Best Western Plus Moat House Reading

Really odd and unfriendly. I stopped to charge my Tesla and needed the toilet, but a group of security staff stopped me and said there weren’t any toilets.

The staff made a good impression. The reception team were great, the evening receptionist was nice, and the breakfast staff were polite, friendly and professional. Claudia was very helpful on the phone, and Cameron deserves a special thank you for listening to my feedback and asking for my honest opinion. He clearly cares about improving the hotel and the customer experience. The hotel has recently reopened under a different chain. My room was a good standard, with original beams in the ceiling, though they felt a bit low as I’m quite tall. The bath was excellent, with plenty of hot water. The ladies’ toilets were beautiful and spotless. I didn’t enjoy breakfast on the first day, though I was told there was a new chef. On the second day, with a different chef, it was very nice.

For a Best Western “plus,” this was a very disappointing business trip, and I won’t stay again. Breakfast was only the usual fry-up options, with no porridge or poached eggs. The hotel’s power went off at 7:30 in the morning, so I had to leave early. I couldn’t shower because there was no hot water, and the TV didn’t work for me in the evening because the reception was too weak. The lobby was welcoming, but the restaurant looked shabby and smelled damp. Renovation work seemed to be going on, with skips and rubbish outside. My so-called executive suite was old and dirty and clearly needed the work too, though I could have put up with that. When I told the manager about the problems as I left, he didn’t apologize or offer to put anything right. He laughed and said everything goes wrong when he takes a break, and that he’d been away for three days.

The flooding was so bad when we left that my husband had to wrap bin bags around his legs to get to his car. Water had got into one side and damaged the interior. I asked for a partial refund, but the hotel refused and told me to make a formal complaint. When I asked for help and said I was registered as disabled, staff showed complete disdain and blamed us for not parking elsewhere, even though we’d been told to leave the car there and that we’d be informed if we needed to move it. We were there for a close friend’s wedding, and the stay ruined our weekend. On arrival, one part of the car park was mildly flooded. We asked whether to park somewhere else, but staff said it was fine and took our registration and phone number. By Saturday morning the water was much worse. I was told staff were working on a way to reduce it and that they’d let me know if we needed to move the car. We went to the wedding and came back to serious flooding outside the hotel. Staff shrugged it off and said we could move the car, but by then none of us could legally drive after the reception. The next morning it was worse again, and our car was stranded. All the rooms were boiling hot. The radiators were off, but the pipes around the rooms stayed hot, and the air conditioning didn’t work. The decoration and furnishings are dated, and the staff’s attitude was awful. I’d tell people to avoid this hotel completely.