English
Colchester - Five Lakes
Book online or call:
1 877 2 CROWNE (1 877 227 6963)
|
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 3.0 out of 5.0 by PWKent Cafe food at restaurant prices
A good value and comfortable room, albeit far too warm, with good facilities, particularly for keeping the children entertained. Breakfast was good but don't fall for the Brasserie. The menu was mouthwatering but the food itself fell way short of the promise and wholly failed to justify the prices charged.
April 11, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Rixy Great hotel
Fab stay great place to chill out golf great food good
April 11, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by CambsIanP Poor experience
Unfortunately I found that we had a very poor experience staying at the Five Lakes hotel. The problems we had with our room included:
TV remote not working
Room safe not working
Booked a King Size bed, but instead receive two large singles poorly joined together (one was higher up than the other making it very uncomfortable)
Nice looking bathroom but very poor shower pressure
Stupidly expensive breakfast (£17 Full English)
The main problem though was we went out during the day and returned to our room early evening, our room in the Village appartments had been cleaned but the double balcony doors left wide open. Being mid-march (and British weather as it is) it was snowing & freezing outside so wasn't happy to return to a freezing cold hotel room, never mind the lack of security for our belongings!
I complained to the duty manager upon leaving, but were just given a list of excuses and didn't feel any apologies were sincere, he even asked if we would be coming back! No we are not!!
April 9, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by kazmac17 Really Good Value
For a weekend break - the hotel was great
The room was a good with an amazing large bed.......
The pool and leisure centre was great, we found all the staff very friendly and efficient. We ate in the restaurant one evening and the food was delicious.........
All together we had a really relaxing time
April 9, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Amazing Fabulous stay!
Had an overnight stay with Five Lakes for a break with my partner, so pleased we picked this hotel. We had the kingsize suite which was falbulous and excelled our expectations, amazing decor, very clean and very comfortable room. Dinner was in the Basserie restaurant and the food was amazing!! The only down side was we didn't feel the staff was very attentitive although they were polite and courteous, we didn't feel we was given much attention. On paying for the bill we also noticed three charges to our meal receipt which totalled to around £17 but once I queried this they were taken off straight away. Like I said very helpful but could have been a little more attentitive as we spent over £150 on that one meal. Overall our impressions of this hotel were fabulous and we will be visiting again.
April 7, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Phil26 Great hotel great staff
Stayed here over 100 times in last 9 years and been here longer than most of the staff. Hotel is a fantastic location with great rooms overlooking the countryside. Seen a lot of staff come and go and always found the service to be exceptional. The only downside is the excessive wifi cost, since the takeover, it used to be free. The IHG scheme makes up for this . Miss the old buffet and the football shirts that used to adjourn the walls, still a tranquil release in a beautiful location.
March 25, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by Robap WIFI and Old bathrooms
The wifi costs at this hotel are totally over the top! For a hotel out in the middle of countryside with poor mobile phone reception it should be free WIFI instead its very expensive.
Bathrooms are really old compared to the rooms stained roof, plaster peeling off the walls and sealant stained or missing not close to the standard of the rooms.
I am a platinum member and got no free drink no newspaper not welcomed as a platinum guest really poor.
March 18, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by cc200 Lovely hotel, great food and overall great place to stay
We stayed with a groupon offer and stayed from Saturday to Sunday. Our room was a Queen sized room which was nice and big with an amazing bed. The bathroom was clean and the room was contemporary yet cosy. We had all we needed in the room, water, tea kettle etc. We ate in the Brasserie restaurant from the A La Carte menu which didnt have a large selection to chose from but It didnt matter. You could chose from the buffet which was about £21 but we decided to eat A La Carte and pay that bit extra. The food in the bar area was very expensive, £6.50 for a cheese and pickle sandwich. Overall the hotel was lovely with a welcoming staff and lovely food but be prepared to pay alot of for the food and drink
March 17, 2013
Rated 2.0 out of 5.0 by Moo26 Lovely hotel BUT felt let down...
Overall I felt this is a lovely hotel with good facilities and a nice countryside location, perfect for a little Valentine's break or so I thought! After returning home I suddenly realised I had left a virtually brand new blouse (so not to crease) hanging in their wardrobe in our room. Brought it as had originally planned to dine in the hotel restaurant on Valentines night but decided against it as felt the hotel menu seemed rather overpriced (maybe a good choice after reading previous reviews of the hotel restaurant/service). However this was not a problem as we found a lovely pub nearby and had a superb meal. Anyway so after learning I was without my blouse I immediately called the hotel to be told no one was available from housekeeping and they would call me back, which they eventually did to be told nothing was found/handed in from that room, strange! Sent an email enquiring about the hotel's policy regarding lost property yet received no reply! Shame this was my second visit to the hotel/spa but after this experience it will definitely make me think twice.
