Methinks the Bats made the curry!!
 Apr 24th, 2005
Advantages:
Um - free parking, easy to get to
Disadvantages:
Dated, expensive, terrible food on room service, and no steam room, ground floor rooms for smokers
Recommendable:
No
  sue.51
About me:
Sheesh - seems like ages since I've been here. So many changes, business up and running - bred my f...
Member since:20.03.2001
Reviews:275
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Review rated by 38 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
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The joy of my job, probably in common with most people that travel, is that when going somewhere new you really don't know what you are letting yourself in for. I have only stayed in Oxford twice before, once in the Longwall Travel Inn, booked on my behalf, and the other time in the Victoria hotel which was nice, but all no smoking. I don't mind Travel-Inns, but they really are not as cheap as some seem to believe, once meals have been added to the price, and they invariably have no functional usable facilities, so it was time to see what else was out there. My theory that the closer you get to London, the harder it is to find a bargain mid-week is definitely true. I discovered the Oxford Belfry on laterooms at a rate of £69.50 room only, the catch being you had to book two nights. I didn't bother checking Active hotels as usually their prices are similar, plus this hotel wasn't thrown up on my search under 'Oxford', personally I wish it had stayed that way. WHO ARE THEY?
Part of the Marstons Hotel chain, the company has 13 outlets across England and won the AA hotel group of the year in 2002-03. Interestingly it also won the Tourism South East best website in 2004, I find this quite hard to stomach as even with a 3Mb link it is not the most rapid of sites, and on a 56K modem I couldn't get it to load at all, but more about that later. BOOKING
Standard rack rate at the Oxford Belfry is £115 room only, and bookings can be made through their website at www.marstonhotels.co.uk. I booked by phone directly with the hotel, and had a 'late deal' discount of £95 bed and breakfast. Offers are available through www.laterooms.com if staying more than one night, and www.activehotels.com were offering £85 B&B around the same time, unfortunately, I didn't find this until after I had booked. LOCATION
Situated on Milton Common about 7 miles outside Oxford, it is ideally placed for travellers using the
M40, leave at junction 7 if travelling Northbound and 8a going Southbound. The hotel has ample free on-site secure parking, and a code is available from reception to exit the car-park. Driving into Oxford is not recommended, and guests are advised to use one of the many park and rides around the city, where you can park your car all day for 60p, and get a return bus into Oxford for £1.90, you are also then ideally placed to get out of the city relatively easily once you have finished your business. The closest park and ride to the Oxford Belfry is Thornhill; buses run into the city every 15 minutes from around 6am, and then every 10 to 12 minutes up until 1820, then this reduces to every 30 minutes. You can also park up at Thornhill to get the shuttle bus into London. If you are looking for somewhere to stay to enjoy the nightlife of Oxford, then the Belfry is definitely NOT for you, as there is little around but common land and a motorway. CHECK-IN
In true sue.51 style, this did not go smoothly. Against my better judgement, I was given a ground floor room, something I am not particularly comfortable with. I was advised that ladies normally get allocated rooms on the 1st floor (the hotel is only two stories high) but as a smoker, I would have to stay on the ground, they did however reallocate me a room within the courtyard rather than the original one which was adjacent to the external car-park. The customary details were completed on the check-in card and a swipe was taken of the credit card. No help was offered with my luggage and I was not offered an early morning call, nor a newspaper, complimentary or otherwise.THE ROOM
The room was spacious and old-fashioned with two single beds, a telephone, wardrobe and TV, a small table and two chairs. It was cold and dark with metal bars on the window (reassuring considering I was within the courtyard where the only external access would have been through the emergency exits or another bedroom. There was an en-suite bathroom which again was very dated in appearance and décor with bathroom suites in a yellow colour more befitting of the late 70's rather than the millennium. The shower unit holder was jarred into the wall, and a swift pull would have undoubtedly pulled the whole thing down. TV channels were the usual combination of terrestrial and the more common Sky offerings but the picture was not brilliant. There was a small curved work-bench and internet connection was dial-up, offering a not too brilliant 28K connection speed at ridiculously high prices or around 25p per minute local calls.CONFERENCING FACILITIES
This is one area the Belfry does appear to be able to meet customer needs, offering rooms to accommodate between 8 and 450 people. LEISURE FACILITIES
Having spent a ridiculous amount of time on the road recently, one thing that keeps me going on the road is having a swim, Jacuzzi and steam-room before my evening meal. I evidently misread the website on this occasion though, as their Reflections Gym had an 12.5 meter pool, sauna, gym and solarium. On talking to some of the local club members, they were quite keen to point out that the hotel had intended to build a steam-room, but ran out of money before they could do so. The hotel has a courtyard with an ornate garden and fountain, and appears to be part of its central focus, and I should imagine on a sunny day in the middle of summer it would make a fantastic wedding reception setting, unfortunately, it was not particularly inviting in the middle of a cold March. FOOD
As usual when travelling, evening meal was room service. There was a limited choice on the not so cheap menu, and I elected to have curry in my room. The cost with a drink was around £17 and it was the biggest pile of unadulterated mush I have ever had the misfortune to be presented with. It was cold and literally mashed shredded curry and totally unpalatable, the rice was cold and stuck together and the popadom was dropping in fat. I complained and ended up with steak and chips about 1/2 hour later instead; to give them their due, this was complimentary.Breakfast was considerably better than my evening meal, the usual fare of cereals, pastries, juices and fruit combined with bacon, sausage, beans and all sorts of eggs, presented in a buffet style. What I didn't appreciate was the high number of school-children staying there, running around corridors, making lots of noise, and on my departure playing rugby adjacent to the hotel entrance, getting hit by a fast moving rugby ball on my way out did little to lift my spirits. Our education system appears to be groaning under the strain of lack of finance, yet kids get to stay in 4 star hotels, something very wrong here. IN SUMMARY
There were lots of comfort seating areas around the hotel, and a large bar with reasonable service. From memory, a double G&T set me back around £6. The Oxford Belfry is an outlet that I suspect was once what could be deemed upmarket and the top end of service provision for the discerning business traveller, but in my opinion, like many former glorious outlets trying to compete in an environment where costs are continuously being driven down, methinks they have lost their way. Many of the hotels I use could do a lot worse than to take a leaf out of the place I stayed in in Sydney, owned by a Singapore Business man, nothing was too much for their customers. The Oxford Belfry is not an outlet I will be rushing back to in a hurry, and my experience has definitely not inspired me to try any more of their outlets, personally I would go back to the Longwall Travel Inn next time, at least there I got high-speed internet access. Not recommended If You really want to stay there visit: www.marstonhotels.co.uk or you can contact them at: The Oxford Belfry
Milton Common
Nr Thame
OX9 2JW
Tel: 01844 279381
Email: oxfordbelfry@marstonhotels.com
Related tags for The Oxford Belfry, Oxford
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by (11%):
by (89%):
02.07.2005 23:25
I had to have a read of this because I've been here before, although not stayed - just to one of their dinner/dances and it was lovely. We didn't pay for it though, it was a company do!!! (Thank goodness! Bit spendy isn't it?!) It's a shame about that, although we went probably about 8/9 years ago now, and I've heard since it changed hands it had gone downhill. Oh well, thanks for that though, great review. Sal x
30.04.2005 09:52
Oxford is a place I would love to visit but I don't think I would stay here. It doesn't sound all that good. I really enjoyed reading this though and thought it was very informative. Great Review. Sarah x
25.04.2005 20:08
Superb review - sounds like it really wasn't a pleasant experience. Such a shame. Pip x