tonight but that he was more than welcome hk have a loo, af buffet food before he paid for it as you had topay before eating. He duly came in had a look at what was in offer and by look on his face you knew he wasn't going to be paying for the bufet,he said to young guy on door no thanks and both were polite and courteous to each other. As soon as he left the restaurant manager came over to young staff member on door saying see this is whatI mean they are so rude, they come in look at food and leave" Nobody was being rude apart from restaurant manager. Tells a lot when you see ither guests bringing in pizzas to their rooms ,or sitting at their outside tables with chinese takeaways! eating from plates and with cutlery from said restaurant! Reading others reviews on here and other sites its clear that these incidents are not one offs or every now and then but sadly are more of the norm, which is ashame as with some TLC, proper running of hotel and proper staf training( ones that actually ant to work in that environment which judging by the looks on some of the younger staffs faces they would rather be elsewhere) it could be a lovely hotel.I havalso emailed ouf coach tour company listing these issues and the issues with we had as group with themselves. Hopefully they see sense and no loger put business towards this Hotel again. I for one wouldnt stay at it again and urge anyone considering it to look elsewhere. I will try abd include the pics daughter took of her matress , you may need to enlarge photos to see them better.

Was a good price we stayed with our dog Few things which let the hotel down 1. Shockingly no chambermaid service for the stay which was 3 days, this is shared on the in room leaflet but not at booking or on check in - which is not great 2. Blinds in room would not open so it felt dark and depressing

Room was fine apart from no air con and windows only open a fraction. It was clean. Lack of staff in reception bar and restaurant. Outside chairs were almost all wobbly I wouldn’t sit on them. Bar staff lovely but drinks limited. Food was abysmal. Buffet style one person who rarely appeared. Salad was lettuce and starter was pate. Mains not too bad but badly put together. Poor choice. Budget food. Frozen cakes with no cream and plates were all heated. One dish of fruit salad. Ok for blokes on golf trip but basic to say the least. Golf course looked nice but we won’t be going back to play there. £180 for room poor meal and breakfast. Not good value