March 14, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Don47 Absolutely fantastic spa break!
My friend and I had a fabulous time at Five Lakes. The staff were welcoming and very friendly. The room was comfortable and we had the luxury of two double beds betweem two of us. The evening meal was also suberb. I would recommend that you avoid weekends if you go on a spa break, there are no children in the swimming pool and the hotel is nice and quiet.
March 11, 2013
Rated 2.0 out of 5.0 by mrangry17 Poor staff service and attention
When we checked in at 5 Lakes on 1st March, we had to wait, not enough staff. Mostly in the back room chatting.
We went for afternoon tea in the bar area and sat for 20 minutes with no one approaching us or offering a menu. We had to go to the bar to get attention, and even after ordering we had to wait another 20 mins for our scones and tea cakes to arrive as they were apparently being " freshly baked" , When the scones arrived, we were not given plates or cutlery and had to ask again. The scones were rock hard and inedible. No one came and asked if everything was ok, staff just disappeared . No fresh tea or top ups were offered.
The main restaurant prices for dinner were way too high, £25 for a steak is ridiculous for a country hotel. We ate locally in nearby village.
The wi fi internet did not attach to our i phones after we had paid and we had to call the hotel helpline. as reception staff had little knowledge of the system
March 10, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by dizzy good rooms, terrible restuarant
the rooms and the staff were very good
i picked this hotel because they had a fish restuarant, however this was not available
the main restuarant was a disaster on the first night ,waited 90 minutes for main course, this was blamed on computer error, when the food did arrive it looked and felt like it had been waiting on the side for an hour.
Second evening was a buffet of cold meats and salad and what appeared to be left over from the night before.
if you stay here i suggest you take a packed lunch
March 9, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Stan48 Another great experience
I stay at this hotel whenever I am in this area, as it always represents good value for money, has friendly staff who recognise and welcome returning guests. As a Platinum member I have always received an upgaded room or suite. I cannot fault this hotel and am looking forward to my next stay.
March 7, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by Tom31745 Nice room but appalling service
Reading a lot of reviews I often find some people to seem overly critical however having 'endured' a stay at this hotel I now appreciate the comments and experiences behind them.
The service at reception upon entry was one of complete disinterest, no effort to show us what facilities were available or where anything was. The lunchtime meal was both expensive for what it was and cold. There were no towels or robes in our room which meant waiting for 45 minutes before we could use the swimming pool/spa. There was only one restaurant open whereas the website led us to believe there would be a choice. No atmosphere anywhere in the hotel. There seemed to be a lot of staff who appeared to do absolutely nothing. Slow checkout times. Was also charged an etra £50 quid for 'incidentals' none of which I purchased and am yet to receive a refund for this...... Overall a very very dissapointing weekend and one that would put me off using this chain again.
February 27, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by sarah26 airport hotel
lacked atmosphere though was functional and comfortable it was stuffy and not at all relaxing
Like being in an airport hotel
February 26, 2013
Rated 2.0 out of 5.0 by Weeksie Disappointing Experience
Booked in advance but had to queue for 15 mins. to check in. When booking we were not told that we would be in the village complex. After a long wait we had to queue again at reception to be given a room in the hotel.
Beds were excellent and room very comfortable, great view.
Window safety catch broken (room 218). Dirty bathroom including cobwebs.
Restaurant experience was extremely poor, lack of trained staff. Particularly at breakfast.
Restaurant buffet dinner was overall good quality but the puddings were a complete let down. Cold desserts in plastic containers for a 4* hotel??!!
Overall a 3* experience for a 4* hotel. Our first experience of a Crowne Plaza Hotel.
We would be pleased to hear your response and receive any compensation that you may feel we are due.
February 26, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Lynnie1972 Lovely place to relax
We booked a suite for Valentine's Day and it was a lovely room. Big bedroom, although the lounge was a little small but had a nice balcony with great views across the countryside. The room had a lovely en suite bathroom with a separate shower, which was wonderfully powerful, and a lovely bath. Lots of hot water was available (I had a relaxing bath and then a shower before dinner and my partner then had a shower and there was plenty of hot water the whole time). The swimming pool, steam room and sauna were nice, a great way to unwind. We had a meal from the buffet in the evening and this was very good with a fantastic salad bar, which is great if you are watching your figure and they had a healthy option dessert of fruit salad which I was really pleased about and you could return for more if you wanted to, which pleased my partner! Breakfast was fab too, again with a buffet-style. I absolutely loved this hotel from the moment we walked in. The layout is really pleasing and I started to unwind immediately. Check in was quick and easy, as was check out. I can't fault the hotel at all. The only negative comment was the air conditioning in our lounge. It was a cold evening and we wanted to warm the room up, but the air coming out wasn't very warm, although it worked perfectly in the bedroom. Perhaps a DVD/CD player or docking station would be a good addition to the room, as the hotel does not currently provide these.
