De Vere Cranage Estate

The hotel has good facilities and plenty of parking, and the front of house and housekeeping staff were wonderful. Food and drinks at the bar were extremely expensive, though. In the lounge areas, dirty plates, cups and cutlery were left sitting around for a long time. That was the one thing that let the place down.

Rachel at the front of house made our stay with how caring and attentive she was. I was there with my 7-year-old for our trip to the new Lapland UK Manchester, and she made him feel so special. The hotel stay felt just as magical as Lapland. The room was beautiful, large and well maintained. I also can't fault the food in the bar, and the children's menu was brilliant. Breakfast was faultless too, with the staff making a real fuss of my son and treating him exceptionally well. The whole team showed a level of class I really admire. I don't see how anyone could be unhappy here.

The staff were really helpful, the location was great, and the rooms were nice. Breakfast was the usual help-yourself spread at a large hotel, nothing fancy, but it was okay. I also want to thank the management for handling a very sensitive issue involving an aggressive guest.

The staff who handled our call were very attentive and helped fix a booking we had accidentally made for the wrong date. On arrival, though, the rooms felt dated and disappointing. During a 10-minute fire alarm in the spa, while I was in the shower, my towel was taken away. The food was a letdown too. We ordered a pizza and a vegan burger, and both were well below what we expected. The burger was basically an empty bun with two meat substitutes. When we sent it back, it came back in the same bun with one extra lettuce leaf and two extra tomato slices. The so-called artisan pizza was barely edible and partly frozen. The cocktails weren't anything unusual, just a vodka martini, but it wasn't on the menu so we couldn't order one. The Hendrick's gin and tonic also came without cucumber. The staff seemed overwhelmed and weren't up to standard. When I asked about it, the response made it seem as though our three simple drink orders, a Hendrick's and beer and a whisky, were a nuisance. We were leaving at 7 am and the takeaway breakfast wasn't ready until 7:10. It consisted of a banana, an apple, a muffin, yoghurt, one snack and water, so there wasn't any substantial food. At first they brought out a frozen taco and vacuum-packed taco meat in a bag, which made it clear breakfast wasn't ready to go. When I asked for a breakfast refund, I was told it was part of a package price and couldn't be refunded. We've stayed at many De Vere properties, but sadly this one didn't meet the standard of the others we've visited.