English
Colchester - Five Lakes
Book online or call:
1 877 2 CROWNE (1 877 227 6963)
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Hotel Contact Information
Hotel Front Desk: 44-1621-868888
Hotel Fax: 44-1621-869696
Hotel Fax: 44-1621-869696
Rated 3.3 out of 5 by 49
reviewers.
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by roger66 Not a good experience.
The staff were unknowledgeable about the hotel. eg. checkout times. It took an hour to check in despite the front desk having only a queue of 3 people. Not all the amenities in the room worked and despite several calls to reception the problem was never resolved.
May 12, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by alliesair OK, but let down by various avoidable factors
Well, seeing as you asked...
First impressions of the Hotel were great. Lovely Reception Space and a friendly welcome. We were able to check in at half 12, as requested, so I was initially very happy, although as I'd booked this as a 30th birthday present for my best friend, I wasn't particularly pleased when the rate i'd booked was broadcast quite loudly to us both...
We were given our key for a room in 'the village' an area of rooms slightly away from the main hotel, a 3-4 minute walk or so from reception.
When we arrived at our block, our key wouldn't open the main door, so back to reception we went to sort it out. A team member accompanied us back and, with her management key, we were able to gain access. Interestingly our key allowed us to open our bedroom door but not the door to our block. We were heading out for the afternoon and were told the issue would be looked at and fixed before we returned.
On first inspection, the Room was very large, bright and tidy. 2 beds pushed together (we had requested a twin but I wonder if this would be the same if we had a double) and they were very comfortable. Nice fresh white bedding too. As we started to unpack though, we noticed little things that let it down a bit like 1 Bathrobe, 1 loo roll, 1 bottle of water only (there were 2 of us!) and a chipped cup. Simply rectified and avoidable, but clearly missed upon inspection by housekeeping...
Some 6-7 hours later, we returned from our day out to find that our key would not work in the main door again so off to reception we went once more... The young chap there apologised and walked us over, telling us that it would be resolved before we returned from dinner which we were having in the main hotel but when we did come back from dinner, surprise surprise we could not get in again!!! By this stage, I was starting to get a bit miffed and embarrassed in front of my friend who I'd booked this for, as I had to keep dragging her back to reception with me!
The same guy who'd walked us over earlier in the evening, took us back again, saying he'd requested the fix, but maintenance go home at 7pm so it'll be looked at first thing in the morning now. As we were on our way to the room, he asked us the same questions he'd asked us on the journey just a few hours before.
I know he probably felt a bit embarrassed and was trying to fill the silence during the few minutes walk but remember your customers!! When I told him he'd already asked us that, he said he speaks to so many people in a day and forgets who's who ...
Dinner was Ok but nothing to write home about. We were on a dinner bed and breakfast tariff but I would have been disappointed if we'd had to have paid for dinner separately. We had £21 to spend but £15.50 for a chicken breast and a few fries and £5.50 on a bowl of ice cream seemed a bit extortionate to me and this amount didn't cover enough for a starter, main and pudding because of how expensive each course was.
Breakfast on the other hand was lovely, a great selection of full English, fruit, pastries, rolls, toast etc. And you had marmite too, so I was happy!!
Sadly, it was slightly ruined by yet another visit to reception upon returning to our room as we STILL couldn't gain access... Thankfully we were checking out that morning ... but it meant one of us had up stay in the room whilst the other made various trips to the car with the luggage!
So, good points and bad points really, the bad ones of which would have been overlooked and forgiven if it hadn't been for the constant trips to and from reception to be granted permission and access to a room I'd paid good money for!
May 11, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by MarkEssex1984 Many Things Wrong
Firstly, the venue is lovely and we were very impressed.
The staff on the whole were polite and helpful.
They were let down by several annoyances which means I would not pay to stay there again.
The main complaints are below:
- The time taken to check in was unacceptable for a hotel, at least 30 minutes. When we did check in, we were unable to be given our key so were asked to come back later for the key. At this point the queue was at least twice as long. Fortunately, a member of staff who looked like management sorted our key for us so we didnt have to wait.
- My debit card was not able to be authorised for extras because it expired in 2016? I'm still totally confused by this. We set it up with my girlfriends instead (hers expires 2017)
- We had afternoon tea. The scones and tea cakes came out but we had no plates. We then finished them by the time the pot of tea finally come out. This took 25 mins.
- When we ordered drinks, we couldnt charge them to the room as we didnt have a tab. Clearly we did as we had just gone through the pain of my card being refused and my girlfriend using hers. We fortunately had some cash on us.
- Went to the pool and the jacuzzi wasnt working properly.
