Wessex Hotel

We had the misfortune of staying at the truly awful Wessex Hotel as part of a coach tour (Festival of Lights) with Majestic Coach Tours. My suspicion is that Majestic optimise their profits by paying peanuts to use substandard hotels. I guess it’s the only way that the Wessex can fill their rooms, as nobody in their right mind would choose to stay here. We stayed in room 107. Upon opening the door we were greeted with a pungent musty smell. We deduced that the smell was a combination of a rotting window frame, damp peeling wallpaper, filthy carpet and dust. We also couldn’t miss the mouldy black bathroom sealant and rusty taps. I (foolishly) attempted to make a cup of tea but it was undrinkable due to all the floating limescale from the filthy/dusty kettle. My son attempted to have a shower and called me in upset, saying that the shower hurt! The shower head only provided a few needle like jets of water, which we were unable to adjust. It was also impossible to regulate the temperature. We then tried the TV, noting that someone had thoughtfully trailed the aerial lead across the window and secured it to the glass with silver tape, this still only achieved 2 channels though. We then tried to connect our iPad and phone to the hotel WiFi, this was incredibly weak and we had to stand in the corridor outside our room for connection. Next came dinner - brace yourself! Upon our table sat a grubby jug of water and 4 smeared glasses. Staff began serving ‘vegetable soup’ the smell of which made us feel slightly nauseous. We had a vegetable pasta, which was both crunchy and soggy and contained unidentifiable vegetables. We were also given a tray of undercooked cauliflower in a watery cheese sauce, a lump of mashed potato and school dinner style slices of cabbage. The staff kindly made our children chicken nuggets but they only ate a few mouthfuls, saying it tasted like fish. Finally the apple crumble arrived, this seemed to have lost its crumble and the apple was coated in such a thick layer of cinnamon that my son actually spat it out coughing! Given the lack of hygiene and astonishingly poor quality food, we decided to avoid any further experience of hotel catering. The only positive I can draw is that the staff were friendly, we felt sorry for them working here. Naturally the Wessex hotel did not request any feedback. I have emailed feedback to Majestic who have shown no interest in replying. Huge pity that Majestic treat their customers like this. The actual coach trip was good and we loved Longleat Festival of Lights. However I can’t more strongly advise you to stay away from this hotel. The best part of it is leaving!

Visited this hotel with 3 friends on a 'Turkey and Tinsel' break for 5 days. Staff were amazing. Friendly and helpful. Food was excellent. We were entertained very well in the evenings. Rooms were big enough and clean. Pillows were bit flat so asked for more and they arrived promptly. Bar prices were reasonable. Overall, a super short break. Street and surrounding towns and area wonderful.

Room very dated Hotel very old Food veryvery basic and mostly tasteless No daytime coffee bar had to go out Would not come back as think value for money is not good enough and better for the same cost local as we found out Òoooooooooooooooòòooòo

The hotel is in urgent need of renovation. unable to control room temperature otherwise reasonably comfortable. The breakfast was barely acceptable but the evening meals were appalling ,meat being too tough to cut with blunt knives, roast potato's inedible like cardboard and slimy vegetables. Worst of all was the managers lack of interest , not accepting my and numerous other complaints ,stating only that everything was fresh. This was the worst food i have ever been presented with . Finally the staff are severely compromised ,they try their best but realise the chef is not capable .

Very tatty, scruffy looking hotel. The reception staff were rude, curt, unhelpful, unfriendly, and unprofessional. The decor inside was tatty. The lift was very noisy, rattling and juddering. The room door frame was loose, cold see through the gaps, the lock didn’t work, inside was very tatty. The room was too hot, the radiator would not turn off because the TRV was faulty. We told the manager, he couldn’t care less, he said that the heating was off a time switch and nothing could be done, so I got my multitool with pliers and turned the thing off myself. No choice off tables for dinner, no choice of times. We were on a Majestic coach trip to longleat, never again, The manager told us we arrived together we eat together! It was a free for all to get a table. Two coach tours in dining room, three waiters, took 30 mins to take order, an hour to get starters, two and a half hours to get served, didn’t wait for coffee. Food was utter crap. Same story at breakfast, tiny portions of burnt dried out crap. Complained to majestic via a review request that they sent me, didn’t get any response, sent them an email voicing my complaints, but no response. Majestic tours are a very poor company using inferior hotels. Will never use them again.

Hotel very tired. Lift very shaky. Metal windows & no double glazing making our room cold & noisy. Also I was very concerned about health & safety as no locks on windows & a child or elderly person could easily fall out & 2 floors up!!! The food was awful & we did complain at the time. I asked the waitress to ask the chef to attempt to eat a roast potato as they were like stones & cold. Breakfasts were below average, bacon undercooked & extremely long wait for food. Our bathroom radiator leaked to the point of flooding which we had to use towels to mop up. They did not fix After our complaint they just turned it off!! Al on all not a pleasant stay.