Tag: Hotel

Blog, Reviews

Ramada By Wyndham at Cobham Services

Loops&Lapbars

This is a very different blog to my others, but very relevant to other blogs I’ve made. I’ve mentioned before that we’ve stayed in the Ramada at Cobham services for our trips to Thorpe Park, Chessington and Legoland as its location is great for all 3 parks.

Legoland is 30 minutes away but Thorpe and Chessington are about 20 minutes each and since the hotel is located on a service stop on the M25, it has a lot of facilities and places to eat too.

We’ve stopped here on at least 5 separate occasions since first finding the hotel on our 2021 road trip around the UK. The staff have always been great, the rooms clean and the prices very reasonable. If I recall we paid £29 for a nights stay on our first visit. (Though we’ve not managed to get it quite that cheap since!)

The rooms are a good size and have most things you’d need for a few nights away, including a bed, shower, kettle, storage, plenty of sockets and even an ironing board, iron and hair dryer. Not mind blowing by any means but ample for our needs. It’s worth pointing out that there are sockets close to the bed too.

They do provide face wash and shampoo in the bathroom but I always take my own anyway, I think everyone does! They will also help out with additional tea and coffee supplies and a few basic hygiene needs, though I’ve not had to use this service so I’m not sure what they’d offer!

The hotel is set over two floors and does have a lift to the upper floor. We’ve never had a ground floor room so I assume they’re family or accessible rooms which would make sense to me.

There’s a lot of greenery around the back and side of the hotel and plenty of places to sit and eat or watch the world go by in downtime. There’s even a nice pond with all the wildlife you’d expect.

Around the back of the hotel.

As it’s next to the M25 there is quite a bit of road noise during the night but it’s only noticeable with the window open and closing it mutes that. There’s a blower in the room too that cools the room sufficiently but in the heat of summer it struggles to get rooms down to selected temperature as I don’t believe it is actually air conditioning, though it does claim to be!

The hotel has access to the services’ massive car park so there is always ample parking for even the largest of vehicles.

A view from our latest visit in May 2022. Plenty of room for Coaches!

It won’t blow you away like some of the top 5 star hotels will, but it’s not a 5 star hotel itself. What it is is a well connected, pleasant and clean 3 star hotel, situated in an excellent location for theme park enthusiasts such as myself!

Blog, Reviews

First stop of 2022 – Macdonald Botley Park Hotel & Spa

Loops&Lapbars

For our first trip (and to start the 2022 season), we headed down south to Paultons Park and to see some friends while we were down there. As It’s a 290 mile drive down there, we stopped at the Macdonald Botley Park Hotel and Spa.

I touched on hotel reviews when I wrote the blogs for our summer holiday last year, so I thought it might be a good idea to add my thoughts on any other hotels we stay at in case other thrill seekers do the same!

The kingsize bed in our room

The hotel has a 4 star rating, and I think it’s just about clinging to that myself. The hotel staff were all great, especially in the restaurant. Housekeeping was a bit lax though, as we found used glasses hadn’t been washed, stained carpets in the room, and just a general air of it’ll do, which put a dampener on the property for us.

The other negative, for me at least, is how dark the whole place felt. There were energy saving techniques used in the corridors which is great to see, but the lights that they use barely put out any light and it makes the corridors feel very unfriendly. The same for our room, where the window didn’t let much light in at all, even though we weren’t over looked by trees or buildings. I think it was just too small!

The view from our room, not much blocking the light!

As it’s a spa, we did get free use of the pool, sauna and steam room which were excellent additions as it meant we could go for a swim and unwind after we’d finished at Paultons Park. Only negative here is once again, the pool was very dark and just didn’t feel as bright and airy as the hotel’s photos might suggest.

As for some positives, we had breakfast included and the service was excellent. The food was really tasty and there were a good few options, including vegetarian offerings. Neither of us are vegan so I we didn’t notice vegan options, but I’m certain they would cater for this if needed.

The beds, though very soft, were massive and I found to be quite comfortable too. Definitely sold on king size beds! There was a mini fridge in the room too, which was great, and everything you might need for a few days away. No electrical outlets next to the bed however.

Parking was free and there was always somewhere to park, no matter how late we arrived back. Not much to see in the grounds though.

Our room, taken from the door. The window could really do with being much bigger!

Overall, the hotel as good, but not great. It could use some TLC here and there, a good deep clean and some improvements to the overall light levels about the place!

To summarize, I’d happily rate it as a 7/10, perfectly suitable for what we needed, just lacking a little to make it great! For the price, I’d still pick a Holiday inn or Travelodge personally!