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Reviews of Champneys Forest Mere

4 out of 5
Champneys Forest Mere
Portsmouth Road, Liphook, England

Reviews

7.2

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 44 out of 147 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 37 out of 147 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 29 out of 147 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 24 out of 147 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 13 out of 147 reviews" "

8.0/10

Cleanliness

6.8/10

Staff & service

8.8/10

Amenities

7.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

8/10 Good

Debbie

Liked: Cleanliness
The property is set in the most idyllic settings,the lake is stunning.Property from the outside is stately absolutely stunning.The staff on arriving was obviously not a people person whilst other members of staff couldn't do enough.Our room was pleasant but other areas needed attention.The whole property smells devine but stained carpets really wasnt pleasent..
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Katrina

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Mixed
We have had 3 previous trips to Champneys resorts and thought we understood the service offering. However we are unlikely to stay again. This is not a value for money experience. Aside from being able to walk around in a bathrobe there is nothing different here to a normal hotel with spa facilities. Our fault for not reading the confirmation email when booked but we assumed based on past experience that the use of the spa facilities came with the booking. They didn't. We had to pay an additional £70 each per day of our stay. For this one of the jacuzzi's did not have all the jets working, the large shared sauna was not hot enough, and a small shared sauna was closed. The small shared steam room was also not the best. The fitness classes also now charge a fee. The aqua fit class was disappointing. I find this pricing structure bizarre for this type of resort. In saying that the reception staff member who checked us in and out was wonderful - professional and accommodating. We didn't know until checkout that they resort had provided us a complimentary dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary which was a nice touch. Our New Zealand waiter also demonstrated a good understanding of customer service - some of the other serving staff could learn from him.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

2/10 Terrible

Ellie

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
I normally stay at champneys at least twice a year and have the best experience but it’s massively gone down hill. Really disappointed in my stay
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

NICOLA

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent!
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Israk

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The staff and and services were exceptional and the spa facilities were very good - perfect for a day or two to unwind. I would also recommend having dinner at the in house resturaunt as the quality of food was amazing. Great for an overnight stay with a day spa add on for the next day - you get what you pay for
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

NICOLA

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
All staff were extremely helpful.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Vivienne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Anne

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Patrick

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent service, friendly staff. Amazing property!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

6/10 Okay

Debbie

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
The whole place looked very tired and in need for refurbishment. Poor maintenance. Staff were very laps. It took us ages to check in. Room ok bathroom very dated. Facilities Spa Reception on ground floor 4 people was standing there talking I had to get there attention to get Spa Menu. They just said you need to go upstairs. Outside pool slabs uneven. Pool dirty again very tatty. We ordered food on the terrace. ordered at desk had to wait until he was finishing what he was doing. We ordered simple turkey sandwich and chicken wrap and two juices. Took our number and sat down at dirty table on terrace. Eventually food come. Just one sandwich. he also delivered food to table next to us. He said nothing. Just brought our drinks and again said nothing. We mentioned we are still waiting for wrap. He said yes its coming. 20min later I went in to ask for my wrap, he was busy talking to colleague. He said again yes its coming. I sat down and further 15mins my wrap came. My partner had finished his. In evening booked set menu food was excellent. No fault and service was better but not what you would expect. after our meal we wanted to sit outside with a drink. We ordered drink at bar and girl said she would bring it to us. We sat and chatted. Again 20min we asked girl that passed us do you know where drinks are. She said oh yes one moment please. We sat for a further 10-15mins and decided not to bother. Very dissappointed not Champneys we'd expected.

6/10 Okay

Karl

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Costly for average hotel and spar.
Hotel is tired and in need of update. Room was extremely warm making it very uncomfortable to sleep, desperately needs air conditioning. Restaurant food is average, choose well…. Spar is good, but lacks service, if you go in the evening be prepared to bring your own towels. Would I go again - no.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

Matthew

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Richard

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Spa was really good but the rooms was a disappointment in the fact we had two single beds pushed together with separate bedding so our romantic weekend was not so. Breakfast we was left standing around for ten minutes waiting to be seated and then had to go find a waiter/waitress to take our order. Wasn’t very smooth.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

carol

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Perfect place to unwind!
Very relaxing and all staff friendly and accommodating
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

8/10 Good

Roland

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023

8/10 Good

Elizabeth

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

NICOLA

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
All the staff were very friendly especially Claudia. Nothing was too much trouble for them.

