Macdonald Bear Hotel

What People are saying

Magnificent

Susan m on 10/02/2018 21:42

We. Stopped here on the 4th February for my 60th birthday. I was a little hesitant after reading some of the reviews.....however..... what a lovely stay we had. The room was lovely but what made it for us was the service provided in the restaurant by Phillipo and Andreos. Their service was impeccable. Phillipo certainly knows how guests need to be treated. Andreos was quietly perfect in his service. The only downside was the female server who requested that I use the same knife and fork that I had used for my starter for my main. However, the service provided by Phillipo more than compensated for this faux pas. The meal was wonderful and when the chef, Phillipo and Andreos c America America and presented me with a “ birthday sweet” it was the icing on the cake. Phillips your a star!

Exceptional

Ceci2812 on 07/02/2018 21:03

Extremely comfortable and spacious bedroom. Wi-Fi and heating system works perfectly.
Staff is very friendly and helpful.
Bathroom is huge! Wonderful bathtub and high quality toiletries.
I really enjoyed my stay, it's been more than pleasant.
Breakfast is marvelous.
I'd definitely come back.

Lovely hotel shame about breakfast

vad282 on 28/01/2018 14:32

We paid a lot of money for 1 night stay for a special occasion, room was beautiful and we were told that they were full so breakfast would be busy, but I have to say the worst breakfast experience ever, poor management, we waited just over an hour to be asked what we’d like and then they got it wrong, absolutely terrible, I fed this back when checking out and was asked if I’d like the manager to phone me, absolutely no offer of discount for poor breakfast and poor service, sadly wouldn’t go again and certainly wouldn’t recommend, which is a shame because it’s a lovely hotel

A Macdonald but not as you'd hope.

Drew T on 28/01/2018 11:52

If you're looking for stunning, atmospheric surroundings then tick this one. If you're looking for ease of access to Blenheim Palace and Oxford then tick again. If you're looking for comfortable beds add a third tick.
However, if you're scandalised by vastly over-inflated bar prices then scrub one of those ticks off.
If you're expecting a fantastic all-in breakfast that is quick and to the highest standard (this IS a Macdonald don't forget) then scrub another tick off the list.

We arrived and managed to squeeze into a non-space by a wall in the hotel-owned parking area and went up to our beautiful room that had the ceiling open to the apex of the roof with the old beams on display. The enormous bed was superbly comfortable and there was a capsule coffee machine at the side (not that we knew how to use one like that, and we found the kettle and normal tea/coffee stuff hiding in a cupboard the following morning) and there were bottles of sparkling spring water (ugh) also.
We got our stuff sorted out and headed off on the short walk round the corner to Blenheim for the Winter Wonderland. (separate review to come). On our return we sat in the bar and, not having to drive, I decided to indulge in my favourite evening tipple of single malt whisky. The selection wasn't bad but I quickly found myself weighing one against another as my vision blurred as my eyes watered, not from the amount imbibed, but by the prices for a single shot. I rationalised that by telling myself, "well, it IS a Macdonald".

Bed time for our youngster arrived and we traipsed up to out lively room and put him to bed (OK a sofa bed in the one bedroom but that's standard in most places we've been) and put the TV on quiet. Or we would have done except the aircon was so loud that it was keeping him awake and stopping us hearing the programs. We had to turn it, the only heating source, off in the depths of a very cold night outside. We did manage to get a comfortable night's sleep then but it was a chilly skip to the wall-mounted aircon control to turn it on again in the morning. In around half an hour it was pleasant once more.

Once dressed and ready we headed down for the breakfast we'd been looking forward to (having stayed at the Macdonald Randolph in Oxford a few years previously). There were lots of staff bustling around the stunning restaurant room and we were seated quickly, our hot drinks and cooked breakfast order taken. We'd done the sensible thing and looked the hotel up on Trip Advisor and noticed that there had been some dissatisfaction with the breakfasts from a number of people previously but decided that they would have addressed this by now, after all, it IS a Macdonald.
We started with the buffet which had everything you'd expect and between all the guests it was soon depleted. Then we called to one of the staff to ask about our hot drinks order which still hadn't arrived after about 20 minutes. They hurried away to find out and approximately 10 minutes later it arrived with some barely warm toast and no butter (actually, none to be found in the restaurant at all). We'd heard rumblings from a table nearby about their porridge not having arrived yet but you know what some people can be like.. Another 20 minutes later they were still rumbling, but somewhat louder, and I noticed that 5 sets of guests had come down and the buffet had still not been replenished and there was very little for them to eat. I pointed this out to the staff who said it was waiting to come out. Meanwhile, understandably, the nearby table were getting more annoyed and pointed out to a member of staff that they had been waiting 50 minutes for two bowls of porridge. This despite four or five members of staff busily moving plates and cutlery from one cupboard to another, seemingly. Eventually the buffet was replenished and we continued to wait for our breakfast. The porridge arrived (10 minutes before their companions' cooked breakfasts) and we awaited our own. We did remind them about our order every 10-15 minutes and, after an hour it arrived. There, on my plate, was a single hard (not crispy) piece of bacon, one three-quarter sized sausage, a marshmallow sized hash brown, a pot of baked beans that had obviously been in a pot for rather too long (you know, when the tomato sauce has gone stodgy) and a fried egg actually perfectly cooked to my requirements. I'd turned down the black pudding (which another guest commented could have broken his cutlery) as I don't like it. I similarly don't like tomatoes or mushrooms and turned those down. I was not offered any extra of anything else in their place which normally happens in much less expensive hotels. We'd also, as the meal arrived ordered more toast but, after we finally managed to stomach the breakfast offerings and it still hadn't arrived we stood up and instructed the staff not to bother with the toast. They were very apologetic and asked us to stay seated as it was about to come out but we refused. They hopped around, disappeared and hurried back with a rack of toast and we pointed out all the above catalogue of failure within earshot of a suit we'd seen hovering just inside the kitchen door who just seemed to be blaming the staff for everything.

The reviews we'd read before coming, that spoke about bad breakfast service, stretched back for months but in good faith we expected the hotel to have sorted those types of problem out. After all, it IS a Macdonald. Apparently breakfast and the happiness of guests in the morning does not seem to be high on the priority list at THIS particular Macdonald. My personal advice would be to stay, by all means, in a lovely room but it truly is not worth getting a deal where breakfast is included and definitely don't pay extra to have one.

trip to Blenheim

tonyfagan1967 on 25/01/2018 15:23

Stayed here with my wife lovely hotel from the outside but very spread out our room was off the street which is a bit strange.The food menu is very limited and the dinner we had not very good and overpriced also they need more staff.Is a hotel i wanted to stay at but not very good on this visit.