More about The Winchester Hotel
Good location for station and with very courteous staff
by TripAdvisor Member dangermousetrip
I found the Winchester Hotel to be a very nice place to stay overnight in the town.
Upon arrival I found the receptionist to be very friendly and professional in her manner. The rooms have all been refurbished and so mine and the look of the hotel in general has a nice comfortable modern appearance. My room was a generous size as the bed seemed to be double, even though I was a single. The magazine guide to Winchester that was placed in the room was very helpful, especially as it had a local map in it.
Regarding the location, it is situated approx. 4-5 minutes walk from Winchester train station and roughly a few mins more to the main town streets - so this is very handy, though there are other hotels that are even more central if you need it. The only issue with The Winchester Hotel location is that the street it's actually on is not as brightly lit as the main town streets. This shouldn't be a problem for most people, but I walked back on my own from the town and did notice the fact that the last couple of minutes walk is under quite dim light and thus not quite as comfortable as in the actual center.
Breakfast was fine with a good, if not massive selection of both hot and cold items. There are also certain additional hot item choices that are available at a small charge (£2.50 each). The waitress who was serving was full of smiles and was a pleasure to talk with - it makes such a difference to have breakfast staff who at least seem to like their job, rather than most places where they don't seem to care. Although I curse myself for not making a note of her name, she was really nice and I hope she receives lots of praise for being the perfect example of how to treat guests.
PROs:
* Less than 5 minutes walk to Winchester train station
* Friendly staff
* Nice refurbished rooms with plenty of space
* Good breakfast choices and they knew about free range eggs :)
* The main Winchester streets are about 5-8 minutes walk
CONs
* The actual street that the hotel is located on is a mainish road, but is still quite dim/dark at night - you will be walking on it for about 2 mins from the bright town streets
* I only had a skylight window in my room (I didn't mind that but I know some people don't like it - not sure what other views the hotel has)
* I would have liked a TV listings magazine in the room rather than messing around with teletext - but this isn't really important.
I found the staff a pleasure to deal with and the rooms perfectly suited for me. With the town center only 5 minutes away I would certainly consider staying at The Winchester Hotel again.
Great beds for tired heads
by TripAdvisor Member kalgran
While the hotel looks very ordinary from the outside and sits in a huge car park, the interior has recently been refurbished to create a trendy boutique hotel look. Rooms are modern, very comfortable and spotlessly clean.
Dinner is on the pricey side so I would recommend eating out. Breakfast is good and has a decent self service selection.
Staff are friendly and very helpful.
The hotel is a fifteen minute walk to the center of Winchester so pack your walking shoes.
One word of warning, if you have a car be careful where you park - there are some very large birds in the trees - cleaning the car the next morning might be more than you can bear!
I won't bother again
by TripAdvisor Member Calibrator
I had the misfortune to stay at The Winchester for one night on 11th April. The website does prepare you for the fact there is ongoing refurbishment being done at the hotel. It doesn't mention that car parking facilities are temporarily very limited and that you could easily end up spending a fortune in the public car park in front of the hotel.
My room was smart and clean enough but suffered from the usual second
rate attributes found in most English hotels of this class i.e cramped, far too hot with noisy air conditioning, worn out towels and cheap scratchy bed linen. My particular room also suffered from having drainage pipes running behind one of the internal walls so that all night long I was treated to the sound of other peoples waste water rushing to the drains.
On checking out I was asked the usual question about whether my stay had been ok and, to the stunned surprise of the receptionist, I replied that it hadn't. Apologies were offered and I was informed that the problem with the noisy room would be investigated and that I would be contacted. It's now 27th April and of course I've heard nothing.
Unfortunately there are not many central hotels to choose from in Winchester but if you have a choice then try somewhere else.
Iron out the niggles
by TripAdvisor Member LUCIFER1Southampton
Stayed here for one night at the end of July. We stayed as a 30's couple in the more expensive rooms 'deluxe Exec' or something like that.
In that room bracket you should get;
Luxury bath items - we did
Bathrobes - we did
slippers - we didn't
Homemade cookies - we didn't
(not bothered about the slippers or cookies but don't put it on the room spec if your not going to provide them).
The rooms look good and the beds are real comfy the only down side that I can pick on is the noisy air-con so we just switched it off. As long as you've had a good time 'in the bar' then you wont notice the noise if you decide to leave it on.
Don't concern yourselves about the car park in front of the hotel as your not there for the view. The public car park is free on Sundays by the way. The hotel car park is under a little construction (28/07/07) so the spaces are scarce especially if you have a wedding reception taking place at the hotel as we had.
The breakfast in the mornings is of good quality and you have various choices. The hardy English or the more continental with fruit, yogurt and croissants etc.
Overall the hotel is not bad and the staff are helpful, just the odd attention to detail which needs looking at but a short and pleasant stay. Thumbs up from us.
