Champneys Forest Mere

What a disappointment, thought this would be really special but it was sadly a let down. Long queue for check in, rude staff when I asked if more staff could be found to help, don’t expect to arrive at 2pm and not get to your room until almost 3! Jam packed spa area, not enough seats, difficult to find space in sauna & steam rooms, (one out of action completely), outdoor pool grotty, paintwork on outside windows of rooms flaking and peeling, bedside light snapped off and covered with black tape, white robes had yellow stains on them (oil?), queues for every meal, hot breakfast extra charge, asked for new towels which never arrived, but the worst part was coming back to our lounger to find a couple basically making out on top of our towels , we thought we were in Love Island On a positive note, my massage was very good but I definitely won’t be going back to Forestmere…..shame

The room was such a disappointment, I dread to think what a standard room must be like! The room is in need of some serious updating! Toilet made horrendous noise, complained but nothing was done about it so we had two nights of it. Coffee machine had parts missing. The bathroom was awful, rusty taps and stains everywhere. I wouldn’t mind if I was staying in a cheap place and Champneys promotes luxury, Such a shame as the grounds are nice and couldn’t fault the food, although we did pay extra for some of our meals but worth it as the quality was excellent (especially the fillet steak). Spa facilities are good but Need cleaners in spa area more often as the showers were dirty and the changing rooms smelt a little unclean.

Whilst there are many positives about Champneys Forest Mere such as the location and outside areas, but its worth noting that there are a lot of areas around the spa that are particularly tired and unloved. many areas look like they have not been updated for 20years. Much of the furniture is akin to something you would find in an old people's home, in the lounge there are some particularly outdated pieces with splits in the seat and foam showing. Its covered in a fabric that looks more suitable for a bedsit rather than a high end spa. The lighting in the lounge is so dim that you couldnt read in there. The chairs in reception were even grubby. The pools and whirlpools are showing signs of age, with water marks and dirty grouting and in some areas such as the steamroom tiles are missing. In the relaxation room with the waterbeds the ceiling as a number of areas where its either dirty or damaged, could be quickly fixed but its been left and looks like no-one cares. At the time we visited there were no Saunas in operation and the thalassotherapy pool is no longer open which means that for the size of the spa there are really not very many facilities available and those that are, are really very small. The outside pool has no cover over it, so is full of leaves and not cleaned frequently. We used a room for rasul treatments which was really not clean with a shower cubicle with a door that stuck so you couldnt access it easily. The Rasul treatment was over double the cost of another spa that I visit regularly and not as good. at £50 per person this was very expensive. I had one treatement "Head in the clouds" ... it wasnt great! The restaurant was badly organised, dinner was OK, although items were not available but service was slow. Breakfast was OK but the dining room isnt big enough so you have to put up with people queuing right next to you which isnt nice, then you have trouble returning to your table because you can't get through the queue. You have to get tea and coffee from a hot water dispenser, would it be too much trouble to have an individual pot on the table? Lunch was an absolute joke, the buffet wasnt replenished so when you went up for your meal you found empty dishes, no soup, no bread, no desserts, no plates, no bowls, no spoons... the list goes on. Just really poor. There were plenty of staff who seemed to lack direction so noone was really doing anything. We had pasta with tomato sauce, the sauce had clealy been burnt as there were flecks of burnt sauce and it tasted burnt but when we raised this as an issue we were told it was lots of herbs (lots of herbs added to disguise the fact it had been burnt maybe??) Due to the lack of other items on the buffet this meant that one of us just had bread and salad for lunch as the pasta sauce was inedible. All classes cost extra, with the exception of Aqua Fit and there really isnt anything to do after your evening meal except travel back to the seventies and sit in the lounge..

I stayed at Forestmere for a 3 night break last week. I really enjoyed my stay and the fantastic weather made it even better. The outdoor pool was so lovely and there was always a lounger available which was nice. The staff were all very hard working and attentive . Emily, on reception, was especially helpful. She has a lovely bright and cheerful personality and was extremely helpful to me. In previous visits I have found the food to be a bit hit and miss but this time I enjoyed every meal. The menu has an excellent selection to keep everyone happy. The only one criticism is the door key cards. They constantly stop working so you are guaranteed to get your steps in going back to reception to have them refilled.

