This hotel was recommended to me by a friend. The welcome I got at the reception was warm and nice even though it took about 30 minutes to get my room ready. The room was not the typical British small roomed type. Quite spacious and neat. I couldn't get my TV to work and it took less than ten minutes to get someone to fix it. At the restaurant, there was quite a crowd and because it took almost 30 minutes to get me seated, the manager was full of apologies and that was quite considerate and nice. Nice decor with great English traditions and meals meeting modernity. Not bad at all!

Oxford Spires hotel, part of the small Four Pillars chain, is situated a mile or so South of Oxford city centre and a couple of hundred yards from our home. We regularly stay at its sister hotel at Tortworth (well-placed for Slimbridge and Westonbirt) but only visit Oxford Spires for Sunday Lunch when our son is at home.
Sunday Lunch here is a carvery set-up with all that that implies, - plentiful supplies of unpretentious hearty food that is filling rather than fine dining, presenting an open invitation to adept plate mountaineers.
Today was utter chaos with a host of apparently untrained poorly informed table staff (couldn’t possibly call them waiters) that I couldn’t recall seeing before. They initially couldn’t remember what their specials for the day were, couldn't find pate on their own menu, insisted that their main course fish special was smoked salmon (it was actually smoked haddock), then succeeded in delivering only one of the two drinks that we’d initially ordered. Generally staff were wandering around in a daze and clearly not enjoying themselves.
When we finally got through to dessert, two of them insisted (after having to check - they couldn't remember - that their selection included vanilla sorbet, - it turned out that it was a sorbet – not vanilla but mango. It took a while to discover this as they only delivered two of our three desserts and when we pointed this out they thought we were trying to order seconds.
In the end we couldn’t get out fast enough. That’s literally true – we couldn’t get out fast enough. Customers have to queue here to pay their bills at a single checkout point and a long line of people in front of us were querying their bills.
It must happen occasionally that a restaurant finds itself with an influx of untrained staff for whatever reason. The responsibility for coping with this circumstance without undue distress to either customers or to the staff involved lies firmly with the restaurant management team. Unfortunately, today they seemed oblivious to the dissatisfaction that we felt - and could observe on surrounding tables - and to the distress of their staff.
I shudder to think how Oxford Spires will cope with the approaching festive season but I would advise Trippers to think twice before booking here until they read that some brave souls have tried it out and report that the service has improved.