February 24, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 Great Room, but not what was booked, Food shambolic but well served..
I booked a "King" room at this hotel. When I checked in, I was informed that I'd instead been allocated a "double double" room, because the "King" rooms are away from the main building, and they were trying to keep all the gusts in the main building due to the cold weather.
I was not informed of this change before arrival, but accepted the reasoning behind it. The room provided was spacious, comfortable and generally well presented, although there was soap scum in the bottom of the bath and the window was very difficult to open.
The most shambolic part of the stay was the restaurant service on the first night (13th Feb). We arrived downstairs at about 19:45. We stood at the desk for about 10 minutes before we were acknowledged by any staff member and a further 5 minutes before we were asked if we wanted to eat.
We were seated at about 20:00, and over the course of the next 3 hours waited for a very sub-standard Menu d'hotel to be served to us. The starters were good, if tiny portions, and arrived a little on the tardy side about 1/2 hour after we ordered.
We then sat and waited about an hour and a half for our main course. When it finally arrived, I had no choice but to send mine back as it was so over-cooked it was inedible. I then waited a further 20 minutes for a second meal, which, on the plus side was cooked well and very tasty indeed.
We ordered our dessert, which took a further 20 minutes to turn up; a Chocolate Brownie that was not cooked at al in the middle and a Bitter Chocolate Panna Cotta that was neither bitter nor a Panna cotta, it was an overly sweet, very stodgy mousse, topped with an inexplicable layer of Gelatine and what tasted like squirted chocolate Angel Delight .
We were not the only people to suffer that night, the whole service suffered delays and and instead of the Manger coming and talking to us himself, he sent someone else to do his dirty work. She took notes about our comments, apologised and told us that the manager himself was dealing with issues but would talk to us the next day. We never received that call.
We also had to pay for the meal, the person on the till said she was only authorised to remove the bottle of wine we had had from the bill, which was the only competent part of the thing!
On the plus side, our waiter was efficient and gave us very good service with good manners and a smile during hard times.
We ate food we brought ourselves for the rest of our stay.
Check-out was painless, but then, we did it early in the day.
February 22, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by missindie Beautiful Hotel shame about the service
This would of been my 5th visit to five lakes and my partners first but after the fiasco of last weekends stay I'm not sure i would want to repeat the experience.
The Hotel is lovely and the rooms luxurious. The spa is also lovely and the treatments always good. The restaurant however is another story. We booked our meal for 8.00 and we queued to be told come back in 20 mins. We once again queued and were finally taken to our seats at 8.30. after 15mins a waiter took our complete order and our starters arrived 20 mins later. After sometime with nobody coming near or by i approached the main desk and eventually the restaurant manager approached me i asked him the time and he told me it was 9.50 with that i asked well can you tell me then why we have not had our main course when we had been seated since 8.30 - i also mentioned that our plates had not even been cleared form our starters and neither had the 4 tables around us despite there being plenty of staff. The manager said he would look into it and come back to us. He returned and said out main's would be about 10 mins later would we like it room service and a free bottle of wine we agreed and our meal was delivered at 10.30. The food was good but with it being so late it gave my partner terrible heart burn all night and he hardly slept. Not quite the romantic get away we had planned. On check out there appeared to be a queue forming for customers complaining so we checked out and left somewhat disgruntled.
February 18, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by pomeretta11 AVOID RESTURANT
booked a deal through groupon for a valentine gift for my wife after a four month stint out of the country. I can not complain about the room as the bed was very comfortable and the landing was quiet. but that is where the positives end i am afraid. checking in took forever even though there was just one person in front of us. then staff forgot to give us a voucher for our afternoon tea that we booked.
the worst part of the night was the resturant experiance, we booked a table for 1915hrs we eventually got our food at 2100hrs after twice complaining about the lenth of time it took to arrive, it turns out that the order was misplaced TWICE when it did arrive it may as well been a childs portion and tastless to add injury to insult, not even an apolgy by the staff. overall a pretty souless experiance i am afraid to say.
February 18, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by annen lovely room, poor service in resturant
lovely hotel, good rooms, pool a bit shabby but ok, however the service for dinner in restaurant was really bad. we waited 1/2 hour for booked table and then suffered with very poor service.
