Review of all issues

First impressions were very good, it was downhill after that. Our dinner on our day of arrival was included in the package, it would have been very disappointing if we had to pay! The pool, sauna and steam room were good, the sun loungers left a lot to be desired, some of the pads were torn and very badly stained

Customer service was very poor, we called for room service and got no reply, to order food by room service we had to go to reception to find no customer service assistant at the reception desk, we had to knock on the office door to which a man looking half asleep appeared! He took the order and apologised. This is unacceptable for a four star hotel

Also upon arrival we were asked to present a bank card so a holding fee of 100 could be secured. It was explained to us that this holding fee would appear on our bank account the next day, 7 days later we are still waiting for this 100 to be repaid, it would be interesting to see how much interest the Crown Plaza have accrued on this 100 along with every other guests holding fee!!! I may do a freedom of information request

Also, we wanted to book a table in the restaurant on the Friday night of our stay only to be told there was nothing available, however it was very clear from where we were sitting in the bar area there were plenty of spare tables, it would seem it was due to lack of staff and poorly trained staff

NO booking - dissapointing stay

When we arrived we were told by reception that they had no record of our booking and blamed us for not confirming. We had an email from offpeakbooking clearly confirming the booking. Then we were left waiting for ages and told there was no room for us. Then the manager came and blamed us again, she finally found a room for us but didn't offer much of an apology. We were made to feel as if it was our fault, when it was clearly a fault of their system and staff. We had to eat in the bar as no reservation available in the restaurant due to their booking error. We had gone to that hotel specifically to celebrate a special occassion and were left extremely dissapointed. Breakfast was chaotic with staff not knowing what was going on, we asked one person who sent us to another who conseqently back to the first. Unfortunately, we were glad to leave and would certainly never return.

This is not a spa hotel

This hotel is probably great for a business traveller during the week. Modern, clean decent food and drinks. Space to work in communal areas.
But this is not a spa hotel or romantic break away. The hotel was packed with people or Groupon and similar deals. The small pool area was rammed with children and there was water everywhere making it very slippy. The steam room and sauna doors were constantly being left open by guests who were "too hot" (?!). The pool side service stops at 5pm, but good luck getting a lounger anyway (and good luck relaxing with so many people in there).
There were notes everywhere basically saying don't expect decent customer service as the hotel is too busy at weekends (you can't order cocktails in the evenings as they take too long)
The rooms were OK, no-ones rooms were ready when we turned up at check in time. Leading to people hanging around the reception. When we did get our room our fizz and chocolate package weren't there. I asked about this, and was told they were busy. We did get them a few hours later. I'm not sure half a dozen cheap truffles loose on a plate was what we expected but at least it turned up!

The food was tasty (we had a dinner and breakfast plan) and the staff were clearly working really hard. We felt sorry for the same staff serving breakfast as we're working late the previous night.
I don't like being so negative especially after all the stresses of the pandemic, but there really were too many things to be disappointed about to consider returning again.

Good spa and Room but poor food

Hi, I booked a spa weekend with my husband and I had not noticed this hotel was in the middle of nowhere. You cannot go out at night for a walk. The room itself was nice, spacious and very clean. The pool was also very nice, although we were disappointed as we could not get any treatments, they were fully booked. The common areas of the hotel were nicely decorated. But, dinner was not nice at all. We looked forward to a decent three course menu, and we could not be more disappointed. I got the ham terrine as a starter with a minuscule transparent slice of bread, so I had to eat the rest of the ham on its own. The main course: the duck was hard, the potatoes dauphinois should have had cream but they had none, they were a hard dry block of tasteless potatoes. And the dessert was no better. It is a shame that our whole experience was ruined because of a disappointing meal.

Not a special valentine meal

Went to the other crown plaza hotel at 1st where they were setting up for valentines eve with rose petals and live entertainment. On arrival at crown plaza east,we found out room with dirty cups and glasses,no tissues in the container,box,no decaf teabags,no hot chocolate.all of this was reported to reception.We went down for our special valentine meal.nothing special.normal table no candles or flowers on tables lipstick on one glass cutlery set for two courses.had to ask staff for a drink,food was served had to use starter cutlery for 1st course, then dessert spoon for soup.cutlery was not replaced,so when main meal arrived had to wait till we got a staff member to bring some. We were sat on normal table no ambiance for special occasion meal.very close to normal diners in shorts and t-shirts.so felt nothing special for a valentine meal.all this was again mentioned to restaurant manager.went for after dinner drinks in bar area.found empty table had to ask a staff member to clean our dirty table.i went to ladies four toilets were blocked. Again I reported this to reception again was only told sorry again.considering we booked this as a special valentine meal and luxury hotel for our 50th anniversary.we were very disappointed.

Budget hotel with helpful, friendly staff but certainly not luxury

Hotel was ok if you didn t mind staying in the middle of an industrial park. There was a country park within walking distance. Sadly, no nice bars or restaurants locally so felt tied to hotel amenities, which weren t great. Staff were however friendly and helpful and the rooms were comfortable. Necessary to ask for room to be serviced and clean towels. Only one operational lift which could cause a problem when checking in/out - we used the stairs due to waiting times/stopping at each level. Spa and pool were more on par with your local leisure centre and it was slippery around the pool area! Would I stay there again, probably not.

lovely stay

I wanted to have a special spa day for my daughter as it was for her birthday.
We had a relaxing stay and loved the room as it was spacious.
The 3 course meal was lovely and very filling.
We also enjoyed our time in the pool/spa.
We would come back again, the train station just a minutes walk means we were able to travelled to Reading.

Nice stay

We liked the room and spa. The restaurant and dinner food was nice if a bit small.
Good value on a weekend break deal package
Breakfast was excellent
The swimming pool was a great length but lighting level was a bit too low