4/10 Poor

Jonathan

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Great venue - operationally needs a little love
Unfortunately this trip left a fair bit to be desired. The most notable part was that I was leaving early the following morning and did make the staff aware of this at check-in (no breakfast needed etc) however when I went to leave there was no one trained to do check outs - so I was told I could leave and they would just charge my card for dinner etc (which I didn't get a phone call about or even an invoice sent).
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2022

4/10 Poor

Janet

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
Room lights didn't work. Was told I could have another room, but no-one got back to me after over an hour of waiting late at night. Following morning I had to have shower etc and get ready in dark bathroom.. Informed reception on check out and asked for manager to contact me. Still waiting for contact 8 days later ... Tried calling but kept on hold and informed that call rates were charged at expensive rate

10/10 Excellent

Zoe

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

David

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I had an amazing stay and loved it overall. However, I think there is room for improvement with the food. Some things were delicious but a lot were mediocre and could have been better.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2022

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveler

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Don’t bother
The hotel is rated as a 4 star establishment, we had to queue for 20 minutes for both lunch and dinner. Paid an extra £55pp to have use of the facilities as you can only check in at 5pm. Took to the spa for a swim and relax, only to be disturbed by an aqua workout session in the main pool for an hour, with a very load instructor and very load music, hardly relaxing. Their Orangery close’s at 5pm so nowhere to go for pre or post dinner drinks. The building is very nice and the grounds are lovely. The reception staff are very good, however we did not stay overnight, left and went home ( 1 hour drive ), would not recommend. £200 for the room £110 to access the facilities, dinner £32pp plus supplement cost I.e. the steak was an extra £9.95, wine was £10.50 a glass 125ml… This is a place that I would avoid all together.
Ordered the steak to be medium, this is what arrived. Spoke with the manager and he said that’s how it comes???
They need to be more pro maintenance.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

8/10 Good

Lucy

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The perfect place for a tranquil escape! Absolutely no problem to be on your own.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2022

8/10 Good

Robert

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022

10/10 Excellent

Seniz

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022

6/10 Okay

Sifiso

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
I enjoyed my massage
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2022

4/10 Poor

Namita

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022

10/10 Excellent

Anthony

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Experience was very very pleasant recommend it hig
Experience was very very pleasant recommend it highly
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022

6/10 Okay

Tomas

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Staff & service
Wasn’t enough staff everywhere, the mattress of the bed was to squeaky and too old, stained cups at breakfast, no spirit drinks at the bar…. Not be going back 😕
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

8/10 Good

Helen

Traveled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The property was clean, and the surrounding area very calm and peaceful (large grounds, lake). Nice staff, and the hotel and spa weren't overrun with people. The one thing which could be improved is the length of access to the facilities: check in is at 5pm, which is already pretty late to check in, and checkout is at 10am. If you want to use the facilities otherside of these hours, you need to pay another £55. When you're paying £280 for 1 night for 1 room, it seems a bit out of order to not have a wider window to be able to use the facilities.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2022

6/10 Okay

Harvey

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not what you think
Fairly underwhelmed. No air con and a shower in a bath. Mid level travel lodge but with a central one on price tag
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2022

4/10 Poor

John

Traveled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The staff were very engaging however the food was bland with the atmosphere in the restaurant bordering on a Mc Donald’s on a Saturday afternoon.The cleanliness was very poor with stained carpets throughout the property, table tops in the restaurant were sticky, seating stained and grubby and the restaurant had not been cleaned from the previous night as food was still on the floor at breakfast!! Not a pleasant experience at all!
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2022

