March 2024 by David Heffernan
Funeral reception so sad occasionCake decorated with radish was a first
September 2023 by Rick H
Check in was nice and simple and the lovely young lady was so pleasant (sorry didn't get your name) I lived the entrance hall but then felt abit if a maze/fawlty towers feeling there after. The room 45 was of a comfy size apart from head room. (My head touched the ceiling) possibly also why I struggled to sleep the room felt "compact" The bathroom had a bath which I was greatful for after a long drive. (I was going to tell the guy serving brekkie on Sunday the loo has a bit of a leak but he was to busy) Breakfast was of a good standard Well done for the level of service though
September 2023 by Inspire12064320640
We stay at the Swan twice a year, every year for at least 4 days and whilst it has never been the Ritz, the staff have always been friendly, rooms adequate and I have never felt the need to write a bad review. We were checked in by a young lady on Thursday night, who didn?t really seem to know what she was doing (not necessarily her fault) but after a fair bit of confusion, we managed to get our keys. My colleague then went up to their room only to find it hadn?t been cleaned or made up after the previous occupant. They were then told that there was no more double rooms available so would have to be in a single and would be moved the following day. Whilst frustrating, I appreciate these things sometimes happen. However the room they were then put in had the plug socket smashed off the wall, exposing capacitors. To make matters worse, the socket was directly above the bed. I?m not sure I need to explain that this is a little bit dangerous?Ah yes, and whilst this was happening, I had in the meanwhile got into my room to find some nice dried blood marks on the hand soap. Anyway? We then decided to eat at the restaurant on Saturday night which turned out to be the wrong choice. It was reasonably busy and loud (but by no means full) so we decided on a table slightly out of the way. I went to the bar to ask if we would be able to order food to that table or whether we had to sit in a specific area. Pink haired chap working behind the bar then disappeared for several minutes. When he came back he asked if we were staying at the hotel, to which I said we were. He then said that would be fine and gave us some menus. Whilst we were deciding what to have, I ordered some drinks, which is when it seemed to start going wrong. I fancied a gin and tonic but really wasn?t fussed which one so I just asked for whichever the cheapest was, which I thought was a reasonably standard request? Pink haired chap really didn?t seem to like that? He wasn?t sure which the cheapest one was (fair enough, I don?t know how long he has worked there) so he had to ring up ALL (about 6 I think) gins to find out, which seemed to be such hard work for him and came with much sighing and eye rolling. It took all of 10 seconds to quickly tap them into the till?. Whilst doing this he also felt the need to sarcastically make comments about whether or not I just wanted all the gins, seeing as he?s now made such an effort to ring them up. Anyway, we managed to get our drinks and sat down for 5 minutes to decide on what food to order. My colleague then went up to the bar, only to be told they weren?t serving food? I then went back up to ask about what time the kitchen shuts as, from my understanding, it was 9pm (it was just before 8:30 at this point) plus I was just told that we would be able to order. There was a lady (I think kitchen staff?) who said that they were serving residents only and I again said that we were residents. At this point, pink haired chap said that no, he had just been told that they weren?t doing any more food. The lady then said that they couldn?t just decide to do that and very kindly offered to see if there was anything they could make for us, as the ovens were still on. At this point there was then quite a bit of debate between the two of them about what they could or couldn?t do, which is when we just decided the whole thing wasn?t worth it and went to eat elsewhere. Bad experience after bad experience this time.
September 2023 by 276gillyh
Stayed for two nights at the beginning of September the room was completely overpriced at £300 for two nights (not including breakfast). I expected much more for that rate. Although the bed was comfortable and clean the rest of the room was shabby and very dated and the hospitality tray was of poor quality. When the room was cleaned the cleaning staff did not bother to leave clean cups. In the bathroom the shower curtain was shabby and frayed (completely unacceptable for the price of the room). A hook had been banged into the wall in the bathroom which left a hole, the job was clearly not finished properly. Although the staff were friendly and welcoming we found the upstairs part of the hotel to be somewhat delapidated (chipped paint on some doors). When you are staying in a hotel paying £300 it's the details that matter and it's the details that let you down, I honestly would not be able to recommend this hotel.
