Oxford South (Didcot) Hotel

Alles prima, gut geschlafen, gutes Bett, etwas laute Abzuganlage im Badezimmer, leckeres Essen und sehr freundliches Personal. Kann Buchung mit Meal Deal nur empfehlen. Das Frühstück hat alles was das Herz begehrt und reicht vollkommen bis zum Abendessen. Für unsere 2 Kinder, die mit uns im Zimmer schliefen (11 & 13 Jahre alt) waren einzelne Betten aufgestellt und sie haben gratis geschlafen und gefrühstückt. Zum Abendessen konnten sie auf der Kinderkarte ein Menü um 6£ zusammenstellen oder von der Hauptkarte bestellen je nach Hunger ( gegen Bezahlung natürlich). An der Rezeption bekamen wir eine schriftliche Info wo genau der Bus bis zum Zentrum von Oxford zu nehmen ist um im richtigen und preisgünstigsten Distrikt abzufahren (7 Minuten Fussweg nur). Absolut empfehlenswert.

Der eine Mitarbeiter gibt auf nachdrücklicher Anfrage auch Service, nachdem man vergeblich an einem blöden Automaten versucht hat sich anzumelden. Die Zimmer existieren und waren bestimmt auch mal Sauber. Der Ausblick auf die Mülltonnen mit dem entsprechenden Lärm in Nacht, Morgen und bei entbehren geben einem das Gefühl in der Zivilisation zu sein. Es ist eben ein übliches Premier Inn das man versucht zu meiden, aber es gibt sicherlich schlimmeres. Preis Leistung stimmen nur einseitig.

Gute Lage für Milton Park - ansonsten ist die Umgebung sehr trist (Autobahn, Tankstelle, Bahnlinie) und nicht unbedingt empfehlenswert. Für das gutes Abendessen ist ein Taxi (oder das eigene Auto) zu empfehlen - das Restaurant im Haus gehört zu einer Kette und bietet ein akzeptables Standardessen, aber eben nichts Besonderes. Dagegen sind die Hotelzimmer (auch durch die Renovierung) sehr neu und angenehm eingerichtet, der Lärm der Umgebung ist auf den Zimmern nicht vernehmbar. Frühstück ist ganz gut, insbesondere muss man nicht warten, da auch das englische Frühstück in Buffetform angeboten wird (und nicht, wie in der Region typisch, nur auf Bestellung). Nur Vorsicht: bei meinem Aufenthalt waren einige Teller am Buffet nicht ganz sauber gespült!

The room (no: 5) was comfortable on the whole, albeit the hairdryer didn't work at all, plus the loo seat was ill-fitting & loose & there was visible staining in the loo pan. The immediate surroundings of the hotel gardens & car park area were all in need of some attention as there was litter strewn around, grassed areas were messy & overgrown, wooden posts outside the restaurant area were broken & all the windows were in need of a good clean. The pathway view from the windows in room no: 5 was a complete mess with overhanging foliage, litter, scruffy & dirty windows & window ledges. Most disappointingly though was the breakfasts which I had paid for in advance when booking the room. The Vegan options were extremely limited, barely any choice at all. The hash browns looked soggy & not crispy; the half tomatoes looked undercooked with no colour to them. We asked the staff if there were any mushrooms & they said they'd run out of them, even though it was only about 9am. The bread was ok for toasting, but there were no vegan pastries to choose. There was only soya milk for tea/coffee/cereal, (no other plant milk alternatives were available, like the most popular one: oat milk), there were no vegan yoghurts. So options/choice for vegans was abysmal, yet the price is the same as non-vegans who are provided with a much wider choice & variety for the same cost! This is NOT equality NOR fair for non-animal flesh/secretions eaters to pay the same price as animal eaters.....yet not have the same volume of options to choose from! My mum is not vegan , but she is vegetarian & she was incredibly disappointed with the state of the 'cooked' breakfast. She selected a croissant & tried a small piece of it....she said it was squashy & undercooked. She had a hash brown but only had a small bite of it & said it had a strong onion flavour to it, which is not nice to eat for breakfast. She also put a small amount of the scrambled egg on her plate & when she tasted that she said it was rubbery & had a horrible taste to it. We spoke to restaurant staff about the scrambled egg & we were informed that the reason that the scrambled eggs were swimming in a couple of inches of water was because they had been frozen scrambled eggs!!! How disgusting is that !! My mum's hash brown, scrambled egg was only luke warm too. The 2 x vegan sausages that were brought out to me, (that I had to ask for, as they were not readily available to choose), were definitely done by a non-vegan 'cook' as they were not actually cooked correctly, there was no colour to them, they were pale looking & when I tried a bite of one I couldn't eat the rest as it was awful. This breakfast was the absolute worst breakfast my mum & I have ever tasted anywhere !! To have paid over £20 for 2 x breakfasts was a rip-off to say the least! The 'hot' breakfast was barely warm. Choice for non-animal eaters was pitiful. The quality of food was appallingly sub-standard, even the fruit juices tasted like processed, flavoured water & not like proper natural fruit juice. With regard to the self-service buffet situation.... yes, of course, it's nice to help ourselves to what we wish to put on our plates BUT when other customers pick up the tongs to put animal flesh & dried blood, (bacon & black pudding), on their plates, then use the VERY SAME TONGS to pick up hash browns or tomatoes....this results in CROSS CONTAMINATION!! The tongs aren't labelled for individual food items, so I witnessed the 2 chaps in front of me use a single pair of tongs for picking up multiple items. I spoke to the chaps & said that unfortunately they had now contaminated the non-animal based items, to which they replied: "oh, sorry". This must happen all the time, so nothing in the hot buffet is actually suitable nor safe for vegans or vegetarians or certain food allergies &/or food intolerances sufferers, especially if people are using the tongs & serving spoons for all the items !! I'm vegan ethically & DO NOT want to eat food contaminated by tongs & serving spoons that other people have used already on non-vegan 'foods'. Worryingly, some people may be allergic to animal-based so-called 'foods', so this could be extremely DANGEROUS to those people with certain allergies if they encounter buffet tongs & serving spoons being used for all the items causing cross-contamination!! Additionally, I think it's very cheeky & greedy of Premier Inn to expect hotel guests to pay to park at the hotel. I assumed, obviously incorrectly, that the £4.50 I had paid for parking my car, would then be deducted off of my hotel payment....sadly I was mistaken.

Check in fine. Couldn't find lift to first floor (A nuisance if a lot of luggage) but neither did I ask - so there may have been one. Had to pay for parking. I have an EV - deliberately chose this location as it advertises charging points. I arrived back 10,30pm - connected car - and found that I could only stay for 90 mins at charging point or would face overcharge fee of £10/hour. No exception for overnight. So - I had to wait up until car had charged and then moved it. Car park charges for hotel guests... :( Worst of all was cleanliness of bathroom. The bottom of the foilet bowl was visibly dirty, there was black mould in the sink overflow, and the bathroom plug hole was dirty/smudged with hairs. The bed was however clean and comfortable.