First and last visit post pandemic and oh how this has fallen! It's not clean, broken loo seats and hand dryers. Limescale and cobwebs. Excrement on Sun loungers outside and pool was dirty. Seating inside and out needs deep clean. Our double room was a twin. They ran out of shower gel! The room was noisy and trolleys were run outside the window before 7am. This was after a fire alarm twice in the night so very little sleep. Front desk girl had no eye contact and an attitude. Operations manager smelled of smoke and didn't give a toss. He literally ignored every point raised. The food is now low quality ingredients and very little choice. They ran out of puddings so it was 'fresh fruit' which was melon or melon.... our lunch was a tiny chicken leg with vegetable broth and pearl barley which was very unpleasant. The table next to us ordered beetroot starter and another lady ordered beetroot salad for main course and they were exactly the same. Dinner was OK because we paid more for steak but the 3 potato wedges with it were black n burnt. Breakfast was shocking! Only cold options unless you pay more. Tinned fruits only apart from banana pieces. No hot option. Cold boiled eggs. Cheap cereal and a mountain of bread. Self serve coffee. Totally different from the lovely buffet breakfast before with egg station and smoked salmon. Now it's low grade ingredients all the way unless you pay more each time. Classes are all paid apart from the odd one or two. Bathrobes are 40 deposit plus you have a paper stamped in and out which they insist you keep safe at all times or they will charge. Then retain this docket so you have no proof and are made to feel like a theif at every discussion about the low quality robe! It wasn't relaxing it was incredible stressful due to the filth and lack of service. Verity the spa manager was the only management who listened and tried to help. We came home early, not relaxed and absolutely shattered through lack of sleep.

Just had a super 2 night break at Forest Mere with a friend in a beautiful setting with lovely healthy food being served. The facilities in spa areas were all working and we managed to make full use of them including the cosy warm waterbeds which are so relaxing. The resort however is in need of refurbishing in most of the bedroom areas and spa. Champneys is supposed to be a luxury resort so doing this this would certainly improve the whole ambience and feel of the resort. It needs new carpeting and new bathrooms in hall areas and in most of the bedrooms now. It was still a comfortable stay however overall, as the beds are just as good as Premier Inn, but even Premier Inn has better modern bathrooms and fresh modern design seriously lacking at Champneys. We found all the staff we interacted with very friendly and helpful and a particular big shout out to Claudine and Steve in reception for a smooth booking in and out process.. have even booked return vouchers as we left feeling refreshed and energised and look forward to our next visit soon It’s great also that one can book directly now in reception for return vouchers as the old system via having to phone was very difficult indeed, as getting through to the reservations team was a nightmare and took ages. Well done Champneys keep improving !

We had as a gift a spa break and chose Forest Mere for an overnight stay. We up graded our room but what a disappointment. This place is so dilapidated it needs completely renovating. The windows in the suit didn't shut properly as they were warped and rotten, I'd hate to have been there on a cold and windy night. The room was full of cobwebs and the wall paper hanging off the wall. Black mould in the bathroom, I could go on. The food was passable although the atmosphere in the restaurant was more of a canteen than a pleasurable relaxing experience that we were hoping for. Our treatments on the other hand, massage and facial were nice. The general areas for swimming etc. were too busy and grubby and there wasn't enough space to sit comfortably so we ended going back to our room and on the last day just decided to cut our loses and go home early. I did fill in a customer survey as was sent one but of course no response. Shame Champneys used to be so lovely.

A couple of weeks ago I had a superb 30-minute personal training session with Kelli focusing on weights, and it was exactly what I needed. I had been lacking confidence in the gym especially around using dumbbells, but Kelli talked me through it step by step and motivated me to lift more than I thought I could. By the end, I felt much more confident and I will continue working out with weights! Thank you.

The spa was exceptionally busy on the day we attended to the point where it was impossible to have an enjoyable and relaxing experience. The spa facilities were constantly busy, meaning that we could not use most of the facilities, and there was often no where to sit down to relax. We sat outside for a period of time, wrapped up in our dressing gowns, and given the weather, it was actually quite cold. At another time we moved deck chairs from outside to inside purely so we had somewhere to sit down. We often had to stand and wait around to try and get into the sauna or jacuzzis, and then if we managed to get in to these, felt uncomfortable spending more than a few minutes there as others were constantly coming in to see if there was space (this also meant the sauna never actually felt hot enough). This was exacerbated by the fact that the sauna and steam room in the ladies changing rooms were out of order. We raised our concerns at the end of the day to the reception staff and we were just told to email the reservations team. I did this, and have had no response from them- not even an email to acknowledge my complaint. I have to say that I expected better from a reputable establishment like Champneys, and am very disappointed by the poor experience we had and the lack of response from them. Myself and my friends have now decided that we will not be returning to Champneys as they clearly do not value their loyal customers.