July 2023 by Eeyore49
We were allocated room 25. Someone has to have it! Up the staircase and turn right past the bucket collecting drips from the roof then down two steps and through a fire door, up three steps to another door, through another door and up another flight of stairs to turn right to the end of the landing. Behind the door is a dark room with a standard double bed, a desk and a single upright chair. There is an en suite bath with deluge and hand showers. The bedside lights were broken and would dangle by the flex if allowed so cannot be adjusted for reading in bed. There was a supply of 2 tea bags, four sahets of coffee, four sachets of milk amd 15 sachets of sugar rammed into the two mugs. The automatic kettle did not switch off. We had a cuppa and went out for the evening. On our return from a concert at c21.45h the kitchen was closed so we had some food in our room and then went down to the bar for a drink with friends who were also staying. We were disappointed that residents cannot purchase drinks after the bar closed so made do with one drink. The real shock came in the morning. We slept reasonably well on the softer than our bed but could not get any hot water for a bath or shower. The best we could achieve was a very short burst (<1 sec) of warm before a return to cold water. We went down to breakfast. The service was slow and could definitely benefit from some of Gordon Ramsey's advice. Breakfast is the nearest a hotel should come to fast food: put people first and get the orders to the kitchen FAST! The food was good when it came. The traditional full English was nicely cooked with the egg fried to retain plenty of runny yolk to be absorbed by the thick sourdough toast which was the star of the show. My wife was happy with her continental breakfast and the waitress was quick to provide marmalade which was absent from the buffet. We were not asked "everything all right for you, sir?" as we cpaid forvthe breakfasts at the reception so we did not complain at the time. Our friends stay here frequently and speak highly of it so we must surely, have hit a below average performance on this occasion. Nothing that a plumber, an electrician and attention to detail cannot fix.
June 2023 by Deepsearch
First impressions count, and this venue has fallen flat on its face at every step so far! Check-in: After a 6 hr drive, you expect at the very least to be greeted with what you paid for. I had called ahead several weeks in advance to check booking details, and when we turned up, we had a small room for a family of four, with the sofa bed not even prepared for our daughter. Room: Tired, outdated, stuffy, and not cleaned properly. Cobwebs in the windows, dirt, and damage on the walls. Damage to the light shades. Even the coffee condiments supplied are a joke and stuffed into mugs, with no thought of the guests at all. Breakfast: Over cooked, and disgusting! They didn't start on time, and nobody greeted us. I had to approach the staff directly. Simply nowhere near good enough. The bacon was chewy, the sausages were disgusting, and even the poached egg was overcooked. This place has so far felt like watching a car crash in slow motion, with each step progressively being worse. Overall, it's safe to say I would NEVER come here again. In fact, if I had the choice, I'd be leaving immediately. Having booked this way in advance, I'm shocked and appalled by this place. I'd advise a mystery shopper from management to review this place and consider what they're charging. If it was budget, you could expect a little bit of compromise, but this is not a budget venue. In fact, I feel like I've been mugged, because having paid top rate, I am a mug.
June 2023 by JulianKemp
Excellent service, very welcoming staff. Our room #28 was spacious and very clean, the bed was extremely comfortable. The breakfast was plentiful and the Full English was delicious. The bar was extremely well stocked and a great atmosphere. A very nice hotel indeed Not sure what the (unopened) tin of mackerel under the window was for, maybe to feed the swan ??????
June 2023 by suebP7041XI
Good size Room with comfy bed and good amenities. We had a nice meal In restaurant. Staff were really nice, Jurgen very helpful (tried to sort smoke smell in room from previous occupant, why are people so selfish?) manager Daryl spoke to us personally to apologise and compensate, but they shouldn?t have been in that situation.