10/10 Excellent

Sariff

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in May 2022

8/10 Good

Karen

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
As you pull into the driveway up towards the spa/ hotel you are already feeling the stress fall away. It’s stunning! On arrival we were treated by a friendly receptionist who checked us in quickly . She booked us into breakfast and told us about the spa facilities The room was clean but basic. We didn’t have a view which was disappointing, but the bed was super soft and I had the best night sleep. The spa was clean and had all the facilities you’d expect. We used the outdoor jacuzzi which was lovely on a warm day. The hotel was not busy so we were able to get sun beds etc without any problem We didn’t have dinner at the hotel , on walking past the restaurant seemed quiet and without atmosphere. There was no music anywhere. We fancied a hot drink and cake late afternoon but everything shut at 5 so not possible , so take snacks and drinks with you (although you could get alcohol from the restaurant) Breakfast was ok, food as expected at a health spa nothing special , the waiting staff were having a really bad day , no tables were being cleared and food was running out faster than they could get it out . We didn’t bother trying to pay for anything extra as they just were too busy. You had to help yourself to hot drinks and make toast etc so not sure why they were so overrun, my only criticism of this beautiful spa. Overall a relaxing stay in beautiful surroundings
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2022

6/10 Okay

Marcus

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
Staff seemed very tense and didn't actively engage with guests
Stayed 1 night in May 2022

2/10 Terrible

Sukhvinder

Stayed 1 night in May 2022

8/10 Good

Sabina

Stayed 1 night in Apr 2022

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Seriously wouldn’t bother going.
Spa facilities seriously tired and limited. Bedroom in need of redecoration. Bed linen covered in hairs and had holes in.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2022

8/10 Good

Marie Christine

Liked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2022

8/10 Good

Lorraine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2022

8/10 Good

Jack

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2021

6/10 Okay

Ethan

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
For a break not for business
So this is a really nice spa! Probably one to take your partner to not really for business. The WiFi isn’t very good, check in and out takes forever and the staff are trying to upswell me a spa day and products. Personally wouldn’t use the restaurant as there is no bar etc some lovely pubs up the road. Can’t fault the facilities though, spa is very nice
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2021

2/10 Terrible

Helen

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nothing special. Breakfast is rubbish. Food is served in tiny plates
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021

4/10 Poor

Richard

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Great Staff just very tired and dated venue.
The place was just very tired looking and in need of a refurb, the bedroom and bathroom looked tired and 20 years out of date and likewise in the main lounge areas. It didn’t help that both mornings by around 8.00AM on the Friday and 8.30AM on the Saturday there were workmen replacing woodwork around door frames either side of my room tapping and banging away which was a lovely way to be woken up in a place you come to for relaxation! Also the one and only bar they had which was in their dining hall, it didn’t exactly feel like a Resturant, did not stock beer not bottled and not draft only wine it was just weird. The one saving grace was that any of the staff serving in the “restaurant” were fantastic and very enthusiastic and went out of their way to try and compensate for the lack of beer which really was most appreciated. Additionally the night Porter who managed to get me into my room after a very late arrival (1.30AM) did a fine job of a non standard check in.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2021

4/10 Poor

Stuart

Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2021

8/10 Good

Anita

Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2021

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2020

2/10 Terrible

Matthew

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Don’t go
Terrible food even worse service. Setting is amazing but the whole resort is very tired and not looked after. needs a refurb and a rethink.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2020
Response from Mark on Oct 6, 2020
Thank you for your feedback, we have had a new executive chef just join us in regards to your food comments.

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Disappointed
Lots of restrictions in place due to COVID including limited time to stay at the hotel. Previously we could check in at 2pm but was turned away and told to return not before 5pm. The outdoor pool closes at 5.15pm so no chance to use it that evening. Indoor pool needs to be booked. Majority of the spa facilities (ice room, sauna and steam rooms) were not available and outdoor jacuzzi was out of use for most of the time that we were at the hotel. Some of the 'inclusive breakfast' items not available. Very poor and disappointing considering the stature and cost of the hotel.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2020
Response from Mark on Oct 6, 2020
All bed and breakfast bookings have an arrival time of 5pm which is stated in your confirmation e-mail. As a result of Covid 19, we have to have bookings in place in order to ensure social distancing is carried out. The outdoor pool is open until 6pm daily.