- In the room, the radiator was making a hissing sound all night which kept us awake.
- At 8.30am, the TV switched itself on full blast to display the offers etc from Crowne Plaza waking us up.
- At breakfast the food was warm rather than hot. All the plates were cold.
- Walking back to the room, my girlfriend was very aggressively asked what she wanted by a member of staff near the Golf area as we were about to walk outside to our room. He asked us to walk through the hotel rather than through the gardens. He then proceeded to tell us our room was down a corridor, up some stairs and on the second floor. Firstly, it was 10.30am so we had clearly stayed the night so knew where our room was, secondly he was completely wrong. We were staying in the executive rooms by the golf course so nowhere near where he said.
To save you some time, I have complied the response which I’m 99% certain you will give, please feel free to copy and paste.
Thanks
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review about your recent stay with us. We are pleased that you liked the venue and found our staff polite and helpful. Please accept our sincere apology though for the shortcomings you experienced during your stay. We constantly strive to provide an environment of comfort and value to our guests, therefore, we are sincerely concerned when we fall short of your expectations. We have taken note of your valuable comments and will use these to monitor and improve the quality of services we offer to our guests.
We hope you give us a chance in the future to show you how great our hotel is
May 7, 2013
Rated 2.0 out of 5.0 by Robert811 New Restaurant set-up is dreadful
Changes made recently appear more centered to savign money than guest experience. The new set menu which is the SAME all week often has soup of the day - ALL WEEK. Also as a platinum member and often away from home on business I prefer not to sit in a restaurant which is either full of couples or sometimes 20 tables for one, but eat in the club lounge in a more homely surrounding. Yet I was told this time the restaurant manager had decided on his own I wasn't allowed.
restaurant is going down hill fast.
Also my bed was not changed three days into the stay and rubbish from the previous guest was left in my room.
As trhis was a club room I was not impressed.
May 7, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Weekendguest1 Great weekend away
We really enjoyed our weekend at five lakes. The only negative thing was the sauna, swimming pool and where to get the towels was not very well sign posted. So we ended up having to ask a few members of staff where to go. Some staff were more helpful than others, the swimming pool attendant was very helpful however the spa bar staff and some of the restaurant staff didnt seem to know what they were doing. The only other thing was when I booked the offer of bed,breakfast and dinner they didnt inform me that there was a limit on the a la carte menu and it was only actually the buffet we could have within the offer. I was only informed of this when I checked in. The DJ playing in the evening was brilliant, it made our evening even more enjoyable. Overall most staff were very friendly and helpful (especially the reception staff), room was lovely, we had a really good night away.
May 2, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by stillsotired The worst hotel stay ever!
We stayed on a Saturday night at the Crowne Plaza Colchester (Five Lakes) in April 2013.
When we got back to our room around midnight, we had a lovely large comfortable room in the 'village' (not in the main hotel building'). We were awoken at 3am by screaming, shouting and swearing, drunken people in the stairwell, and outside, and in the room next door. The walls must be so thin, it was so loud it sounded as if they were standing on our bed arguing! This was alarming and very disturbing. When we complained to reception, they came half an hour later and knocked on the door of the shouting couple and got them to quiet down.
In the morning, there was about 1 minute of hot water in the shower until it went ice cold.
The duty manager was apologetic the next morning when we complained and did give us a small discount on our bill, about 25%. Additionally, the hotel wrote to us apologizing for a completely unrelated issue (the swimming pool being closed) which we had not complained about, just confirming that they do not listen to their 'valued' customers.
Overall, it was THE WORST hotel stay we have ever had and we were extremely disappointed. We would have been better off in all ways at a cheaper hotel!
April 22, 2013
Rated 2.0 out of 5.0 by 06Boof70 Family wedding & reception, approx 100 guests
This venue were unable to give us access to our room until 20 minutes before the time we needed to be at the wedding service (in the venue). This started, what should have been a relaxed a pleasant stay, into stressful & rushed preparations. This in spite of a specific request the previous day. Guests arriving after us were give rooms immediately. No explanation was offered.
The wedding breakfast (approx 100 people) included coffee. A simple request for one Espresso coffee could not be accommodated without a surcharge - why?
This is NOT customer service at its best.
April 20, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by RedWare7 Business and Plleasure
From start to finish, the staff and facilities were excellent.
The Golf Pro was superb, helped correct a poor swing and was very patient with a bad pupil!
The bedroom, spa and restaurant were extremely well maintained and extremely good value for money.
Highly recommend this hotel for business and pleasure.
"I'll be back!"
April 19, 2013