June 2023 by EMcKRegs
Our room was lovely, well cleaned, had a fan, iron, ironing board and a hair dryer. The plug sockets also had USB ports which was a bonus. Bathroom was also very clean. Breakfast had good stock of tea, coffee, juice, pastries, cereals, bread for toasting, jam/marmite/chocolate spread/honey. We also had a cooked breakfast which was nice. Only negative was that we couldn't find a remote for our tv anywhere, but decided since we weren't going to be spending a huge amount of time in our room we wouldn't bother staff with it. The man who checked us in was really friendly and welcoming as was the young lady running breakfast the following morning.
May 2023 by Ian m.
Superficial a reasonable hotel. Wasn't impressed with the service though. Rooms not cleaned during stay. Green King Mobile Apt was not working at the Swan.Relief chiefs breakfast was horrible and overcooked Took ages get served only to be told the kitchen has stopped taking orders in the last 10 min.Problem finding the confirmation of our payment for the room.THEY MUST TRY HARDER.
May 2023 by Boxerdogs1
I have stayed at the Swan numerous times while working in the area and always found it quite a reasonable hotel. On this occasion I had booked in for two nights and wow what a difference. Firstly, the Internet was impossible to connect to. When I questioned the manager, he did not understand how it worked and asked me to speak to a younger member of staff. I had an early start in the morning so got down for breakfast at 7 am when it supposedly opened to find it shut so I sat and waited, by the time someone finally appeared and set up breakfast I had just 10 minutes before I was being collected so consequently could not have breakfast. After getting back on the first night and returning to my room it hadn?t been touched. It was exactly as it was when I left depleted of tea and coffee, used cups, the bed unmade the bin full and the shower as I left it with the damp towels. I went down to Reception to question whether they were intending to make up the room and was told yes, it should?ve been, no apology. I needed to shower before going out that evening to meet a colleague and was assured the room would be dealt with while I was out. I left early evening and upon return around 10pm all that was done was someone had been in the room and dumped some teabags and milk sachets on the desk that was it! Really disappointed in my stay PS they also apparently ran out of butter
May 2023 by heathermO301SW
Paid a very overpriced rate of £119.00 for twin bedded room. Not a nice experience in the morning - went to shower wash my hair - empty gel container, and shower controls are confusing. No coffee sachets neither. I rang and requested the above. The receptionist asked why I hadn?t checked yesterday? What an attitude. I replied no - we didn?t shower last night & we didn?t want a coffee. He then said ok we will bring those items up to you. I will not stay here ever again! Shame on staff unprofessional behaviour. They say that they are busy-I don?t care - they obviously require training in customer care!
April 2023 by Megjane_11
This was our 2nd stay at The Swan in Alton to visit the Fully Charged Show Exhibition at Farnborough Airport. The staff were so friendly and helpful! Our room - 32 - had a king sized bed & a sofa bed for our 8 year old son. Bearing in mind that the hotel is a pub downstairs, we didn?t hear any noise from there or any of the other rooms. Breakfast was good, despite a lack of some items such as orange juice, a disclaimer was stuck to the walls to explain this. Plus the wait for the kitchen seemed long. The hotel looked like in it needed a few walls repainted and The Cloud Wifi wasn?t great but on the whole, the decor was lovely and the beds were comfortable hence 4 out of 5 rating.
April 2023 by 242evec
What a delight. I am a local of Alton and have always struggled for somewhere to feel comfortable and be served quickly and efficiently as I have little time available. The server Michelle went above and beyond to recommend great food, a place to stay for my family for my birthday next month. The fact that you have disabled access could make a huge difference to our large party. Great girl, very funny and friendly. So glad I popped in!
March 2023 by Leon Tyler
Absolutely shocking, it's gone so downhill since I last stayed.\\n\\nRooms are so run down and we had the misfortune of our bed sheet coming off our bed to expose what can only be described as mattresses that was so soiled one dumped in a lay-by would be cleaner. It was covered in brown stains.\\n\\nTook an hour to get our breakfasts in the morning twice, came out so over cooked or it was sitting under the hot lamp while the staff were arguing with each other in the bar for all to hear.\\n\\nOne hour for a second rate fry up with less than ten people to serve is ridiculous.