Slightly disappointing
by TripAdvisor Member Nuleewed
There were good and bad things about The Winchester. The decor is nice and the bar/brasserie was good. A very good breakfast is provided, with a good choice of hot or cold food. Our room was of average size but was fine. However, one of the reasons for us choosing this hotel was because of it's leisure facilities. My husband and I were looking forward to using the gym and pool but we were disappointed to find that the gym was so small it was really inadequate and the pool was absolutely tiny. The jacuzzi was cold and the sauna was out of order. We also found the staff to be rather rude, just little things but it affects your stay nonetheless. All-in-all, it was ok but I wouldn't rush to go back there.
fine and uninspiring
by TripAdvisor Member sarah_jvs
Things we liked:
1. the swimming pool / jacuzzi. small but new and clean and at 7pm on a saturday i had the whole health spa to myself which was lovely.
2. the quality of food at dinner in the brasserie was better than expected and we had an enjoyable meal. A fresh pear and roquefort salad, followed by a very nice piece of duck, then a chocolate fondue to share.
3. the bathroom in the room was good with helpful touches such as heated mirror.
Things we didn't like:
1. the room wasn't as luxurious as we expected. pretty average and view of the car park. bed was too soft. brochure we were sent on booking advertised home made cookies and bathrobes but neither were in the room.
2. cot provided for our baby was ok but not very sturdy. adult size sheet provided only. luckily we had bought our own cot bedding.
3. service in the restaurant friendly but a bit poor - we weren't given a wine list and they forgot our bread.
so all in all, ok but not special.
Avoid at all cost
by TripAdvisor Member Feea
My husband and I booked to stay here for my birthday at the beginning of December and also to see the Christmas market etc round by the cathedral. On arrival, we had to pay to park outside the hotel (not a major problem) and from the reception desk, we could see that a Christmas party was in full swing. I asked the girl behind reception if she could make sure we were in a quiet room - she informed us we would be. We were told we could not use the main bar that evening because of a party but another bar was available. The room was fine - although as previous people have said, for an executive room, there was no fresh milk and the mini bar was empty. The room was well decorated, although the only window was a sky light one. We both commented how quiet the room was! We went down to have a drink in the bar - my husband's pint was 'off' - the bar lady apologised and said that the pumps had not been used for ages and she went off to the other bar to fetch another pint. She did not have enough rose wine to give me a whole glass and so again had to go to the other bar to fetch another half glass for me which was a completely different rose altogether! We were woken up at 1am by an awful racket - people running down corridors, banging doors and there appeared to be a party in the room next door - after trying to sleep for a couple of hours, we eventually rang reception - on the 3rd try, the night porter answered - he was very apologetic and informed us that some people had arrived in the hotel who had caused a lot of problems in the bar and would be leaving in the morning - he was not prepared to deal with the noise at all - so we packed up and 4am and left the hotel! We spoke to the manager in the morning who gave us a full refund and suggested that Christmas parties could be noisy! We have been told there will be a letter in in the post offering us a free weekend at the hotel but as yet, a month later, we have not received this. I would not want to return anyway. On speaking to several people when we returned, all have questioned why the night porter did not call the police if these people had caused/were causing as many problems as he had suggested. I can't comment on what Winchester is like, as we never saw any of it!
Good, But could Be Better
by TripAdvisor Member gerrybrow
Stayed for just a couple of days,food a bit pricey , but very good, staff friendly and helpful , room, very good decor and roomy BUT at night could hear toilet siston going(for the night porter we think)twice and for a long time we did inform them but it remains to be seen if anything gets done...brick wall for a view out of the window? the fitness area was very good,as was the rest of the hotel...as for the car parking this was a pain. we came back from southampton late one night after a show only to have to find £5 change from the bar, for the car park machine..this is not just the hotels fault but there must be somthing better can be done,all said and done not bad..but could be a little better.
never again
by TripAdvisor Member FrancescaNewZealand
I had booked the room 6months in advance and all corrospondence had been through me. So it was with some annoyance, the receptionship ignored me and preferred to deal with my husband who knew nothing about the arrangements I had made. I did not exist. We had been travelling for 36 hours and no one offered to take our bags and show us the room.
We had to find it ourselves. Our first meal in the dinning room was awful due to a Hens night being held in the ajoining partition and we couldn't hold a conversation at all nor hear what the waiter was saying. With wooden floors the noise was over bearing.
breakfast they charged us for $20 each even though I had a letter stating it was included in the price of the room. They wouldn't listen to me or read their letter that they has sent me.
The girl in charge of the dinning room sat on her bum and did absolutely notrhing while one poor waitress screamed around trying to do eveything. hence, tables were covered in dishes from earlier diners.
We unfortunatey stayed for three nights as we had booked them. On departure there was no 'Have you enjoyed your stay etc, just" that will be x amount sir and can I have your credit card. Not a smile nothing. So as we turned to go I said to the receptionist, 'Thank you for staying with us and have a nice trip.' I don't think it went in the head quite frankly.
We stay in numerous hotels over the year in many countries and this would honestly be the worst we have encountered for service,quietness of room, ease of parking the car ( we couldn't) and enjoyable dining. It was awful. We couldn't even use the fitness centre, it was being upgraded. It's handy if you need the rail station but it is still a way out of the town it'self. Theres better around.
nice
by TripAdvisor Member redzy
Quite nice place to stay, food very nice, though a little expensive.. I stayed for 1 night , I had to pay £4 to park my car in their car park then another £4 the next day ,to leave my car there the next morning! The rooms are clean, my room maybe not worthy of its 4* rating,
was similar to a good premier travel inn room. Staff friendly and helpful.
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