February 16, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by LesleyLou Fantastic comfortable bed, peaceful surroundings
we had a nice overnight stay here. staff were friendly and helpful. Breakfast the next day had a nice touch when the restaurant manager ? offered a complimentary glass of Bucks Fizz. Good swimming pool, steam, sauna gym & jacuzzi for a short stay. Only niggle was the far sided dining room seemed to carry lots of noise, would have been better if we could have sat in the quiter area at the front of dining room where couples were seated. We did reserve too :( otherwise a nice little change of scenery.
February 16, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by duchess Mrs Nancarrow-Baldwin
Fantastic five night stay. The rooms are to a high standard and kept very clean.,Bedding really spotless and so comfortable. Beds a great size for a fabulous nights sleep. We are a family of three and we all eat different breakfast, all tastes were catered for and if it was not on display we only had to ask for eggs to be cooked another way and it was done . The staff were always very helpful and we felt very welcomed by them. The hotel is in a really great location, which we loved, it was so peaceful. The walks around the hotel were interesting, lots of wildlife and the small derelict church my husband and daughter found was a delight. The swimming pool and hot tub were fab and all the activities that were on offer were fantastic. I must mention the reception and lobby which was decorated for Christmas, it looked simply out of this world, beautiful. The first time we used badminton rackets there was no charge then the next day because some other guest had returned their rackets broken everyone was charged a rental fee which did not really seem fair , the person returning broken rackets should have been charged.. Happy New Year to You All . See you soon.
February 14, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Bonza70 great family weekend venue
Nice comfortable hotel with lots to do for active family celebrations.Our visit was in late January so wet,cold and snowy but still good for a relaxing time.Consider upgrade for benefit of club lounge.
February 2, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Ginge3102 Good stay (eventually)
We stayed at the hotel between Christmas and new year. The stay was good overall, and the staff were very polite and friendly. However there were a couple of minor issues.
We paid for a king upgrade, and were told on checking in that normally these rooms are else where in the complex, but they'd "zipped" 2 twins together to make the king and keep us in the main part of the building. Not a problem, but upon entering the room, we were greeted by 2 twins pushed together, literally. We had to contact house keeping to get the 2 twins made in to the 1 king we had paid for. House keeping turned up quite promptly, and changed the single bed covers and sheets for the required doubles.
Next problem was at the buffet breakfast. I found hair in my food, which initially was dealt with fine, the woman was very polite and offered to take the plate away, and bring back a replacement. I ended up waiting for a significant amount to time, so ended up asking to speak to the duty manager. The duty manager arranged a goodwill gesture by way of apology, prior to speaking with me. The matter was resolved to my satisfaction.
The food was ok, but could've been better. The staff were pleasant, just a little forgetful it seems.
Overall I can't fault the room, it was very large and well thought out, and had all the things you'd expect (tea coffee etc). We had a very comfortable stay and the few little problems we encountered were dealt with swiftly.
January 7, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by BTB60 Black & White Ball
Excellent night, very comfortable room, excellent food and music.
Staff shortage made service a bit slow, and I was surprised we had to purchase our own midnight celebratory drink. Other events we have attended, it is included in the package.
But overall a very good evening.
I will be considering returning next year.
January 7, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Naneeno1 New Years Eve
This was our 2nd New Year at the hotel. The room was brilliant, the food excellent and all round good apart from the buffet breakfast. It was over cooked, cold and we had to wait for it to be replenished one dish at a time!
January 6, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Sanjay71 Amazing value for money
This is the second time we have stayed at this hotel resort, and have really enjoyed it both times. We have found the staff to be very friendly and helpful, the food was good, and the health centre very good and clean. We would definitely recommend staying here and forgetting about the outside world to get the full benefit of this hotel.
January 5, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Kevin555 Business Travel
I stay at this hotel on a regular basis and its a great spot that seems to be getting better all the time.
December 18, 2012
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Stan1948 Another nice stay
I regularly use the hotel when in the Colchester area. The staff are excellent and I always receive a friendly greeting. I am a Platinum member and have always been given a room upgrade without asking. Lats time I was upgraded to a suite, excellent. I also get access to the Club Lounge, with its complimentary snacks and drinks. I nice facility which also has internet access if needed.
I sometimes eat in the restaurant and find the food of good quality and reasonably priced. Service is always good.
My only slightly negative comment is that the pool, sauna and steam room are looking somewhat tired. On this ocasion there were tiles missing from the pool ceiling and I noticed some debris in the water. I do hope this area will soon be refurbished.
Oveall I always enjoy this hotel, which I happily recommend.
December 13, 2012
